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Martinsville, Ohio | I have not invested in much tile, mainly tile repairs but mine is mostly rolling to flat ground which had tile blowouts. I repaired all of those and keep repairing them.
I lime and fertilize according to a Midwest soil test and tissue test. I probably fertilize a little heavier than some but I know I have put on as much micronutrients as anyone has, probably approaching 10 lbs of actual boron, manganese, zinc and a little copper. This came from my tissue test and from talking to my mentors and seeing what they do.
I think the Martin system is key to planting corn the first day the ground is ready. Last year that was March 18, the year before was June 1 and the year before was early April. It varies that much around here and nothing is really planted in my area yet so we are looking at least May again. Another thing is you can plant quicker after it does rain without waiting for a coulter to cut a slice or tillage to dry it back out.
I think if you talked to Jeff Littrell at FHR or John Haggard or someone like that, you could raise your yields on low yielding ground. What these guys are doing is amazing and I talk to them often. Just adding that calcium nitrate U trough to a planter could give you 20 bushels as I have seen on so many farms. I see guys going away from RR back to non GMO and raising yields 20 bushels. Many of these are strip till setups others are more pure notill like I prefer. I can't say cover crops have increased my yields but they have controlled my Marestail which made bushels and my soil structure keeps improving which helps my corn under stress.
There is no easy simple way to grow more corn but it is very possible and many on here are doing it. I think you can too.
Ed Winkle | |
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notill ?? for Ed Winkle
