This is just from personal observation but I think the presence of mycorrhizal fungi help play a big role in helping to get those seeds established. If you’re not already familiar with m. fungi then I’d highly recommend googling the term and reading some about it. I believe it probably took somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 years for them to return naturally to my field once I stopped heavy tillage. They actually make some products now though that allows you to basically inoculate your field with them without having to wait for them to return naturally. I think this is probably something that many folks would benefit from going ahead and doing instead of waiting. I think it would probably improve germination and productivity.

Something you need to ask yourself as well when looking at his field is…..”What are we comparing his results against?”……Are you looking at it as if he would have otherwise achieved 100% germination and 100% seedling survival had he just disked and made a nice seed bed?? In good strong dirt this might be the case….but in marginal and poor soils like many folks are dealing with its not. What I commonly see as I travel around tracking is very sparse stands in fields that have been disked. The reason why is not because of germination though. I suspect they achieved pretty good germination rates. What I attribute their sparse stands to is poor seedling survival rates. The seeds may germinate and start to establish….but because of the harsh conditions they’re trying to grow in…..a good portion of the liitle seedling die. Think about it….a field of plowed sand is nothing more than a small desert.