The perfect NoTill way to plant a corn plot??

[SWIFFY]

So I was thinking... I was watching a video from one of SD51555's posts about planting 60" double populated corn rows with a legume/brassica cover mix row at 30". It made me wonder what would be the best layout for planting a great yielding corn plot with a cover crop?

Right now I plant corn in a couple acres with 30" rows, and I plant a couple acres of beans in 30" rows. Now im getting into a different no till planter and im wondering.... what would be the perfect plotters way to do corn and beans. I want a good yield for winter food, but id love to add diversity and more food to it to feed throughout the year and id love to try and cutting down on the herbicide. Currently i rotate every year and overseed rye and brassicas in my corn and beans in late august but I think there could be a much better way.

If you could try it any way, what would you do for corn and/or bean row spacings? (Between 7 inches and 7 feet)

What would you plant? Stick to straight corn? Try corn at 60" and beans/peas/ radish/buckwheat at 30"?? 45" and 22 1/2"??

What are your thoughts for those of you that know corn? Crowd it too much and I wont get ears.... open it up too much and its all going to be weeds...

What are some thoughts? Im trying to brew up some recipes to try in a couple different plots this spring.

Thoughts, ideas, Thanks!

 

[Booner21]

I broadcast plant mine so may not be much help but I have been doing a mix of both the last few years and liking the outcome.


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[SD51555]

So I was thinking... I was watching a video from one of SD51555's posts about planting 60" double populated corn rows with a legume/brassica cover mix row at 30". It made me wonder what would be the best layout for planting a great yielding corn plot with a cover crop?

Right now I plant corn in a couple acres with 30" rows, and I plant a couple acres of beans in 30" rows. Now im getting into a different no till planter and im wondering.... what would be the perfect plotters way to do corn and beans. I want a good yield for winter food, but id love to add diversity and more food to it to feed throughout the year and id love to try and cutting down on the herbicide. Currently i rotate every year and overseed rye and brassicas in my corn and beans in late august but I think there could be a much better way.

If you could try it any way, what would you do for corn and/or bean row spacings? (Between 7 inches and 7 feet)

What would you plant? Stick to straight corn? Try corn at 60" and beans/peas/ radish/buckwheat at 30"?? 45" and 22 1/2"??

What are your thoughts for those of you that know corn? Crowd it too much and I wont get ears.... open it up too much and its all going to be weeds...

What are some thoughts? Im trying to brew up some recipes to try in a couple different plots this spring.

Thoughts, ideas, Thanks!

I think you've gotta build something like that from scratch and expect it to take a few years to perfect. To work well, it needs to be balanced, so I'd look at something like this, and the crazier you get with numbers, the better it's gonna do.

1/3 grass (BMR forage corn, forage barley, WGF sorghum)
1/3 legumes (soybeans, cowpeas, and fixation balansa)
1/3 broadleaves (buckwheat, sunflower, flax, pumpkin, squash)
+ 1/2 lb/ac forage collards.

That's where I'd start. If it were me, I'd double the number of varieties in each category (2nd type of corn, add oats & wheat, add jap millet etc,) . You just gotta try it and keep notes. Some stuff will do great, some won't come at all. Keep at it, and keep tweeking it. You'll get it dialed in. I'm still tinkering with my master blend, and I've been working on it for years and years.

Head over to green cover and start shopping for ingredients.

 

[SWIFFY]

Thanks SD. I was hoping you'd give me your 2 cents. Ive checked on green cover regularly, that is a great site.

So I guess... how are you "row cropping" this? I feel like too many things mixed WITH the Corn and I wont get much for cob size, thats my concern. So do you plant your corn in 60" rows and then mix the others in between? I love the mixes and the options it gives, but how are you dividing it out? And at what point is it competing with itself?

I understand much of those answers are what it takes years to figure out, trial and error.....

Thanks again

 

[SWIFFY]

I broadcast plant mine so may not be much help but I have been doing a mix of both the last few years and liking the outcome.


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Broadcasting corn? What is your mix?

 

[SD51555]

Thanks SD. I was hoping you'd give me your 2 cents. Ive checked on green cover regularly, that is a great site.

So I guess... how are you "row cropping" this? I feel like too many things mixed WITH the Corn and I wont get much for cob size, thats my concern. So do you plant your corn in 60" rows and then mix the others in between? I love the mixes and the options it gives, but how are you dividing it out? And at what point is it competing with itself?

I understand much of those answers are what it takes years to figure out, trial and error.....

Thanks again

Oh crap, I thought you were running a drill. No worry. Alternate your corn and bean boxes, and go in a circle so you've always got one side of the planter on the facing the outside, and the other always facing the inside. That'll give ya the 60" rows. I don't know what kind of planter you have, but crank up that corn rate as high as you can. It'll give you a doable corn rate, and a low end bean rate. If you have bean plates, have your bean boxes as pure beans, and then your corn boxes be 2/3 beans and 1/3 corn.

I'd broadcast everything else onto it just before you plant the corn and beans. May wanna skip the pumpkin and squash. I haven't had any luck broadcasting them yet. But if you can get them to go through your plates, give it a shot. Acorn squash or butternut squash seed may fit. I've not seen any pumpkin or squash go uneaten yet. I'd throw those squash seeds in all boxes at a very low rate.

I wouldn't worry about competition. That blend will do better together than separate if you get the seeding rates correct, especially if the corn is isolated to 60" rows. Orient your rows north to south if you can. you'll capture the light better.

 

[Mortenson]

This may be way off base, but is there any concern with too much attraction in the corn plot at the wrong time? With all that added drawing power at pollination time, could it be a scenario where the whole herd is parked there eating off all the silks of the corn, rendering a useless plant?

 

[SWIFFY]

Oh crap, I thought you were running a drill. No worry. Alternate your corn and bean boxes, and go in a circle so you've always got one side of the planter on the facing the outside, and the other always facing the inside. That'll give ya the 60" rows. I don't know what kind of planter you have, but crank up that corn rate as high as you can. It'll give you a doable corn rate, and a low end bean rate. If you have bean plates, have your bean boxes as pure beans, and then your corn boxes be 2/3 beans and 1/3 corn.

I'd broadcast everything else onto it just before you plant the corn and beans. May wanna skip the pumpkin and squash. I haven't had any luck broadcasting them yet. But if you can get them to go through your plates, give it a shot. Acorn squash or butternut squash seed may fit. I've not seen any pumpkin or squash go uneaten yet. I'd throw those squash seeds in all boxes at a very low rate.

I wouldn't worry about competition. That blend will do better together than separate if you get the seeding rates correct, especially if the corn is isolated to 60" rows. Orient your rows north to south if you can. you'll capture the light better.

Ok ok... back up. I am the idiot here. I did get a "drill"... I have a Tar River SAYA 507 at the dealer now. This will be replacing our old Case, air-driven No-till planter that my neighbor has been using for my corn and beans for the last 15 years. But with this NT Drill, I guess I was just assuming that i cant plant corn in 7.5" rows (this is where im dumb and trying to learn here). You are suggesting that I take the whole mix and plant it all in the 7.5" rows? I assumed to do corn I would close off most of the seed cups to get the 60" row and plant the legumes/broadleafs in between.

Are suggesting one way is better than the other? Im open to anything...

I want the mix to still be primarily corn to get the deer through winter. Id have other plots that could be more legumes, and then my plan was to rotate them for year to year... or plant the the corn rows in the the legume row the following year.... if that makes sense.

 

[SWIFFY]

This may be way off base, but is there any concern with too much attraction in the corn plot at the wrong time? With all that added drawing power at pollination time, could it be a scenario where the whole herd is parked there eating off all the silks of the corn, rendering a useless plant?

I guess with enough diversity I hope this DOESN'T happen. Right now when the corn is at that stage they just walk down the rows and eat it all anyway so I cant see this making it worse. I dont have that high of deer density where its a major issue.

Actually for me the Striped Gophers are a bigger problem when the corn is 3-4" tall. They go down the rows and dig the germinated seed out and there lays the plant. I think by having more rows or plant species, im hoping it helps deter them from eating the corn in these big wide open rows. Plus im thinking with the 10 row drill with the coulters it will maybe help collapse their tunnels a bit. This was one issue that discing helped with. Well see...

 

[SD51555]

Ok ok... back up. I am the idiot here. I did get a "drill"... I have a Tar River SAYA 507 at the dealer now. This will be replacing our old Case, air-driven No-till planter that my neighbor has been using for my corn and beans for the last 15 years. But with this NT Drill, I guess I was just assuming that i cant plant corn in 7.5" rows (this is where im dumb and trying to learn here). You are suggesting that I take the whole mix and plant it all in the 7.5" rows? I assumed to do corn I would close off most of the seed cups to get the 60" row and plant the legumes/broadleafs in between.

Are suggesting one way is better than the other? Im open to anything...

I want the mix to still be primarily corn to get the deer through winter. Id have other plots that could be more legumes, and then my plan was to rotate them for year to year... or plant the the corn rows in the the legume row the following year.... if that makes sense.

do you need it in row spacings for spraying?

 

[SWIFFY]

do you need it in row spacings for spraying?

nope... I just thought the plant needed the space and the sunlight

Otherwise whats the advantage of the prementioned 60" rows over the 30"?? The space has to be the advantge there to get the same yields?

 

[SWIFFY]

Id love to pack as many species as possible, as close together as possible.... in the 7.5" rows that this planter has. Im just afraid when it comes to corn, it will get outcompeted and Ill end up with a bunch of stalks and no cobs??? I want diversity... but there has to be a point where nothing reaches its potential and it becomes a negative, no? Maybe not a negative for the soil, but I still want a good crop.

 

[SD51555]

nope... I just thought the plant needed the space and the sunlight

Otherwise whats the advantage of the prementioned 60" rows over the 30"?? The space has to be the advantge there to get the same yields?

I really don't know how a full rate population through a drill would go regardless of spacings. I'd imagine not super due to uneven emergence, and uneven spacing. I'm not sure I can help ya with what you wanna do, that's getting beyond anything I've had any experience.

 

[SWIFFY]

Ive got time to research. Youve been more helpful that you think SD! I appreciate your input, Thanks

 

[Booner21]

Broadcasting corn? What is your mix?

I do after we cover with soybeans. Probably somewhere between 5-10lbs per acre. My ez spreader bag spreader on about 1/2 way and walk pretty fast. Not an exact science by any means.


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