JD 7000 corn planter to no till

I need to resurrect this thread. I am all in on rebuilding a JD 7000 pull type 4 row planter. I have Yetter shark tooth screw adjust floating row cleaners. With regard to residue, I see you used a field cultivator above. I am planning to plant corn this spring and like Brian, I will leave it standing for the critters. If I were to mow it in stages throughout next fall, then lightly disc the following spring after I add fertilizer, do you think row cleaners could handle the residue? We do have a small field cultivator and a springtooth available, but I don't want to beat the soil to death so fewer passes is desirable. I would also likely broadcast a cover crop or even just straight rye at some point to keep something growing all fall. Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
I need to resurrect this thread. I am all in on rebuilding a JD 7000 pull type 4 row planter. I have Yetter shark tooth screw adjust floating row cleaners. With regard to residue, I see you used a field cultivator above. I am planning to plant corn this spring and like Brian, I will leave it standing for the critters. If I were to mow it in stages throughout next fall, then lightly disc the following spring after I add fertilizer, do you think row cleaners could handle the residue? We do have a small field cultivator and a springtooth available, but I don't want to beat the soil to death so fewer passes is desirable. I would also likely broadcast a cover crop or even just straight rye at some point to keep something growing all fall. Thoughts? Suggestions?
What I've done with corn is mow it ASAP after it has been eaten by the deer and turkeys, normally around here it is when the snow allows. I brush hog it to near the ground level and then have 1-3 months before planting and a large percentage of the residue blows off the field in some form or another.
However, with the row cleaners this has become less necessary and next year I may just plant into the standing stalks.
I have rye and crimson cover crops this year in most of my plots and will terminate and plant the row crops into those, possibly with some pre-emergent.
 
What I've done with corn is mow it ASAP after it has been eaten by the deer and turkeys, normally around here it is when the snow allows. I brush hog it to near the ground level and then have 1-3 months before planting and a large percentage of the residue blows off the field in some form or another.
However, with the row cleaners this has become less necessary and next year I may just plant into the standing stalks.
I have rye and crimson cover crops this year in most of my plots and will terminate and plant the row crops into those, possibly with some pre-emergent.

Do you knock down much corn when you go in with the rye and clover? And when do you apply your fertilizer? Before or after you mow?


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I think I misunderstood. Do you rotate three years? Corn, then rye/crimson, then beans? Allowing an extra year for the residue to degrade before you go in with the planter again?


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Do you knock down much corn when you go in with the rye and clover? And when do you apply your fertilizer? Before or after you mow?


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My planter has fertilizer boxes on it, so I fertilize at planting with a starter fertilizer I get leftover from my farmer. I then apply urea when the corn is under a foot tall before rain.

I only broadcast rye and crimson with a solo spreader from the edges. I normally plant long, linear plots 12-20 rows so I can throw a lot of seed in from the edges or in bare spots.
 
I think I misunderstood. Do you rotate three years? Corn, then rye/crimson, then beans? Allowing an extra year for the residue to degrade before you go in with the planter again?


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Negative. Rye and crimson are just to maximize tonnage on small acres and give early spring forage, they also add to OM and nutrient cycling a little bit. I terminate them at time of planting corn or beans, I don't give them time to mature.
 
My planter has fertilizer boxes on it, so I fertilize at planting with a starter fertilizer I get leftover from my farmer. I then apply urea when the corn is under a foot tall before rain.

I only broadcast rye and crimson with a solo spreader from the edges. I normally plant long, linear plots 12-20 rows so I can throw a lot of seed in from the edges or in bare spots.

How many lbs/acre of urea do you spread?
 
My planter has fertilizer boxes on it, so I fertilize at planting with a starter fertilizer I get leftover from my farmer. I then apply urea when the corn is under a foot tall before rain.

I only broadcast rye and crimson with a solo spreader from the edges. I normally plant long, linear plots 12-20 rows so I can throw a lot of seed in from the edges or in bare spots.

Mine has fertilizer boxes, but I think they are more work than I can get ready by this spring. Plan for now is to spread and lightly incorporate AMS before planting. By next go around I should be ready. What is the difference between starter fertilizer and other fertilizers? Total newbie here


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Mine has fertilizer boxes, but I think they are more work than I can get ready by this spring. Plan for now is to spread and lightly incorporate AMS before planting. By next go around I should be ready. What is the difference between starter fertilizer and other fertilizers? Total newbie here


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Probably more of a question for @BuckSutherland or @FarmerDan but starter fertilizer I have been told is usually more of like a triple 19 and urea (in my case) is top dressed after the corn is 6-12" tall.
 
Probably more of a question for @BuckSutherland or @FarmerDan but starter fertilizer I have been told is usually more of like a triple 19 and urea (in my case) is top dressed after the corn is 6-12" tall.
As we all know growing corn needs a lot of nutrients. Best practice has different rates of application at different times after (or before) planting. Arguably, nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient. The idea is that a large amount of N should be applied at the time of the corn plants fastest growth period. Nitrogen will not persist in the soil. so timing is critical to drag as much yield as possible. If you are not worried about yield then split applications of N are likely not necessary.

The second most limiting nutrient is phosphorous - stay in your seat potassium advocates - because in production agriculture about 90% of corn is planted into cold soils in early spring. Typically there's always lots of P in the soil but it's locked in the soil. As weathering occurs phosphorous ions break away. If there's a big "bucket" of P then there's a bigger possibility of loose P ions available for absorption by the corn plant roots.

OK. There's a reason for all this background because the 4 row corn planter with fertilizer boxes was designed to address the adverse soil conditions when corn was planted early spring. The planter cut fertilizer channels in the soil as the starter fertilizer dribble out of the planter box fertilizer hoppers; 2 inches to the left and right of the seed furrow and an inch or two deep. A high analysis fertilizer was handy because it cut down on the number of bags - yes, bags -required to make a trip across a field. Eventually fertilizer tenders replaced bags.

But as the number of acres planted by each farm operator increased the practice of starter fertilizer side band application fell to increase the speed of planting.

Today I would guess most fertilizer for corn is broadcast at an appropriate rate to accomplish starter yield requirements. Additional N is applied, side-dressed at the appropriate time.

Whew! What's the difference between starter fertilizer and other fertilizers? Not much. Just the "right" amount of fertilizer applied, somehow, at the right time. I dunno. Did that help?
 
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I would think with no till you would plant green with a starter fertilizer then top dress with N at the first and possibly only gly application if that’s the herbicide you use. That would make the most sense to me on a corn bean rotation but I am no farmer. Then again food plotting isn’t farming so…


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I need to resurrect this thread. I am all in on rebuilding a JD 7000 pull type 4 row planter. I have Yetter shark tooth screw adjust floating row cleaners. With regard to residue, I see you used a field cultivator above. I am planning to plant corn this spring and like Brian, I will leave it standing for the critters. If I were to mow it in stages throughout next fall, then lightly disc the following spring after I add fertilizer, do you think row cleaners could handle the residue? We do have a small field cultivator and a springtooth available, but I don't want to beat the soil to death so fewer passes is desirable. I would also likely broadcast a cover crop or even just straight rye at some point to keep something growing all fall. Thoughts? Suggestions?


If you are gonna plant beans after corn there should be no need to do tillage. Leave the stalks extra long when you chop them down and then just plant between the old rows. Leaving the stuff longer makes less trash left to contend with on the ground for the planter. I wouldn't even chop the stuff down if it were mine, I would just go in the following spring and plant my beans into the standing corn. If you are gonna plant corn on corn then I would suggest tillage. I like to run a field cultivator before planting corn to get a consistent seeding depth and to incorporate my urea. Planting depth for corn is very fussy. I want all my corn planted at 2-2.25" deep. Planting depth for beans does not matter. Just get the bastards in contact with the soil and they will eventually grow.


My martin floating row cleaners can handle 250 bushel corn residue no-tilling soybeans the following year. If you chop them stalks up you can make a smeary mat of snotty wet cornstalks to deal with.
 
How many lbs/acre of urea do you spread?


100# of urea has 46# of nitrogen. Probably want about 125-200# of total nitrogen for a food plot depending on goals. You might also get some additional nitrogen from phosphorus or AMS applications. In my ag production acres west of Somaliapolis I am usually applying 180-200# of total N. Some of my neighbors apply more and some apply less. I can get 250 bushel corn with 200# of N in a corn on soybean ground rotation if we get decent rain. 4-6% organic matter ground.
 
Mine has fertilizer boxes, but I think they are more work than I can get ready by this spring. Plan for now is to spread and lightly incorporate AMS before planting. By next go around I should be ready. What is the difference between starter fertilizer and other fertilizers? Total newbie here


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You dont have to incorporate AMS like urea. AMS is a stable form of nitrogen and it could lay there for a few weeks until a rain washes it in. 100# of AMS is gonna get you 21# of nitrogen. I would think the bare minimum you want is 100# of N if you are planting into soybean ground. That probably gonna support a population of 22-26,000 plants an acre.


The "starter" fertilizers most consist of P and K (phosphorus and potassium). P and K move very little in the soil. Your nitrogen fertilizers like urea, AMS, anhydrous ammonia or ammonium nitrate move easily in the soil. The boxes on your planter are primarily for placing P and K close to the row. The nitrogen fertilizers are more for broadcast as they can get very hot when placed in a concentrated band next to the seedling corn plants. I have routinely applied 256# of fertilizer with my planter, but I have nice heavy ground. Not all soils could handle that much that close to the seed. 150-200#/acre of 9-23-30 would be a great blend for a food plot.
 
You dont have to incorporate AMS like urea. AMS is a stable form of nitrogen and it could lay there for a few weeks until a rain washes it in. 100# of AMS is gonna get you 21# of nitrogen. I would think the bare minimum you want is 100# of N if you are planting into soybean ground. That probably gonna support a population of 22-26,000 plants an acre.


The "starter" fertilizers most consist of P and K (phosphorus and potassium). P and K move very little in the soil. Your nitrogen fertilizers like urea, AMS, anhydrous ammonia or ammonium nitrate move easily in the soil. The boxes on your planter are primarily for placing P and K close to the row. The nitrogen fertilizers are more for broadcast as they can get very hot when placed in a concentrated band next to the seedling corn plants. I have routinely applied 256# of fertilizer with my planter, but I have nice heavy ground. Not all soils could handle that much that close to the seed. 150-200#/acre of 9-23-30 would be a great blend for a food plot.
This answers so much. I am planning on renting a fertilizer buggy from the coop and the minimum for AMS is a ton. That works out to 120# of N for my 3.5 acre plot. With a single bag of seed, that would put mu population right at 22,800 which seems in line with your comment as well. I'll see about 9-23-30. If they have a one ton minimum on that too, it would be too much on my plot. But I also have a PTO broadcast spreader and if I can get bags, I can get it dialed in. Thanks for all the good info!
 
As we all know growing corn needs a lot of nutrients. Best practice has different rates of application at different times after (or before) planting. Arguably, nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient. The idea is that a large amount of N should be applied at the time of the corn plants fastest growth period. Nitrogen will not persist in the soil. so timing is critical to drag as much yield as possible. If you are not worried about yield then split applications of N are likely not necessary.

The second most limiting nutrient is phosphorous - stay in your seat potassium advocates - because in production agriculture about 90% of corn is planted into cold soils in early spring. Typically there's always lots of P in the soil but it's locked in the soil. As weathering occurs phosphorous ions break away. If there's a big "bucket" of P then there's a bigger possibility of loose P ions available for absorption by the corn plant roots.

OK. There's a reason for all this background because the 4 row corn planter with fertilizer boxes was designed to address the adverse soil conditions when corn was planted early spring. The planter cut fertilizer channels in the soil as the starter fertilizer dribble out of the planter box fertilizer hoppers; 2 inches to the left and right of the seed furrow and an inch or two deep. A high analysis fertilizer was handy because it cut down on the number of bags - yes, bags -required to make a trip across a field. Eventually fertilizer tenders replaced bags.

But as the number of acres planted by each farm operator increased the practice of starter fertilizer side band application fell to increase the speed of planting.

Today I would guess most fertilizer for corn is broadcast at an appropriate rate to accomplish starter yield requirements. Additional N is applied, side-dressed at the appropriate time.

Whew! What's the difference between starter fertilizer and other fertilizers? Not much. Just the "right" amount of fertilizer applied, somehow, at the right time. I dunno. Did that help?
I feel like I have to try corn at least once. I am probably overthinking it since this is my first time (we all know what that's like 😉). I also don't want to "mine" my soils, but since I'm not harvesting, its probably not too bad. I plan to soil test regularly to stay on top of it. This is all so fun! Haha!
 
You dont have to incorporate AMS like urea. AMS is a stable form of nitrogen and it could lay there for a few weeks until a rain washes it in. 100# of AMS is gonna get you 21# of nitrogen. I would think the bare minimum you want is 100# of N if you are planting into soybean ground. That probably gonna support a population of 22-26,000 plants an acre.


The "starter" fertilizers most consist of P and K (phosphorus and potassium). P and K move very little in the soil. Your nitrogen fertilizers like urea, AMS, anhydrous ammonia or ammonium nitrate move easily in the soil. The boxes on your planter are primarily for placing P and K close to the row. The nitrogen fertilizers are more for broadcast as they can get very hot when placed in a concentrated band next to the seedling corn plants. I have routinely applied 256# of fertilizer with my planter, but I have nice heavy ground. Not all soils could handle that much that close to the seed. 150-200#/acre of 9-23-30 would be a great blend for a food plot.

Buck ... I am ignorant on AMS is handled and applied. Can you describe the AMS process, and application?
 
Buck ... I am ignorant on AMS is handled and applied. Can you describe the AMS process, and application?
I asked for advice on another forum, and this was the response I got.

"If not incorporating, granular AMS (21-0-0-24S) is your friend. Even treated Urea will have substantial losses.

AMS is super stable, the sulfur is a great bonus that corn needs as well. It's also a much slower release than Urea.

Good read on the topic:"
 
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