|
| I have been planting 2 years of corn since I started farming in 1971. Use to be a yirld drag the 2nd year but haven't seen that the last 2 or 3 years. In fact, last year my corn back on corn was our best corn by almost 20bpa. This year it looks as good as any of our 1st year corn. Haven't tried any continuous corn yet but am considering it on a field or 2. Had a neighbor that had a field in continuous corn for 28 years & the tilth of the corn was unbelievable and he claimed it was normally his best yielding corn.
We try to bury as much residue as possible when going to 2nd yr corn. Use to be disc & then molboard plow (still my preferred way) but it's too slow & costly. For 7 or 8 years we have been discing the stalks then either running a disc chiesel or a disc ripper over them. I prefer to put my dry fertilizer on ahead of the disc and use Dap instead of straight phosphate on the recomendation of our soil consultant who feels the nitrogen helps break down the residue quicker. On the same lines we try to well, usually after chieseling. Last fall we did put the AA on after discing and before running the disc ripper
No starter fertilizer used & haven't since about 1975. Might be 1 yr in 10 that starter will pay for itself on our soils. For a few years we did use 15% for part of the c arrier for the preemerge herbicides but the last 4 years we have gone to a total post spray program so have dropped that. Not sure how benificial it was but did seem to give the corn a little boost early on.
Another thing I like to do is use an early season corn the first year then come back with a medium to late medium season corn that adapts well to 2nd yr corn. The early season corn the 1st year gives us less residue to fight most times. Haven't tried any BT corn for the 2nd year but am planning on trying some this next year. We are in an area that has severe problems with variant western rootworm so insecticide is a must, even in 1st year corn. Have tried some RW corn but the jury is still out on it
Edited by boog 9/6/2006 13:33
| |
|
corn on corn.... hows it working for you?
