Evaluating Wind Erosion Problems With WEPS

Marlboro County, South Carolina

Following are some example problems that we will use to evaluate some wind erosion problems in Marlboro and Charleston Counties, South Carolina.

Situation 1: A two year rotation developing into a 4 year rotation

The scenario for the problem is:

Below is the 2 year rotation of Cotton, Upland and Watermelons, including the dates and field operations (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. A 2 year rotation of Cotton, Upland and Watermelons.

*Cotton, picker (700 lbs. lint yield)

* Watermelons

When we expand the 2 year rotation to include Corn, 130 day, we can add the operations, dates of operation, and the 130 day Corn crop directly to the 2 year rotation or we can build a separate template for Corn, 130 day. The new template can then be inserted into the rotation. We recommend the option of building the separate template for 130 day Corn and the template will then be available the next time you are building a rotation that includes that crop.

Below is the 3 year rotation of Cotton, picker; Watermelons; and 130 day Corn, including the field operations and the dates they were performed (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. A 3 year rotation of picker cotton, watermelons, and 130 day Corn.

*Watermelons

*Wheat,winter,soft white

*Soybeans

Below is the 4 year rotation of Cotton, picker; Watermelons; Wheat-Soybeans (double Cropped); and Corn, 130 day; including the field operations and the dates they were performed (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. A 4 year rotation of Cotton, picker, Watermelons, Wheat-Soybeans(double cropped), and Corn.

*Cotton, picker(700 lbs. lint yield)
04/10/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
04/20/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
04/25/01 Lister - 40" row spacing (8" ridge height)
05/05/01 Planter double disk opener (40" row spacing) - Cotton, picker
05/25/01 Row crop Cultivator (40" inch rows)
06/10/01 Row crop Cultivator (40" inch rows)
06/27/01 Row crop Cultivator (40" inch rows)
09/15/01 Defoliate
10/01/01 Harvest crop (leave stalks undisturbed)
11/01/01 shred stalks
11/15/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)

*Watermelons
03/01/02 Chisel plow - 2" wide straight pts.
03/20/02 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
04/04/02 Planter - double disk opener (48" rows) - Watermelons
05/05/02 Row crop Cultivator (48" inch rows)
05/20/02 Row crop Cultivator (48" inch rows)
07/10/02 Harvest crop
08/01/02 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
10/01/02 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)

*Wheat,winter,soft white
11/14/02 Tandem Disk 18" diamter blades)
11/15/02 Drill - double disk openers (8" rows)
06/05/03 Harvest small grain (cutter bar) - Wheat,winter,soft white
06/06/03 Burn residue (approximately 800 lbs of residue/acre left on surface)

*Soybeans
06/07/03 Tandem disk, 18" blades
06/07/03 Plant, double disk openers - 30" rows - Soybeans
07/24/03 Row crop Cultivator (30" rows)
08/10/03 Row crop Cultivator (30" rows)
10/31/03 Harvest Soybeans (Cutter bar)
11/20/03 Tandem disk, 18" blades

*Corn, 130 day
03/15/04 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
04/01/04 Plant, double disk openers - 30" rows - Corn
05/01/04 Row crop Cultivator (30" rows)
05/21/04 Row crop Cultivator (30" rows)
09/15/04 Harvest
10/15/04 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)

Situation 2 - Continuous Tomatoes

This is another example problem that we will use to evaluate a wind erosion problem in Charleston County, SC.

The scenario for the problem is:

Below is the 1 year rotation of Tomatoes, including the dates and field operations (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. A 1 year rotation of Tomatoes.

*Tomatoes
02/15/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
03/01/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)
03/03/01 Lister - 48" row spacing (8" ridge height)
03/12/01 transplant - Tomatoes
04/01/01 Row crop Cultivator (48" inch rows)
04/15/01 Row crop Cultivator (48" inch rows)
05/0101 Row crop Cultivator (48" inch rows
06/15/01 Harvest crop
07/25/01 Tandem disk, 18" diameter blades)

Situation 3 - Continuous Cotton

This is an example problem that we will use to evaluate a wind erosion problem in Marlboro County, SC.

The scenario for the problem is:

Below is the 1 year rotation of Cotton, Picker including the dates and field operations

(Fig. 5).

Figure 5. A 1 year rotation of picker cotton.

* Cotton, picker (700 lbs. lint yield)