Harrowing the soil: what is it, varieties, agrotechnical requirements and terms

For efficient cultivation of crops, farmers prepare the soil. The set of measures includes various procedures, one of which is soil harrowing - that is, it is grinding the top layer of soil to a finer consistency in order to retain moisture necessary for the full development of crops. For harrowing, the farmer will need special equipment, which can be of different types.

What is it and what is it for?

According to agrotechnical requirements, the soil must be prepared before sowing seeds. The process of loosening the earth with the help of special devices (harrows) is called harrowing. Such an event improves the efficiency of growing crops.

Start such a procedure in the spring, as soon as the snow cover melts. The main purpose of harrowing is to cover the moisture necessary for successful seed germination and development of young shoots.

The complex of these measures includes not only grinding the earth to the required consistency, but also leveling the surface of the field. In some cases, harrowing is carried out selectively, affecting only those parts of the sown area where the soil is dry. Thanks to the procedure, less moisture evaporates from the soil.

The main functions of harrowing include the following items:

• soil moisture retention;
• eliminate the crust that forms on the surface of the soil and impedes the germination of seed material;
• leveling the surface of the crop area;
• stimulation and restoration of the activity of beneficial microorganisms that inhabit the soil;
• saturation of the earth with oxygen;
• thinning too dense seedlings of cultivated plants;
• weed control.

Agrotechnical requirements for harrowing are as follows:

• the proportion of damaged shoots after the procedure should not exceed 3%;
• diameter of soil particles does not exceed 0.03 m;
• the whole earth is broken into small lumps;
• weeds in the sown areas planned for planting winter and perennial plants are completely destroyed.

Types of harrowing

Agricultural operation can be of different types, depending on the situation and the goal, the farmer makes a choice in favor of a specific type of harrowing.Each method of leveling the landing area has both advantages and disadvantages. In total, there are three methods of soil harrowing - driven, figured and transverse-diagonal.

Drive

The principle of this method of harrowing is that with each pass of the territory, the harrows go beyond the edge of the field. If the processing of the land plot is carried out in "two tracks", then the first pass is done along, and the second - across the plowing line. In this case, on the plan, the cultivated area looks like an elongated rectangle.

The main disadvantage of this method of field harrowing is considered to be a large number of idle runs and wasteful use of equipment and time resources.

Curly

With this method of cultivation of the sown area, harrowing is carried out in a circle, which avoids empty runs and makes the most efficient use of the farmer's technical resources and time.On the plan, the site looks like a square, and the more the similarity with this geometric shape is manifested, the higher the skill of the farmer who performs this agrotechnical operation. In the event that the procedure is carried out in “two tracks”, then when passing again, the unit moves diagonally to the strip that was processed initially.

The only disadvantage of this method is that figure harrowing is carried out only in fields where there are no weeds or their presence is minimal.

Side-diagonal

Compared to previous harrowing methods, the cross-diagonal variety is considered the most efficient. The method of loosening the soil in “two tracks” does not allow achieving maximum uniformity of tillage and completely leveling the field surface due to the fact that one path coincides with the direction of plowing. Even a very experienced farmer will not be able to achieve perfect leveling of the territory with figured or driven harrowing.

If the cross-diagonal technique is used, this allows you to orient the course of the teeth separately from the direction of plowing. As a result, the quality of soil cultivation is improved and almost perfect leveling of the area on which crop plants are subsequently sown is guaranteed.

Varieties of harrows

Several types of harrows are used in agriculture:

1. Mesh. Ideal for leveling areas with a large amount of weeds. Use from sowing seeds to the appearance of the first shoots of crops. Mesh varieties have proven themselves well when working on heavy soils.
2. Tooth. After processing with this type of harrow, the soil acquires a uniform structure. They can also be used for incorporating fertilizer into the ground and controlling weeds.
3. Disk. The disc harrow differs from the previous varieties in design. The cutting discs, which rotate as the machine moves, cut through the soil layers, while mixing and loosening the earth.

Features of harrowing of different crops

In terms of work, it differs by:

1. Early spring. Work begins after the onset of the physical ripeness of the earth. The purpose of the agrotechnical procedure is to block moisture in the soil.
2. Harrowing of winter and perennial plants. For this procedure, which revives microbiological processes, light or medium harrows are used.
3. Presowing. The procedure is carried out with tooth harrows and is often combined with field cultivation.
4. Post-sowing. It is divided into two types - pre-emergence and post-emergence.

Potatoes and corn are harrowed after the appearance of the first sprouts, do it 2 or more times if necessary.

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