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Southwest Michigan | I'll be the 90th person to beat the drum to the same rhythm. Almost every small field I've rented started as run out hay. I've taken it on the chin every time I've attempted to notill beans into dead sod. Germination sucked and pest pressure on seedlings was really high. Talking 180,000 seed rate to get a patchy 70,000 plant stand. My most recent experience where corn was not an option I attempted tillage. Roundup works too slow in March in michigan, you'll have to wait 3 weeks most years to get results. I used the discbine to shave it, chisel plowed with big sweeps as early as I could (I don't have a mold board, but it would probably have been better). Hit it with the plow again in mid April with the 4 inch shovels, and again in early May. 2 passes with the disc and a final one with the cultimulcher with the teeth most of the way up. Planted beans at 160,000 in late may and got a good (120-130k) stand. It sucks but thats the only way I've been able to make it work, and it was still so rough that it needed full tillage to smooth it out before the next crop. Corn works so much better notill in sod. Just crank up the dial on the insecticide boxs | |
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Putting Hayfield back into Row Crop Production
