Farmers have their preferred cultivating methods to get the soil ready for planting. Many choose tilling or plowing. Others prefer spading, believing it prepares the soil for important plant crops.
Spading is a method of soil preparation where the soil’s top layer is loosened and mixed with organic material, including plant matter, compost, weeds, and other fertilizers. However, spading doesn’t turn the soil’s entire top layer like plowing or tilling.
Rotary spading can benefit your soil and crop plants in many ways.
1) Spading doesn’t cause hardpan, which is the issue of other cultivation methods
Usually, spading doesn’t cause a hardpan, which is a typical problem of rototiller tilling.
Hardpan is a highly dense and compact layer of soil lying near the ground’s surface. It forms when a tilling tool or agent presses the soil below it together, making it too dense and compact. Deep compaction further happens down in the soil profile and is caused by the soil’s excessive weight, especially if it is wet.
When hardpan develops, it causes soil repellence – which means that the soil resists water and delays water infiltration, reduces water conservation, and increases the likelihood of soil erosion. Hardpan also prevents the roots from penetrating deeper into the soil. Instead, the roots tend to grow horizontally (it can be an indication that your soil has hardpan). In the end, hardpan can effectively cut off crop development and yield. This won’t be the case when you cultivate the soil using the spading method.
2) Spading increases water infiltration.
Spading increases water infiltration by providing passageways for the water and moisture to enter by diluting water-repellent soil with non-water-repellent soil and breaking down the soil’s organic matter that causes water repellence.
Spading (particularly rotary spading) buries some of the water-repellent topsoil while lifting the “columns” or “seams” of wettable soil (soil that is receptive to moisture) into the soil’s surface. These subsoil “columns” are crucial because they allow the water to go deep into the soil and settle onto the water-repellent topsoil that’s been buried beneath, saturating it much more quickly.
3) Spading can bring out the subsoil’s high clay content into the surface soil layers
In some soil types, spading (as well as other types of cultivation) can draw up the subsoil with higher clay content to the surface. Clay holds on to nutrients that promote plant germination and health, resulting in higher levels of surface cover.
Rotary spaders are often used for claying operations as they have been proven to be very efficient at incorporating greater levels of delved or spread clay-rich subsoil to depths of 25 to 35 centimeters (about 1.15 ft). Research shows that increasing the topsoil’s clay content to 5% to 7% is usually adequate to minimize the non-wetting problem effectively.
4) Spading helps aerate the soil
Another benefit of spading is that it helps aerate the soil. When the soil is well aerated, it provides access for earthworms, who feed on organic matter in soils and distribute waste in the soil. Earthworms also create “tunnels'' that bring in oxygen, drain water, and provide space for the plant roots to penetrate further and have access to more water and nutrients, which is especially beneficial during dry spells.
Falc spaders
A spader is a mechanically driven spading machine powered by a tractor using the tractor PTO. The spader typically uses the tractor’s three-point hitch and uses only minimal to no traction, reducing the rotor speed of the spinning blades so that the structure of the soil is preserved much better during spading.
Italian company Falc offers various agricultural equipment but is particularly known for its mechanical spaders, which were one of the company’s first products. By 1965, Falc had begun to export mechanical spaders.
The working principle of Falc’s mechanical spaders is similar to manual digging, penetration, tearing, and throwing of the soil.
Here are some of Falc’s mechanical spaders and the description or specification of each:
1) Panda 1000
From the Panda series, this PTO-driven spader works as a digging machine that leaves the soil broken, loose, friable, and permeable. As a result, the manure or organic fertilizer is completely mixed with the soil. Working with this machine also encourages the decomposition of crop residues, promotes better oxygenation of the entire worked dirt, and improves the life of the microorganisms that are essential for the transformation of organic matter.
Specifications:
- 35- to 58-inch working width
- 4-speed gearbox
- For 20 to 35-hp tractors
- PTO shaft (less clutch)
- Cage protection
- Important note: Tractors must be equipped with creeper gear.
2) Toro 1500
The Toro 1500 works in the same principle as all Falc spaders. It works as a digging machine that leaves the soil loose and permeable. As a result, the manure or organic fertilizer is completely mixed with the soil. It also encourages the decomposition of harvest residues, promotes better oxygenation of the entire worked soil, and improves the life of the microorganisms that are essential for the transformation of organic material.
Specifications:
- 50- to 98-inch working width
- For 40-90 hp tractors
- Three speed ranges: 120, 140, & 160 rpm.
- External flanges and cage protection.
- PTO shaft with clutch
- The tractor must be equipped with creeper gear
3) Mini Toro 1000
The Mini Toro 1000 works in the same principle and function as all Falc spaders.
Specifications:
- 40- to 80-inch working width
- 4-speed gearbox
- For 30 to 60 hp tractors
- PTO shaft with clutch
- Cage protection
- The tractor must be equipped with creeper gear.
All Falc spaders listed in this article are ideal for nursery and vegetable fields, greenhouses, olive groves, vineyards, and large farms when it is impossible to work the soil with other machines or equipment.
Solex Corporation has been importing and distributing farm, landscape, and light construction equipment for more than 50 years, offering 30 product lines from various American and European manufacturers throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. If you are a dealer or end user interested in knowing more about Falc spaders or other equipment from Falc or other manufacturers, our competent sales staff are ready to help! Call us at (707) 678-5533 or send us a note here.