Continue monitoring your yields throughout the season, paying particular attention to soil moisture. If you’re noticing different moisture levels throughout the varying depths of the soil, your soil may be suffering from compaction issues.

After you’ve identified a problem, be sure to check around the farm to understand whether this is a widespread or concentrated issue. If it’s concentrated, you can focus your disc ripping efforts only where they are needed. You should avoid disc ripping healthy, high-yielding soil, as it can create problems that were not previously present.

During the heat of summer, dry conditions are often present. The dry periods can produce cracks in the soil, which typically closely resemble those created by disc ripping. If this is the case for your soil, disc ripping is not necessary. Take advantage of these dry conditions and save yourself some time.

A large part of the success of disc ripping depends on the timing. In late autumn, soil typically becomes too moist, so in this case, early autumn is the most prime time to begin disc ripping.

If you do have a reason to subsoil during the winter, we recommend doing so prior to drilling and then putting roots in to stabilize the soil. If you are going to leave the soil bare, we recommend against subsoiling at that time.

As we previously mentioned, soil type has a significant effect on your soil type and condition. Soils with a low calcium content that are high in silt or sand are most likely to benefit from subsoiling the most.

The purpose of subsoiling or disc ripping is to reduce compaction, which means that operating at the correct depth is critical. In order for subsoiling to be effective, you must stretch the soil and create vertical cracks. These cracks allow roots to attach and grow into the soil. If you operate your subsoiler tools at the incorrect depth, the vertical cracks will not allow for solid growth.

We recommend aiming for varying depths each year. If you choose the same depth season after season, the soil at that depth will become weaker, making growth much more difficult.

Having the correct tools and set up is critical to your success. Different types of farming and different soil will require different types of disc ripper set ups and tools. Our professionals at Richmond Brothers Equipment can help you decide which would best suit your farm.

After you’ve attached your tillage tools, such as your Ripper Points, be sure to check the settings. Ensure that everything is running smoothly and that there are no loud or abrupt noises. As you move across the soil, make sure that the soil is not being smeared or pushed upward, as this makes for ineffective growth.