The Lowdown on Roller Crimpers

[Music] roller crimpers can be used to manage cover crop stem and leaf material resulting in a mulch for corn soybeans cotton and other crops there are several roller criper options available in the market and some Farmers have been exploring their own prototypes roller crimpers can be attached to the front of the tractor allowing for a planter behind towed behind the tractor or integrated into the planter as with any piece of farm equipment choosing the one that best fits your operation is key what is the goal of a roller crimper roller crimpers are primarily residue management tools but can also be used to kill or terminate cover crops killing or terminating with a roller crimper can be difficult due to timing soil firmness or lack thereof and equipment to kill cial Rye or tral cripping must be done at the late flowering growth stage cover crops under moisture stress are hard to kill because the stems are harder to crush similarly soil needs to be firm enough to crimp against stems can push into soft soil and avoid being crushed resulting in incomplete termination lastly some pieces of equipment are just better at crimping than others however most of the time the cover crop is killed with the herbicide and the roller is only used to man manipulate the cover crop residue to get it out of the way so it does not interfere with the cash crop rolling can occur after the cover crop has been sprayed and is dead or while the cover crop is alive another factor to consider is that planting in standing residue can trigger a shade response in the crop as it emerges this will cause longer stems that are generally weaker as the plant rapidly grows taller to reach more light rolling that residue gets it out of the way and avoids this shade and shade triggering response timing of roller crimping roller crimper timing can vary before during or after planting there are several factors to consider here having a separate path for Rolling offers flexibility of when the cover crop is rolled and when the cash crop is planted for example if the thunderstorm is on the way and serial Ry might Lodge in different directions causing difficulties planting it can be very beneficial to roll that and then plant later rolling before planting requires the planter to go the same direction and path of the roller therefore planter width and roller width must be the same rolling during planting is a onep pass system that allows for Time and Labor savings but reduces flexibility rolling after planting will many times cover the crop row with residue some Farmers have expressed concern about crop emergence in this scenario other Farmers want cover crop residue over the crop Row for weed control another factor to consider is that planting into a standing cover crop is sometimes much easier than a rolled cover crop especially for small grains like cereal Rye but for hary vet monocultures most Farmers prefer to roll prior to planting to get a more even feed and thickness of cover crop residue under the gauge wheels for for better seating depth consistency each roller crimper Implement has its own pros and cons chevron pattern rollers roll smoother than straight bar roller crimpers which tend to bounce and can shake the tractor but Chevron rollers have less crimping ability some straight bar rollers have sections that are offset to avoid the shaking Dawn ZRX units is a system that provides a frame mounted roller crumper and rad cleaner in one thus making it a one Pass roller crimping and planting System since the crimper and the road cleaner are combined you have to balance the down pressure to achieve both functions some farmers are using custommade roller crimpers like this one here just make sure to choose what will work best for your [Music] operation [Music]

Channel: GROW IWM

Views: 9,010

Keywords: weeds, IWM, get rid of weeds, cover crops, roller crimpers, rollers, cover crop termination, ZXR roller crimper, chevron roller crimper, Harborview farms

Id: 1rhM54FC0CI

Length: 4min 32sec (272 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 02 2024