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Humeston, IA | Am thinking about what we could effectively grow here as a double crop after harvesting wheat and before planting corn the following year. I would also like to build up the soil organic matter on some of the farms. I've read that sorghum-sudangrass might be a good choice, as it puts down deep roots and is fairly drought resistant. I'd probably make one cutting then chop/shred the rest after frost. Anyone in the Plains do this, and if so, what have been your results? Double-crop soybeans are "iffy" here, with lack of moisture being an issue. Thanks. |
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| I am not going to comment on sorghum-sudan. However, I want to challenge you to rethink your double-crop beans. why not plant double-crop beans, even if you get no yield? Find cheap bin-run seed. Plant them to condition the soil, and keep weeds down. Use an application of glyphosate close to fall to kill down any weed escapes (to keep them from shedding seeds). Have you thought about this perspective? even thought it will cost to plant the soybeans, and you can no direct return, you may see that you will recover your cost in next years corn. Think about it.
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East Central Nebraska | Last year after wheat harvest I applied manure. Then August 2 I drilled sorghum sudangrass as a cover. The manure supplied some nitrogen. It reached a height of 4 ft even though it hardly rained and kept the weeds under control until the frost killed it. However volunteer wheat had to be controled the next spring. |
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| Watch out for alleopathy from the ss on the corn. I've read of some real disasters trying to following milo and sorghum with corn. Maybe someone with experience can comment. |
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| Back in '01 we planted several acres of sorghum-sudangrass on some preventitive plant corn ground. If I remember right we finished planting beans towards the end of June so it would have been almost this late in the year when we planted the s-s. Our plan was to bale several cuttings off of it but it got away from us so we ended up renting a disk mower conditioner and mowed it down on 9-11-01 then chopped it several days later. The next year we planted a little more and since we knew what we were doing then we mowed it earlier and I think we baled two crops of hay off of it. The downside to baling it is that it takes the better part of a week of good weather to get it dry but it will make alot of tonnage and the cows really seemed to like it. What worked the best for us was letting cows graze it during the summer, we had two small fields (around 4-5 acres each) beside one of our pastures that we let them rotationally graze all summer and I don't think I've ever seen cows as happy as when we'd let them into one of those fields. |
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| bgunzy, First, I commend you for thinking about more diverse rotations. Eddie is correct in that the sorghums (including sudan) are strongly allelopathic to corn. If you remove most of the residue by baling or grazing, it might not be too bad. However, the goal is to grow a corn crop that is healthier than average the next spring, not weaker than normal. Corn following wheat in south-central Iowa is going to be challenging anyway, and my guess is that sorghum or sudan will make it worse no matter how it's managed. I would look for something else, such as forage radish, or a mixture of radish + sunflower, or perhaps radish + sunflower + clover. |
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Humeston, IA | Thanks for the replies, guys. It sounds like S-S could cause issues for the next year's corn crop. How about drilling oats after the wheat? If it gets rain we could have a forage crop to take off. Plus, it would frost kill if we took it out that long. The main goal for this project is to build organic matter on particular fields that have been severely eroded without costing a great amount. So, anything that A) can produce a good amount of organic matter but B) could be prepared for no-tilling corn into the next year without causing a big headache would fit the ticket. Maybe interseeding clover with the wheat would be good, too? Thanks! |
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Dublin, VA | We have planted some BMR S-S for the after wheat to gain some hay this year. It was planned to be no-tilled into corn next year. Thought of only taking one cutting and leave rest for winter cover. Would this be deadly to following corn crop? Could sparying a herbicide (gly) when starting to come back after cutting then using another cover help? Just a few question that came to mind. Thanks for the help.
Scott |
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| Scott, The sorghums ahead of corn can be bad, but it depends on many factors. Removing the residue helps (baling, etc). Killing the sorghum before it produces lots of regrowth after the cutting will also help. If the sorghum-sudan is in rows, plant the following corn between the old rows to avoid the residue, to the extent possible. Of course, killing the sorghum early defeats some of your reasons for growing it (all the more reason to choose some other rotational sequence in the future).
Do whatever else you can to prevent stress on the following corn crop. Make sure you've got the necessary fertility in the right place at the right time, don't plant too early, use high-vigor seed, etc., and you can 'get away' with corn following sorghum. Still not a great practice, though. |
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nw pa | could drill some oats for chopping, We tried planting some buckwheat after wheat a couple of years ago. Made more on the buckwheat than the wheat. It is a little tricky and need a late frost in this area, also a heavy rain when it's ripe can dislodge a lot of buckwheat which grows like crazy in the spring. Buckwheat does do a good job of controlling lots of diseases and weeds. We ever get the wheat off were going to plant fifty acres or so. One thing to keep in mind is you need a market. I figure when the neighbors see us planting it and next year when i tell them how good it turned out we will be able to sell a lot of seed. =(:) |
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Dublin, VA | Thanks for the help. The Sorghum-Sudan has been drilled so i guess we'll have do do what ever else we can do. Thank goodness its only one field. Will be sure and keep those factors in mind when planting the corn. I hope next year the timothy will make enough we don't have to do this again, but will find something else for sure. Thanks again.
Scott |
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| Have you thought about pearl millet? It may not be popular with other grain farmers but if you are looking for hay it may be an excellent choice. My Uncle has done this several times and planted it about this time of the year. He fed it to his cows and they loved it. They would turn down alfalfa for it!!! I would have to ask him what it yeilded but I knwo he was very pleased with it.
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Leesburg, Ohio | Can't speak to SS...no experience there, and no problem with other's posts in that regard. Just to add to Martin's comment on dcbeans...you said your goal is to improve soil prior to next year's corn crop...the beans would do that, and add nitrogen. Have a neighbor that has planted dcbeans for 30 years after wheat. His philosophy is "I'm going to have to control the weeds anyway, so the RUP is not a marginal cost, only the seed and drilling is additional cost. I'm going to mow anyway, so why not mow it with a 30' mower (combine) instead of a 15' mower (bush hog)?" In this area, we usually get anywhere from 10 - 30 bu./ac., more than enough to pay marginal costs. Your mileage may vary.
FWIW
Ken |
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Sorghum-sudangrass after wheat?
