You've got to be kidding, right? Take the coulters off a no-till planter and plant into residue, maybe even cover crops? That sounds like suicide for your crop to some people.

Let openers work: Take off the coulters and let the openers do the job if you're having trouble getting through residue, Barry Fisher says. The trick is making sure openers are sharp and not worn out. It may require replacing them more often. Now is a good time to check planter openers.

Barry Fisher says it may be the right thing to do, even if it seems backward until you analyze what's happening in the field. Fisher is an agronomist and precision technology expert with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He has spent the last half of his career helping farmers figure out the nitty-gritty details to make no-till and minimum tillage systems work. Recently many of his efforts have been devoted to helping farmers utilize cover crops in their operation to improve soil health, but still maintain or improve yields.

The coulter question came to a head last spring when farmers were trying to plant into moist soil. The real problem was for those who burned down a cover crop, especially rye, then tried to plant into it with a no-till planter, often a split-row planter for soybeans.

"You either want to get rye when it's only knee-high or so and burn it down or let it grow if it gets away and plant into it while it's standing up and green," Fisher says. "Then spray it."

According to Fisher, the worst possible case is to kill it about waist-high. It forms a mat which won't dry out, and also may be like rope when you try to cut through it.

With no-till coulters up front, the coulters may begin to cut the residue, especially dying or dead rye, but not completely cut it. What happens, Fisher says, is you begin hairpinning of residue into the slot that will become the row. Row cleaners may hairpin it as well, instead of cutting through it, since it's already mashed into the spoil.

"If you've got sharp openers you are better off letting the openers cut through it on their own," Fisher says. "You're less likely to get hairpinning. We learned that last year when people were having problems getting depth placement planting into cover crops."

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