How to prepare the field before sowing wheat
Wheat has a relatively well-developed root system, with 70% of it concentrated in the plough layer 10-30 cm below the soil surface. Doing a good job of fine land preparation before sowing is of great significance for promoting the development of the wheat root system. The quality requirements put forward for land preparation should be: deep, fine, thorough, firm, and level.
Deep:This means gradually deepening the plough layer year by year on the original basis, with the required depth generally 20-27 cm. It is not advisable to plough too deep in one go, so as to avoid turning up a large amount of raw soil, which is unfavorable for increasing yield that year. Deep ploughing can thicken the active soil layer, improve soil structure, raise soil fertility, and promote root development. Practice has proved that the effect of deep ploughing has a residual effect, so an ordinary wheat field can be deep ploughed once every three years, and shallow ploughed in the other two years, with a depth of 16-20 cm being sufficient.
Fine: "Wheat is not afraid of weeds, but is afraid of being bitten by clods." This farming proverb shows that wheat sprouts have weak ability to push through the soil. Under clods, the sprouts will dry out, which easily causes missing plants and broken rows, and in winter the wheat roots suffer freeze damage due to exposure to wind. Therefore, after ploughing, the soil clods must be harrowed and broken up fine, ensuring there are no visible or hidden clods, so as to be conducive to the normal growth of wheat seedlings.
Thorough:This means requiring thorough ploughing and thorough harrowing. Make sure no spot is missed in ploughing or harrowing. Level the wheat field evenly and uniformly, which is conducive to balanced yield increase of wheat.
Level:This means rough leveling before ploughing, re-leveling after ploughing, and fine leveling after making beds, so that the depth of the plough layer is uniform. Only then can uniform watering, economical water use, uniform sowing depth, and neat emergence of seedlings be ensured. For an ordinary wheat field, the slope gradient is required not to exceed 0.3%, and the undulation within the bed should not exceed 3 cm.
???Firm:This means the surface soil is finely broken up, with no hollow hidden clods below, achieving a state of loose on top and firm below. If the soil is not firm, it will cause uneven sowing depth, uneven emergence of seedlings, easy loss of soil moisture, unfavorable rooting, and susceptibility to freeze damage in winter. Therefore, for wheat fields that are too loose, pre-sowing compaction or watering to settle the soil moisture should be carried out.
Gong Xiaoru