More Strip-Tillers Practicing Flexibility with Fall & Spring Strips

Fall strip-till topped spring strip-till for the 5^th year in a row in Strip-Till Farmer's 12th annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study, as 43.1% said they make strips in the fall, while 25.9% wait until the spring. 31% said they make strips in both the spring and fall, which is almost 10 percentage points higher than last year's survey. 11.2% said they always refresh fall strips in the spring, while 14.7% said they sometimes use a strip freshener.

“Those numbers look good — I usually recommend doing clay soils in the fall and the sandy ones in the spring,” says Jodi DeJong-Hughes, Strip-Till Farmer Hall of Famer and regional educator with the University of Minnesota Extension. “There used to be a time when everyone wanted to strip-till in the fall, but then they realized they might not have enough time. This shows that people are strip-tilling in both the spring and fall, and it’s working well for them.”

“My preference has been fall strip-till historically, but I’ve accepted spring strip-till if circumstances call for it or if it’s too wet,” says Tony Vyn, fellow Strip-Till Farmer Hall of Famer and former Purdue University cropping systems professor. “As you move toward sandier soils, it’s possible to get satisfactory results with spring strip-till, especially if you have a good systematic drainage system.”

Fall vs. Spring

Kenton, Ohio, strip-tiller Brian Watkins is among the 31% making strips in both the fall and spring, although he says spring strip-till is his best bet most years.  

“Every situation is different, but in our heavy clay soils, the ideal time to make strips is in the spring,” Watkins says. “You talk about freezing and thawing and how that can mellow things out. In our heavy clay soils, sometimes we do tillage and the soil 're-compacts' harder than it was before.”

Sparland, Ill., strip-tiller Jay Riddell is on the other side of the spectrum, opting for fall strip-till on all his acres.  

“It gives us peace of mind,” Riddell says. “I’ve often said that I’ll take a bad strip in the fall because I know it’s going to mellow out. It may not be that pretty in the fall, but come spring, it looks good, and I don’t have to worry about what the weather’s going to allow us to do.

“Spring strip-till certainly has some validity in my area as well, where we also worry a little bit about erosion in the strips, especially if we’re frozen about 2 inches down and we catch a rain,” Riddell adds. “That can be a problem. Because of that, we don’t run any rolling baskets on our strip-till bar in the fall and try to leave a pretty rough strip to battle that erosion.”

We'll have a full breakdown of this year's Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study in an upcoming Strip-Till Farmer special report in the Strip-Till Farmer 2025 Spring issue.