COC not much tillage done

[ncil]

Been quite a while since this happened, but it did this year.

In the past discing twice and then field cultivate worked, but not great.

Spring chisling didn't seem to work out for other guys in the area in the past.

Now we have trash whippers on the planter.

Been reading some about just notill - maybe even without addiing no till coulters.

May try some, any advise or do's and don't appreciated.

Burn down? Plan on 80# N as 32% at planting and then side dress.

200 bu stalks left on the groun from last year.

[mvp farms]

I've personally never done it and never had 200 bu corn stalks but when we run our Salford over a field twice it seems to chew up the stalks enough for a planter with sweepers to get through.  We are on 22" rows so 30" should provide a little more room for trash.

[Shaggy98]

Why not strip-till between the rows and leave the stalks standing?

[buckfarmer]

The only time I tried no till corn into corn stalks I tried to plant between the rows. I hopped more of my nitrogen was left there from side dressing last year. Also soil was a little looser from the previous side dress pass. I'm on 36" rows so I have plenty of room to work. The previous yield was only about 125 also. I have coulters and no cleaners on my planter. It worked well for me. Second year yield was 140. Then I went to spring chisel plowing followed by one pass with disk and finish pass with field cultivater. Since then yields have climed to a180 average.
P.S. notilers don't tell me I have to wait years for it to work. 08 was the last year for full notill. Prior to 08 most of my fields had never been tilled or only ripped and leveled after being converted from pasture.

[Shaggy98]

What was your annual precipitation received during those years Buck? I'm not a no-till expert by any means, but if you've had decent moisture and a little left over N, that might have benefited you in the form of residual breakdown which would enable excess nutrient release in the form of organic matter. I think that's one of the problems I've been facing here in Central Kansas. I've added additional N to ensure a little carry over just to keep the soil biology active and possible speed up the residue breakdown. I'm thinking with the ongoing drought in this area, the lack of moisture in the top soil has brought this process to a crawl. Not saying that is what is happening, just thinking out loud here.

[Shaggy98]

One more thing Buck, if you converted grassland back to crop production, you probably had a high rate of organic matter to start with. That is another thing that put me behind the 8-ball so to speak. Every acre that I've converted to no-till was in the conventional till operation since the beginning. I literally had to start from scratch, but I'm determined to make it work. I just need to keep trying new and different things until I find a system that is right for my operation. In 2014 I'll be experimenting with additional cover crops, I'm hoping this will boost soil building as well as being an aid to reentering the cattle business by either grazing potential or haying. As long as Mother Nature works with me, if we don't receive any moisture, everything is out the window. Rain definitely holds the wildcard.

[buckfarmer]

Correct shaggy, when I used to take soil samples to the coumty extension office they were surprised to see 4% organic matter. I've tried to keep it up with cover crops and minimum tillage. Just can't make the notill work. To much clay in my soil. seems like it has to be busted up for roots to get through it. That high OM is really only in the top six inches. Below that is a very hard white clay.

[buckfarmer]

Not sure what rainfall was in the couple years I notilled corn after corn. And I should remind everyone as well as myself that our grass land was old forest land a couple hundred years ago. I think that is where the shallow top soil comes from. When I spin a tire logging the top thre or four inches is the darkes losest soil you could ask for. Below that is the same heavy white clay that is a little deeper in the crop fields and pastures.

[ncil]

Don't plan on buying any equpment.

Maybe some atachments.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I no-till corn on corn with a White 6100 planter 8RN using trash whippers and no coulters.  I don't have any problems.  This is on 170 bpa corn ground that is pretty flat.  I also no-till soybeans in to corn using the same rig.  I don't make any great effort to run on or off the rows, as it's being run on auto-steer.

I put all my N on side dress but think your way is probably better.