If you happen to think that strip-tilling is mainly a fall practice, guess again.

More growers are seeing major benefits by strip-tilling in the spring. They cite cropping flexibility, slashed fertilizer costs, reduced winter erosion and the ability to deal with changing weather conditions as some of the advantages of strip-tilling in the spring.

While many growers prefer to strip-till in late fall, others see distinct advantages to waiting until spring. What it really boils down to is what you feel is best for your own soil conditions and crop mix.

Yet one thing is for sure: we’ll see extensive strip-tilling across the Corn Belt this spring. Jim Basset finds a number of no-tillers switched last year to strip-till with continuous corn.

“Strip-tillers are happier coming from a no-till experience because they are already used to having heavy residue laying on top of the soil,” says the head of Dawn Equipment Co. in Sycamore, Ill.

He says crop rotation can hold the key to the timing of a strip-till pass. With northern wheat fields that will be planted to corn, Basset prefers to strip-till in the fall to eliminate excessive residue moisture.  With corn going into soybean stubble, he sees no significant differences between fall and spring strip-tilling. But with high-yielding continuous corn in the Corn Belt, he recommends strip-tilling in the spring, often as early as mid-March in central Illinois.

“Running through the fields in the fall just to have it done does not make sense with so much…