Mowed my standing corn stalks

[JFK52]

I leave 5 acres of RR corn standing for the deer so they can have winter food in the Town of Almond, Portage county Wisconsin. This year I had a huge amount of deer (50+) yarding on or near my property due to my corn and soy bean fields. All fields were pretty well stripped by the deer in mid February.
I mowed my standing corn Tuesday March 14. The weather had taken a cold turn for the previous 4-5 days with below freezing temps as day time highs. Perfect weather to mow the stalks, as they were good and frozen. It took about 3 hours with the my L345 4x4 diesel Kubota and 5 foot Land Pride brush hog. I had an old set of blades on the mower which is perfect for this job. A newly sharpened set will go on for my regular season mowing after this job. The corn mowed really well. It shattered great. Most stalks were about 4 foot tall, with some areas having 5-6 foot stalks. The FEL pushed the stalks down so the mower could really chop them up and spit them out. There were a few cobs that the deer had not eaten the bottom third of the cob. The kernels are now spread about the field and will be cleaned up by the deer and turkeys. Any further snows this season and rains when it gets warmer will help decompose the mowed stalks before my no till planting in mid to late May. I will probably rotate this field to soy beans for the upcoming year. My fields are no till planted, but mowing the stalks never hurts anything in my book.

 

[John-W-WI]

I try to do the same. I was just about to mow as we had dried out and refroze then we got a couple inches of snow. Hoping it dries out and freezes again before spring!

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[j-bird]

Mowing helps, but getting them worked into the soil will help with the decomp even faster - that is one of the reasons lots of farmers plow after the harvest. It's also another negative to planting corn vs planting soybeans. I need to mow mine down as well, but the mild winter here has left more than enough actual corn still out there. I will more than likely get lots of volunteer plants this coming spring.

 

[Tree Spud]

Mowing helps, but getting them worked into the soil will help with the decomp even faster - that is one of the reasons lots of farmers plow after the harvest. It's also another negative to planting corn vs planting soybeans. I need to mow mine down as well, but the mild winter here has left more than enough actual corn still out there. I will more than likely get lots of volunteer plants this coming spring.

I ran my new/old 6' culti-packer over 4 acres of corn stalks this past sunday. Slow going as my suv tires were just outside the rows.

Everything was dropped to ground level and we had 8" of snow Monday. If I had a brush cutter, which I plan to buy, would have done that.

Everything is at ground level now gathering moisture, which hopefully will help when I disc into the soil.

Many of you experts will know if I did the correct thing or not, I am just trying to work with the tools I have.


.

 

[John-W-WI]

Everything is at ground level now gathering moisture, which hopefully will help when I disc into the soil.

Many of you experts will know if I did the correct thing or not, I am just trying to work with the tools I have.

I think your approach was a great one. Mowing/discing/whatever all I'm trying to do is break them up and get them wet. Nothing stinks more than discing standing corn when you are trying to get ready to plant. Get them on the ground and wet. They will be soft by May and much easier to deal with!

I might even try discing them with frozen ground. Not sure it will work, but I was hoping the disc would be able to "slice" them up more? If I get the chance I'll give it a try and report back how it goes.

 

[j-bird]

I ran my new/old 6' culti-packer over 4 acres of corn stalks this past sunday. Slow going as my suv tires were just outside the rows.

Everything was dropped to ground level and we had 8" of snow Monday. If I had a brush cutter, which I plan to buy, would have done that.

Everything is at ground level now gathering moisture, which hopefully will help when I disc into the soil.

Many of you experts will know if I did the correct thing or not, I am just trying to work with the tools I have.


.

We all work with what we have. All I know is that the microbes in the soil grossly speed up the process and the longer the soil has a chance to work the better. Many times we use a wrench as a hammer.....we have all done it. What ever gets the job done.

 

[Bill]

I ran my new/old 6' culti-packer over 4 acres of corn stalks this past sunday. Slow going as my suv tires were just outside the rows.

Everything was dropped to ground level and we had 8" of snow Monday. If I had a brush cutter, which I plan to buy, would have done that.

Everything is at ground level now gathering moisture, which hopefully will help when I disc into the soil.

Many of you experts will know if I did the correct thing or not, I am just trying to work with the tools I have.


.

Careful with the SUV in corn. I ran my F-250 threw one of my fields once and the corn ripped the brake fluid cooling line out at the cooler. I lost all brakes

Probably didn't help that I was going across it like Bo Duke would have.

 

[j-bird]

Corn stalks also play hell with tires!

 

[JFK52]

If I have the time before the field is no-till planted, I will run my disc over the field. This helps loosen and aerate the ground before planting. It will also bust up any organic material like the remnants of the mowed corn stalks into the soil. Just another thing to do for a good food plot result.