For some no-tillers, it’s a normal routine: a blanket-rate application of lime goes on and 4 years later the process is repeated.

PETE GOTTFRIED ROLLS his office chair over to the horizontal file. He instantly pulls out a snapshot of a field that resembles a parking lot. Heavy rains can cause the sticky, tight soils, high in magnesium, to crust and compact, explains the Nevada, Ohio, no-tiller.

For as little as 20 cents per acre, no-tillers can significantly increase the effectiveness of their post-emergent herbicide applications. The addition of inexpensive ammonium sulfate (AMS) to the tank mix can boost no-till weed control by as much as 41 percent in some cases, according to Bryan Young, a weed scientist at Southern Illinois University.