Most ridge tillers in the western corn belt traditionally have been 50/50 corn/beans. The idea of ridge till is that you plant right on top of the same ridge -and last years crop- every year.

In the traditional ridge till corn/bean rotation, when planting beans in the spring the planter is run right down the top of last years corn stalks. Generally the goal of row cleaners etc on the planter has been to separate the corn stalk from the root ball, leave the root ball in place and plant beans right down the old root ball row.

The next year's corn is planted right down the top of the one year old bean stubble, and down the top of two year old cornstalks.

The newer Bt corn stalks have thrown a bit of a curve ball at this system since the stalks do not separate from the root balls cleanly as they used to pre-Bt. However the system is and has been used on millions of acres for years.

Most of the residue was moved to the side, not usually turned over/plowed down. There was occasional cultivation and ridge-building, however in recent years many ridge tillers have used more no-till practices/spray weed control.

There have been some very good ridge till corn yields on long-term, 'corn into two year old root balls' ridge till ground. If folks have moved away from ridge till, it is usually for other reasons, not corn yield.

We have a fair number of continuous corn strip till customers who clear a strip between last years rows to have a black surface to warm and plant, leave the residue on the surface between the rows but away from the plant. They also move over 15" every year so they are planting into 2 year old root balls if any. The between-row strip till with row cleaning actually takes care of most remaining root balls.

There is probably no more and maybe less old corn matter in the new corn plant's root zone at planting than in a chisel/disk/fc system. Buried heavy corn residue also tends to suck N out of the ground as the residue decomposes so quickly.

I would not be afraid of corn on corn. It is not easy but can be done very successfully. I would suggest you find someone doing it near you and discuss it with them. jmho.

Here is a photo of the emergence you can get in a corn on corn strip till system.

Jim at Dawn

(Dawn Striptill Corn on Corn E IA 5-8-05 hp095 first corn emerges.jpg)

Dawn Striptill Corn on Corn E IA 5-8-05 hp095 first corn emerges.jpg (87KB - 270 downloads)