Maize growers wanting to produce top quality forage next year should act now to undo harm done to soil structure during 2012, says Wilson Hendry of forage specialists Grainseed.

In particular, compacted and smeared soils could be storing up problems for future crops unless they are dealt with over the next few weeks.

“Where growers chose the right varieties for their individual location including height above sea level, heat units and exposure, most maize crops performed well with high quality and good yields in 2013.”

“But conditions in which crops were drilled were generally very poor and there lies the problem.”

Because the wet conditions of Autumn 2012 continued right through to the following Spring there was no real opportunity to flatlift land and use a subsoiler to get proper heave in the soil structure, he says.

“Even where a subsoiler leg did get through there was not as much shatter as in a drier soil, so most people have some degree of soil compaction now.

“Any compaction severely limits maize growth and you won’t get big, bulky plants if roots hit a smeared, denser zone at the level where the cultivator has worked and wet conditions can easily cause this.”

To find out how much of a problem this is, you need to get a spade out and dig a hole, he advises.

“Pans are usually visible at around 12 - 18” of depth so the key is to assess the extent of the problem now and use any dry weather in the next few weeks to remove these.

“If you’re on heavier land, spread farmyard muck and plough it in before Christmas so the weather can do the cultivation for you rather than burning lots of diesel next Spring.

“If you subsequently identify you have a pan and it’s dry in February, you can then run the subsoiler on top of the ploughed ground to remove it.”