Secondary tillage, to improve the seedbed by increased soil pulverization, to conserve moisture through destruction of weeds, and to cut up crop residues, is accomplished by use of various types of harrows, rollers, or pulverizers, and tools for mulching and fallowing. Used for stirring the soil at comparatively shallow depths, secondary-tillage equipment is generally employed after the deeper primary-tillage operations; some primary tillage tools, however, are usable for secondary tillage. There are five principal types of harrows: the disk, the spike-tooth, the spring-tooth, the rotary cross-harrow, and the soil surgeon. Rollers, or pulverizers, with V-shaped wheels make a firm and continuous seedbed while crushing clods. These tools often are combined with each other.

When moisture is scarce and control of wind and water erosion necessary, tillage is sometimes carried out in such a way that crop residues are left on the surface. This system is called trash farming, stubble mulch, or subsurface tillage. Principal equipment for subsurface tillage consists of sweeps and rod weeders. Sweeps are V-shaped knives drawn below the surface with cutting planes horizontal. A mounted set of sweeps provided with power lift and depth regulation is often called a field cultivator.

The typical rod weeder consists of a frame with several plowlike beams, each having a bearing at its point. Rods are extended through the bearings, which revolve slowly under power from a drive wheel. The revolving rod runs a few inches below the surface and pulls up vegetative growth; clearance of the growth from the rod is assisted by its rotation. Rod weeders are sometimes attached to chisel plows.

Some control of weeds is obtained by tillage that leaves the middles between crop rows loose and cloddy. When a good seedbed is prepared only in the row, the seeded crop can become established ahead of the weeds. Plowing with the moldboard plow buries the weed seeds, retards their sprouting, and tends to reduce the operations needed to control them. If weed infestations become bad, they can be reduced somewhat by undercutting.

Since rainfall amount and distribution seldom match crop needs, farmers usually prefer tillage methods that encourage soil-moisture storage at times when crops are not growing. From the soil-moisture standpoint, any tillage practice that does not control weeds and result in greater moisture intake and retention during the storage period is probably unnecessary or undesirable.

Minimum tillage

The use of cropping systems with minimal tillage is usually desirable, because intensive tillage tends to break down soil structure. Techniques such as mulching also help prevent raindrops from injuring the surface structure. Excessive tillage leaves the soil susceptible to crusting, impedes water intake, increases runoff, and thus reduces water storage for crop use. Intensive vegetable production in warm climates where three crops per year may be grown on the same land may reduce the soil to a single-grain structure that facilitates surface cementation and poor aeration.

The loosening and granulating actions of plowing may improve soil structure if the plowing is done when the moisture content is optimum; if not so timed, however, plowing can create unfavourable structure. The lifting and inversion of the furrow slice likewise may not always be desirable, because in many cases it is better to leave a trashy surface.

The concept of minimum tillage has received much attention. One type of minimum tillage consists in seeding small grain in sod that has been relatively undisturbed. Narrow slits are cut in the sod and seed and fertilizer placed in the breaks thus formed. Soil normally subject to erosion can be planted to grain this way while still retaining the erosion resistance of the sod. The technique has been successful in preparing winter grazing in southeastern portions of the United States. In another type of minimum tillage, the land is broken and planted without further tillage in seedbed preparation. One approach involves breaking the land and planting seeds in the tractor tracks (wheel-track planting); the tractor weight crushes clods and leaves the seed surrounded by firm soil. Another method consists of mounting a planter behind the plow, thus planting without further traffic and leaving a loose seedbed that is satisfactory in areas where postplanting rains may be heavy. In some areas, where winter rain often comes after wheat is drilled, a rotation of wheat following peas has been successful. After the peas have been harvested, the field is rough plowed, and fall wheat is then drilled in directly. All these methods minimize expense and land preparation, tending to leave the soil rough, which reduces erosion and increases water intake. Somewhat similar systems are employed with row crops, where chemical weed control assists in reducing need for cultivation.

Mulch tillage

Mulch tillage has been mentioned already; in this system, crop residues are left on the surface, and subsurface tillage leaves them relatively undisturbed. In dryland areas, a maximum amount of mulch is left on the surface; in more humid regions, however, some of the mulch is buried. Planting is accomplished with disk openers that go through several inches of mulch. Since mulch decomposition may deprive the crop of nitrogen, extra fertilizer is often placed below the mulch in humid areas. In rainy sections, intercropping extends the protection against erosion provided by mulches. Intercrops are typically small grains or sod crops such as alfalfa or clover grown between the rows of a field crop that reach maturity shortly after the field crop has been established and furnish mulch cover for a long time.

If growth of the intercrop competes with the main crop for moisture and nutrients, that growth may be killed at seeding time or soon thereafter by undercutting with sweeps.

Tillage in dry areas must make maximum use of scanty rainfall. The lister (double-mold board) plow, or middlebreaker, is here used to make water-impounding ridges that promote infiltration. The special problems of dryland farming will be considered below (see Regional variations in technique: Dryland farming).