For anyone interested, here is a daytime photo from today in some 200+ bu recently harvested corn stalks here in SW MN. This spot is maybe a mile and a half away and more typical of the heavy black, wet soils of the area than last night's spot. This I think of as Renville-type beet ground. Heavier, black and sticky. There was a good corn crop just harvested from this field. This picture is typical of what we are doing.

In the interest of full disclosure and honesty, we did break one part today (that's why we test) but should have it repaired and going again late tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Raining again right now. Still a lot of unharvested corn in this area.

We were putting down a heavy rate at about 7-8 mph in this photo. Manure was well sealed. Little or none visible on the surface. We had to poke down with a stalk to tell if there was manure there in spots - and there was. Trying to show possibilities. There ARE different ways of doing things.

An example is how strip till, with a variety of different types and brands of machines, is starting to take hold in this very difficult but productive growing area. As M is fond of saying - you need some black soil to warm up here. I agree. But maybe, just maybe (esp with rtk etc) you don't need to whole field surface to be black. One possibility is to place manure like this in the fall then strip till right over the top of it either in the fall or early spring...

Jim at Dawn

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IMG_2234_Coulter_Applied_Liquid_Manure_in_200+bu_cornstalks_SW_MN_112209.jpg (72KB - 101 downloads)