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Roanoke, IN | It's a lot more cost, management, and risk than growing a rotation. Sometimes it pays, sometimes not. Corn is a taker crop. So in doing COC, how are you giving?
You aren't doing anything gray or sneaky. NOP requires a crop rotation and diversity. By having rye in between corn plantings, you are following the letter, but maybe not the spirit of the law. Some certifiers have additional rules on top of NOP to receive their stamp of approval. 2 years of corn and several years of hay isn't a bad rotation, you just have to step back and have a long term plan not a seat of your pants year to year impulse.
You have a good start with stalks being disked and cover crop planted. In hindsight, rye was probably not the best choice, but if killed in the early vegetative stage, it should be ok. I would look into applying a microbial product to aid in stalk digestion and apply it when working down your rye cover.
Chicken manure your only fertilizer? Layer? What's the analysis? It's real easy to overdue the P. Heavy amounts of spring manure really make the weeds grow so you'll need to be very attentive to timing all weed control passes perfectly and praying for good weather. Shooting by the hip, I would guess you'll be short of K, S, and micronutrients. I would highly recommend at least applying 200 lbs of K2SO4.
This is doable, but highly risky and I would look into what crop insurance options you might have. | |
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Organic corn on corn
