o/t Plowing,raising corn

Al Baker(pumpman) · Dec 22, 2018

I have a question for the guys who have raised a field of corn or two. In the past I have plowed under an old hay field and planted corn. Some times I even baled off the first cutting then plowed and planted in the first week of June. After plowing I always got a nice yield from the plowed down sod. The weed pressure was always low, and with a trip or two of the cultivator very little. I would get some fall grasses, but we made nice silage. If I tried to pull this trick the second year it was a waste of time and money. Poor corn, and nothing but weeds. My question is has anyone tried to plow down sod in the fall and drill to rye or wheat, then hit it with round up or disk it under in the spring? Do you still get the big kick from the sod? How much pressure from weeds? Same as a spring plowing, or same as a second year crop?? Thanks in advance. Al

MtMan · Dec 22, 2018

I remember when I was a youngster on our farm, we rotated crops. We would plow down a hayfield preferable in the fall and next spring plant it with corn. Then we would plow it down in the fall and next spring we would plant it to oats and put grass seed in at the same time. Then with the new seeding for hay, we would cut that for 3 or 4 years and start the rotation all over again. It worked good for us.

jon f mn · Dec 22, 2018

I try to fall plow everything, plowed down 5 acres of sod this fall. Spring plowing is bad news here most years. I have about half my acres to plow in the spring this year, hope we get good weather.

hrRoss · Dec 22, 2018

I rotate out of hay in to wheat. spray with roundup and 24d, no till wheat right in, its earlier than after soybeans, works very well, except this fall. I rotate back into hay by notilling into soybean stubble in the spring

Traditional Farmer · Dec 23, 2018

On my sweet corn patch I plant turnips and Crimson Clover in Sept,then in late April I'll disk it with the offset disk first leave it a week or so and then hit it with the finish disk and
plant the sweet corn usually does very good.

ss55 · Dec 23, 2018

Legumes like alfalfa fix additional nitrogen into soil. What kind sod were you turning under?

rustyfarmall · Dec 23, 2018

Plowing under an old hayfield puts a lot of nitrogen into the soil. The first crop of corn will consume most of that nitrogen. If you want a good crop of corn the 2nd year, you need to add more nitrogen.

rrlund · Dec 23, 2018

Don't know. Like you,I always plow down sod to rotate to corn,but never tried fall plowing it. If you do it,let me know how it goes.

JMS/.MN · Dec 23, 2018

Hey Jon, you know we have heavy ground here, and one fall I had a lot left to plow...took the advice of a neighbor to put 16 inch sweeps on the chisel plow and cut a bit shallow. Undercuts everything but doesn"t disturb as much soil as going deeper with twisted shanks. Works well for spring tillage.

Leroy · Dec 25, 2018

Always plowed it down in fall if at all possible if did not have to leave for hauling manure over winter. Spring plowing does not do as good and harder to work. Just 30 mile east of that old cowbarn on 127. And if you get to VW this year I would like to get together.

o/t Plowing,raising corn

Al Baker(pumpman)

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MtMan

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jon f mn

Well-known Member

hrRoss

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Traditional Farmer

Well-known Member

ss55

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rustyfarmall

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rrlund

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JMS/.MN

Well-known Member

Leroy

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