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Iowa | I am 100% corn, some for 33 years and some was second-year in 2012.
I do it all wrong but have no yield drag--or at least I havent in the past--was all corn in 2o12 for the first time so in 33 years, I have 32 years of side-by-side compared to first year corn.
What works for me:
1) Get it fairly black. I have not moldboard plowed for at least 25 years. I like to shred the stalks and then chisel plow, many like to "rip"-personal preference. I have never spent extra $$ on spraying the stalks w something in the fall to break them down, I just run the stalk chopper all fall. Yes, it is a higher-maintenance piece of equipment, but not too bad if I spend the extra $$ on hard-faced knives. I feel shredding the stalks is important as little pieces decompose faster and are easier to sweep away with the row cleaners. I like a good 5-bar harrow on the back of the chisel to smooth down the ridges and leave things more mellow.
2) 2/3 of N needs as LATE fall ammonia--around Thanksgiving, not NOV 1 when the odds are way better for loss. Do the fields that will be wettest in spring first because waiting until LATE fall some years you don't get it all done, so some years I have to do some in the spring, but if I'm careful, I can pick the fields that dry out well for the spring ammonia. I feel LATE when COLD for the fall ammonia is important. I am not in a race to be the first done w ammonia, I am in this to make money.
3) Row cleaners on planter. Goal is a black strip w low residue to plant into. Plant 5mph. Buy a bigger planter if you have to go faster to get done. Plant DEEP, none of this 1.75-2" land-grant college crap. At least 2.5". It'll come up.
4) NEVER plant a field w/o SABR-X. I guess this has nothing to do with c/c but ALL corn, whether first-year or 33rd year c-c. Of course this is a relatively recent development, but it WORKS and boosts yields.
5) Final 1/3 of N as liquid with the herbicide incorporated right ahead of the planter. Yes, I know I "should" sidedress, but I have only seen it pay about two or three years in 33. I can always sidedress a little bit if I'm worried, but I don't plan on it and rarely do.
6) Variety selection is way, way important. Rotate rootworm events. VT3 then Hurculex, etc. There are real problems to using several year's of VT3 in a row. Goss's wilt resistance has recently become important, too.
7) Scout at silking, use very little fungicide (see, I told you I do it all wrong), and use fungicide only where you really must, maybe on average just a couple of fields a year--variety selection will help you skip the fungicide. I never do something in "panic mode" because "everyone" else is doing it. I walk my fields and decide, leaning toward NOT doing something unless the economic threshold will definitely be hit by quite a bit.
8) I have manure I can rotate around on the closer farms, that helps a lot. On further-out farms I test for sulfur and boron. I don't waste the soil test $$ testing for micros where I can apply manure.
9) Lime, Lime, Lime. If soil test says it needs it, I do it. Always VRT.
So I do it all wrong and plan on continuing to do so: No AMS in the fall to break down the stalks, no sidedressing, no fungicide. Save a lot of $$. And no yield lag. | |
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corn on corn yield drag?
