As soils are prepared in the lead-up to planting season it’s important to improve seed-beds and control weeds using a high-speed disc tiller like the K-Line Speedtiller.
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The K-Line Speedtiller is a dual purpose disc-tilling machine
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The Australian built machine is a dual purpose disc-tilling machine designed for soil conditioning and good penetration.
K-Line says the Speedtiller has the ability to efficiently cut, size and incorporate high levels of crop residue, ultimately increasing the carbon content in the soil.
“We could see the Australian farmer wanted the heavy duty primary tillage tool as well as a finishing tool, that’s why we adopted the concept – but we made it a lot heavier and a lot more robust to tailor it to the Australian conditions,” K-Line Ag co-owner and sales and marketing director Bill Larsen says.
Despite being built for the harsh Aussie soil, the Speedtiller is also proving its worth around the globe, which K-Line attributes to its ability to improve soil humus levels, reduce erosion and combat chemical-resistant weeds in a single pass.
Larsen says the Speedtiller has been accepted in nearly every style of farming in Australia.
“We’ve got a good following in the broadacre market,” he says. “Many of the farms that have been direct-drilling for a number of years have found an advantage with putting some strategic tillage back into the system – by doing that they want a one-pass tool and that’s where we come in.”
By chopping plant residues (stems, stalks, roots, etc) left in the paddock post-harvest and then incorporating them into the soil you gain important soil benefits such as increased levels of organic matter, enhanced water absorption and retention, and increased micronutrient levels.
But arguably one of the Speedtiller’s most important roles is in weed control, Larsen says. Unlike using herbicides, mechanical processes like tillage implements do not mutate the molecular structure of the weeds, which causes chemical resistance.
Instead the Speedtiller machine disrupts the weeds’ growing cycle, dehydrating and stunting the weeds while giving production crops the time to overcome and eventually kill competitive weeds.
The Larsen family founded K-Line Agriculture in 1993. It is based out of Cowra, NSW, and manufactures a range of agricultural machines, from tillage equipment to seeding machines.