- E. Taylor
Sampling and field days have kept us busy over the past several weeks, so there has not been much time to spend at the keyboard, but after a long hiatus from blogging I’m back with lots of pictures and video to share.
Below I have embedded a short video clip of a double rotary hoe in action at one of my on-farm trial sites in Caro, MI. Rotary hoes can be useful tools for “crust busting” before a crop emerges, but they are most frequently used as a means of controlling small weeds in organically produced field crops. The rotary hoe, or in this case double rotary hoe (2 tool bars), is run at speeds ranging from 8-11 mph when the crops are small. It pulls out weeds both in and between the rows. The quick developing roots systems of the crops allow them to remain anchored as the rotary hoe passes. Once crops get larger (e.g. V2-3 for beans), farmers usually switch to some type of cultivator which focuses only on weeds between the crop rows.