“If you think no-tilling is just planting without tillage, you’re going to fail at no-tilling,” says Paul Jasa, an ag engineer at the University of Nebraska.

Greg Simpson has seen the big mistakes and speaks from experience when offering advice to no-tillers considering buying a sprayer. "The main thing is to ask yourself what your needs are. If you see a sprayer you like, ask yourself if the wheel spacings are right. Are the nozzle spacings right? Is the clearance what you need? Those are the kinds of things that should determine which sprayer you buy"; he says.