What Is Strip Tillage?

How do you decide if a tillage practice is strip or deep zone tillage? Basically it comes down to the depth of soil disturbance. Strip tillage disturbs the soil to a depth of about 10-12 inches. If the depth of soil disturbance is greater than 12 inches, then the tillage method is classified as deep zone tillage.

Depth of disturbance is only a basic guideline, another important factor is the way the soil is disturbed. This is probably most apparent in strip tillage where tilled strips can be prepared using a rotary tiller or a shank. A rotary tiller is basically a series of blades that spin really fast (roughly 1,540 rpm). The result of this turning action is a very fine seed bed, or a soil that has been pulverized. I refer to this type of tillage as “rotary strip tillage.” A shank (sometimes referred to as a ripper) is basically a narrow piece of steel that acts to fracture the soil profile. The picture below gives a nice example of what a shank looks like
The implement in the picture above is capable of tilling eight rows in one pass.

The number of rows you can till basically depends on the depth of tillage and available horsepower. If you have a bigger tractor you can pull a bigger implement (that tills more rows at a time) and it takes less time to cover more acreage. Hence the dramatic increase in tractor size and horsepower during the last 50 years.

Tillage using only a shank usually creates a rough seedbed. To further smooth the seedbed other parts such as rolling baskets, disks, coulters, etc. are often added to strip tillage implements. The picture below shows an example of such a set up. The exact configuration and components vary depending on manufacture, soil type, and grower ingenuity.