Corn/sobybean mix ratio

[huthut]

For those of you who have done the combo seeding of corn and soybean what ratio have you had success with. I have heard 40lbs beans to 10lbs corn, I have heard 8:1 beans to corn?

I am going to do this in a 4 acre plot. Last year I did 2 acres soybeans and 2 acres corn. Drought was tough on both. Beans got hammered pretty hard and did not produced much for pods but I did overseed with rye and brassicas. Corn produced decent ears. I think the corn may help protect the soybeans going this route.

Let me know - probably going to plant tomorrow

 

[Freeborn]

Have you tried Milorganite as a deterrent for your beans? I have had success with Milorganite and have seen it work in Ag areas where deer have other choices for food. I don’t have a high deer density so I use 150 Lbs per acre but have seen recommendations as high as 250 Lbs per acre.

As for a mix of soy to corn I remember 7/1 being recommended. I have never heard that mixing corn and beans will protect the beans from browse and thought the reason to mix was to provide cover for the deer.

Are you using a planter, if you are you may try planting alternating rows (xx# soybeans with xx# of corn)?

 

[wildfire]

I have had better luck planting 8 rows of corn and 16 rows of beans. The corn is used for a screen.

 

[j-bird]

I plant corn and soybeans all the time,but never mixed them together. I use a 2 row planter and have put beans in one hopper and corn in the other before -look funny, but the deer didtn't care. If you have had luck that is great, but the fertilizer requirements are totally different. So is how they react to competition. Most folks mix corn with beans simply to add a sense of security and take what they can get from it producing grain. If you want corn to get your deer thru the winter, then you need to not mix it to give it the best chance. I typically plant the main body of my plot in beans and then go around the outside edges of the plot with my rows of corn. This encloses the plot and I still get grain from the corn and the beans and can still hit both with gly. Corn simply grows better in rows not sure why it just does. Beans don't care. If I wanted to add cover and not concerned about feedin gthe deer there are much cheaper alternatives, like EW or sorghum (not round-up ready however). Beans will also do better with weeds than corn will. You want cheap cover in your beans - only spray your beans once eary to make sure they get ahead start then let the weeds come in. I get giant ragweed,lambs quarter and cockelbur.

 

[huthut]

I try to get some cover in the area to in addition to food. I had good luck broadcasting beans and corn together a few years back, however I had gotten a planter and then kept them separate. Problems with planter right now and will probably broadcast both together again and do some testing. Plan right now is to do strips N & S Corn(20 lbs/acre), soybeans (1.5 bushels/acre), combo (1 bushel soybeans/acre & 10 lbs corn). This area is part of a 13 acre central food plot on our acreage. May bump this to 6 acres this year as I can always overseed. Winter rye/brassicas/clover will go in on the remaining ground Late June.

Do these broadcast rates look reasonable? suggestions?

 

[Dave63]

Someone on the QDM forum was using a ratio of 7:1 beans to corn with good success. Cant remember who it was just the ratio.

 

[huthut]

Planting is complete ( for now) 7 acres corn 4 acres soybeans -- broadcast corn at 25,000 seeds/acre and soybeans 1.5 bushels/acre. Ended up not doing a combo mix planting as originally planned. Definitely missed my JD 1240 planter this year - looking to go no till in the future but need to find a good used unit or find someone in central wi area who rents one. Also got an acre of buckwheat planted for the honeybees but my deer actually used it alot last year. That was my first year with buckwheat and it was well utilized.


Then to top things off i got 150 of Big Rock's hybrid willow and poplar cuttings in the ground. Now time to take care of the boss on her special day!

 

[Doug Galloway]

full acre rate of beans + 1/3rd the acre rate of corn....that is what showed best in Craig Harper's food plot studies.

Sometimes we put 1-2 lbs of small seeded corn in the spring mix...but milo is the better option here for fall/winter grain.