Close to 2,000 farmers signed up to incorporate some or all of their straw this year and on this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dermot Forristal joins Michael Hennessy to chat through the main factors to take into consideration when incorporating straw.

Dermot explains that depth of incorporation can be quite flexible from 5cm up to 10 cm with good soil to straw contact heeling with a more rapid breakdown.

Soils in a non-inversion system may be able to cope with straw raking, which stirs the straw on the surface with some clay and is reliant on soil worms to help the mixing process.

The breakdown process can result in a demand for nitrogen as straw has a high Carbon to Nitrogen ratio. However trials suggest the application of extra nitrogen is not needed to help the breakdown process as there is sufficient freely available soil nitrogen.

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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