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Considering non round up ready corn an beans

Jordan Selsor

5 year old buck +
Well I am already thinking about what I want to plant this spring/summer. I am considering going with NON round up ready corn and beans. Cost is my main motive. Does anyone here opt to go with products like tyrone forage soy beans or recommend a good corn seed that is non round up ready? Also whats your all's opinions on mixing corn an beans vs planting them individually OR side by side??? Please chime in on your experiences.
 
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What would you do for weed control? I know some guys that plant conventional corn and beans and also some organic farmers. They have a lot of tractor hours running cultivator and one organic guy bought a flame weeder. He said the fire sets the corn back quite a bit. I was at one guys farm this fall and they were cleaning their organic beans as they went in the bin, the pile of weed seeds was huge! Yields were 1/2 of RR in the area. With food plots and other habitat work to get done I would think the time savings of RR would be a huge benefit.
 
That doesn't sound like a bad plan at all Jordan, BUT you would be very limited in what you could use to control the weeds, and pretty much nothing if you did a mixed planting. If you already have a nice clean plot, you might be ok. If you go corn in one area and soys in another, you could use clethodim or sethoxydim on the beans to kill grasses and basgran or atrazine on the corn to kill broadleaf weeds. You would still have broadleafs in your beans and other grasses invading your corn and no way to combat them.
 
I planted sweet corn this year and did nothing for weeds. I over-seeded WR around July 4th. The corn turned out good, I got about 10-12" ears. After the coons ate all the corn I was left with a WR/weed plot.
 
What would you do for weed control? I know some guys that plant conventional corn and beans and also some organic farmers. They have a lot of tractor hours running cultivator and one organic guy bought a flame weeder. He said the fire sets the corn back quite a bit. I was at one guys farm this fall and they were cleaning their organic beans as they went in the bin, the pile of weed seeds was huge! Yields were 1/2 of RR in the area. With food plots and other habitat work to get done I would think the time savings of RR would be a huge benefit.
I would do my best to prepare a weed free soil bed with round up and mechanical tillage prior to sowing seed then nothing.
 
Jordan another option that would be cheaper is to join local chapter of NWTF. They usually offer their members RR corn and RR soybeans for about 15 dollars a bag. This is cheaper than non RR seed and you will be able to control weeds.
 
I would do my best to prepare a weed free soil bed with round up and mechanical tillage prior to sowing seed then nothing.
In the long run I think you would be happier with RR seed. You can get RR conservation seed through the WTF if you are a member. If you have a neighbor who is a farmer ask to buy the seed he cleans out of his planter each spring. You end up buying it a year before you need it but if you do it each year you end up with the seed you need and a routine that works.
 
You can get RR conservation seed through the WTF if you are a member.

I joined WTF years ago. Awesome group. They don't have the answer, but its a good comeback when the answer escapes you.. WTF?
 
How much seed is the WTF able to provide? I'm considering joining. I do get a few bags of seed from one of the MDHA chapters, but more seed would be good. I prefer $5 or $15 / bag seed to the alternatives. RR Seed corn / beans is not cheap.
 
My NWTF chapter is offering beans at $25 and corn at $40. Not sure if you get or are guaranteed all the bags you ask for but don't specify a max either.
 
MO....I'm curious What does a bag of RR corn cost these days? How about RR soy beans? (all in small quantities)
 
I get mine from a farmer or from the seed co-op. Most of the time for free. I get broken bags or left over trial seed from the seed co-op - It costs me a 3lb deer summer sausage, cheese and crackers - they look forward to me coming in now! From the farmer I simply get what he has left over from his drill and planter when he is done planting for the year.

Applying gly is just simpler in the long run in my opinion. If you want to keep costs down - look at soybeans (they tend to run 1/2 the cost on a per bag basis - but you seed them heavier) they are a great late season draw, but lack the cover aspect, and are "easier" to grow that corn and tend to not have as high fertilizer costs. Corn HATES competition so weed control is very important if you want a decent grain crop.

remember beans are a broadleaf and corn is a grass so mixing them tends to limit herbicide choices.
 
I just use RR corn and beans and spray it once. All done.

I get most of my seed for free or on the cheap through various channels. Seed costs are very minimal. Its everything else that adds up for me!

Hopefully fertilzer comes down with the petroleum price drop.... Not holding my breath.
 
Has anyone ever over seeded corn with somthing such as clover? Would this stunt the corn. I know it's a weed but its a desirable weed for us plotters. I planted milo this yr in a well prepared seed bed an didn't have to much weed trouble. The more I think about it I will prolly just plant non round up ready corn. The beans aren't that unreasonable in price for what you get
 
I've added clover to both beans and corn after spraying with excellent results. This year I'm considering planting non rr beans and I will be drilling them with sorghum sudan and peas. This plot will give me early maturing peas, late maturing beans and cover with ssg. Only reason I would use non rr seed is if I'm mixing other seed combos.
 
I've added clover to both beans and corn after spraying with excellent results. This year I'm considering planting non rr beans and I will be drilling them with sorghum sudan and peas. This plot will give me early maturing peas, late maturing beans and cover with ssg. Only reason I would use non rr seed is if I'm mixing other seed combos.
Please get us some pictures of that plot as the season progresses.
 
MO....I'm curious What does a bag of RR corn cost these days? How about RR soy beans? (all in small quantities)
MDHA chapters have limited amounts of RR corn at a reasonable (or free) price.
Tom-how many acres do you have for corn? Are you going to efence it? I fear your plot in the woods will get overbrowsed.
 
Over used by coons and bear if you have them.
 
I've added clover to both beans and corn after spraying with excellent results. This year I'm considering planting non rr beans and I will be drilling them with sorghum sudan and peas. This plot will give me early maturing peas, late maturing beans and cover with ssg. Only reason I would use non rr seed is if I'm mixing other seed combos.

What date are you broadcasting your clover and spraying? What seed count are you planting your beans/corn and what is your row width when planting. I'm trying for good yields to carry the deer through the winter so I am hesitant to broadcast too early as I don't want my primary crops to compete for water and nitrogen. I want my cover crops to add OM to my soil but not at the expense of my primary food plot. Depending on you soils, rain, and the nitrogen you are putting down it seems like you would be lower the yield of your primary crop. I did broadcast my cover crops the end of August of last year and also added about 30 lbs of nitrogen for my corn at the same time. I won't know exactly how well the cover crops did until this spring but am hoping for the best.

For Minnesota I need a cover crop the germinates and matures in 20-30 days. Probably not going to happen
 
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