Keystone Krops

[Drycreek]

Did you get that rain? I see lots of moisture in East Texas...

Some went N of us, some went S, but we managed to get a little over a half inch to add to the half inch we got a few days before. On our lease we poured out 1.4” this morning. We top planted some MRC and Daikon radish this morning. Hope we get some more rain this coming weekend. The plots were wet, so we should have some green showing up in a week or so. Probably gonna be a little slow because it’s gonna be pretty cool the next couple days, but warming the last of the week. We didn’t get a drought breaker but it’s better than a stick in your eye !

 

[Mennoniteman]

Our April 22nd field corn is 75 days into the 113 day growth window and looking good even though the area is hot and dry. Is I've said before, the key to growing corn in drought prone areas such as on shale ridges is to plant early and get shaded ground coverage before the heat of summer.

February 4th and we are past the midpoint of our Pennsylvania winter with our 6 acres of standing deer corn holding out well. It's difficult to estimate how much is left at this point, but despite very heavy usage there's definitely still some some good deer food out there.

 

[Drycreek]

I guess the acorns are about gone or have worms in them by now. The deer are finally hitting the wheat the last couple weeks. We got a lot of rain last week and a little ice, but my pond caught a little over a foot of water.

 

[KSQ2]

I will never be able to afford to have a corn plot, but it sure would be fun, not only to hunt, but to find horns in.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I will never be able to afford to have a corn plot, but it sure would be fun, not only to hunt, but to find horns in.

I thought the same thing when I was younger, corn costs more than I can afford, but eventually readjusted some priorities and decided to bite the bullet. Besides the equipment costs corn is not more expensive than a lot of other crops, but if you plant a small area you will need electric fence to protect it until hunting season.

 

[T-Max]

I will never be able to afford to have a corn plot, but it sure would be fun, not only to hunt, but to find horns in.

I can say with great confidence that it is NOT fun looking for “horns” in corn….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KSQ2]

I thought the same thing when I was younger, corn costs more than I can afford, but eventually readjusted some priorities and decided to bite the bullet. Besides the equipment costs corn is not more expensive than a lot of other crops, but if you plant a small area you will need electric fence to protect it until hunting season.

I would probably spend less asking our farmer to leave a few acres, but that's too rich for our blood also.

 

[Mennoniteman]

A mild winter and the deer didn't clean up all of our standing corn.

 

[T-Max]

A mild winter and the deer didn't clean up all of our standing corn.
View attachment 24972

Do you have a no-till setup? And how do you handle all that residue?

 

[Triple C]

Do you have a no-till setup? And how do you handle all that residue?

And...how many acres do you plant?

 

[Mennoniteman]

Do you have a no-till setup? And how do you handle all that residue?

I do have a JD notill corn planter. I just bush hogged it now, and now I will let it rot down for a while then run a chisel plow through that in a month and a half right before I notill beans into it.

And...how many acres do you plant?

I had 1 6 acre field of corn out.

 

[Mennoniteman]

If you set you bucket just right when driving through ripe corn you can fill er up!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Do you have a no-till setup? And how do you handle all that residue?

This 10 foot ten tooth 3pt chisel plow will handle corn fodder without clogging but a 75 hp tractor can only pull it 5" deep. Having depth wheels is critical if your horsepower is minimum rating.

 

[RGrizzzz]

This 10 foot ten tooth 3pt chisel plow will handle corn fodder without clogging but a 75 hp tractor can only pull it 5" deep. Having depth wheels is critical if your horsepower is minimum rating.View attachment 24978View attachment 24979

What does the ground looks like after you chisel plow? Do you think it helps with compaction at only 5"?

 

[Drycreek]

MM, you need you some pork ! I just happen to have some that I would gladly share, and that will take care of that leftover corn problem !

 

[Mennoniteman]

MM, you need you some pork ! I just happen to have some that I would gladly share, and that will take care of that leftover corn problem !View attachment 24985

It's time to turn these porkers into bacon!

 

[Mennoniteman]

What does the ground looks like after you chisel plow? Do you think it helps with compaction at only 5"?

We don't have much of a compaction problem and we plant tillage radishes, which also helps. You are right, 5" won't break up deeper soil compaction but I have the option of taking some teeth off and going deeper.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I posted about shredding corn stalks the other day, here's pics of my
Speeco cat 3N Quick Hitch with hydraulic top link that makes hooking up and unhooking three point equipment fast and easy.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I was wondering why our deer didn't eat all of my 6 acres of standing corn this winter, was it the particular hybrid that we planted? So I picked a FIL bucketfull and dumped it in a high deer area. The deer voted and said "nothing wrong with this corn", as they are absolutely destroying the pile. It seems like our deer love corn laying on the ground, but aren't crazy about standing corn. Just our luck to have deer that are picky, finicky eaters. They probably don't like anchovies pizza either

 

[Mennoniteman]

Anytime after the first day of spring is a good time to spread fertilizer, although a light rain falling made it borderline too wet. A buggy makes the job a lot easier, but this spring my local farm supply had a different make of fertilizer buggy, and through my stupidity of not paying attention to the chart on the side of the buggy, I set the feed gate at the same number as I always did on the old buggy, assuming that it would apply the same lbs per acre, instead, this buggy's feed belt was wider, and I ended up applying 550 lbs per acre of 0-27-28 plus 2% boron to my ladino clover fields. The upside is that we should have the thickest ladino clover ever, the downside is that I ran out of fertilizer with 2 acres to go.