Why corn is king for me

Jason Broom said:
Did you plant something similar this year?

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yes....and no. This year was my first try at broadcasting a mix of corn and soybeans (I didn't use my row planter this year). IN my plot where I didn't have any corn left over from last year it looks pretty good, but the larger plot has lots of volunteer corn in it and I need to spray it to thin some of it out. I simply wanted to try something different this year. I don;t have deer numbers to have to worry about them "starving" so I feel I can afford some less than optimal results and still not hurt my deer numbers.
 
Sorry Broom....I looked for pics and couldn't find any. My plate planter is set at 30" rows. I put corn in one hopper and beans in the other. I set it so the corn was ideal (I target a 30K population rate) and got the beans as close as I could, but knew they would still be planted way too heavy (but I knew the beans would handle crowding far better than the corn would). My old school planter only has so many adjustments and plate combo's I can make so I got as close as I could. I fertilized the entire plot for beans and then applied 100 to 200 lbs of N for the corn. I tilled the entire plot and went to planting. With the beans in one hopper and corn in the other I had to pay attention to what I was doing. I wanted 2 rows of corn and 2 rows of beans to ensure everything got pollinated and received decent sunlight. My row spacing wasn't perfect, but it's a food plot...so who cares. Everything was RR seed so one application of gly took care of any weed issues after germination and that was it. Once the beans started to yellow I used a small hand held broadcaster and spread brassica and cereal grains by walking down the center bean rows just for some diversity. It has to be about the best way I have found to get as much use out of a plot acre as I can. All my plots also have a perennial plot of clover and chicory right next to it as well, so I have that covered as well.
 
I've been a fan of a corn soy bean mix for a few years. However, it was such a draw for the bears I'm thinking about other options. I had 3-4 bears camped out in it from the end of March to about May7 when they polished it off. I'm worried they'll do the same this fall. Our fawn numbers are way down this spring and I think the concentration of bears are the reason. I'm rethinking corn as a result. It doesn't leave me great option for when 3-4' of snow pile up. We also have done 3 acres of brassicas. I'm not sure 4 acres of stand alone soybean would do much for when the deer need it the most (Feb and Mar).
 
Elkaddict said:
I've been a fan of a corn soy bean mix for a few years. However, it was such a draw for the bears I'm thinking about other options. I had 3-4 bears camped out in it from the end of March to about May7 when they polished it off. I'm worried they'll do the same this fall. Our fawn numbers are way down this spring and I think the concentration of bears are the reason. I'm rethinking corn as a result. It doesn't leave me great option for when 3-4' of snow pile up. We also have done 3 acres of brassicas. I'm not sure 4 acres of stand alone soybean would do much for when the deer need it the most (Feb and Mar).
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Sounds like you need a very high stem count of hardwood regeneration to go along with large sections of early successional growth.
 
Jason Broom said:
Sounds like you need a very high stem count of hardwood regeneration to go along with large sections of early successional growth.
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We hinge cut 23 acres a couple years ago. Regeneration is happening, particularly on the southern facing slopes. I need to watch a couple more years before undertaking another block. I've also contemplated another couple acres of corn. However, I really like diverse plots--it keeps the deer moving down the buffet line. I also struggle to clean up all the corn stalk residue each May when the window for dry field conditions is so narrow. If I go this route, I'll be forced to plant, 75 day corn in the wetter fields, and some years that will go in late.
 
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I loves some corn.
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Drycreek said:
View attachment 7980 Why I will never plant corn again.........:(
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I have the same problem. But, I have a neighbor who has planted corn (600 acres) and overwhelms them. However, the deer don't use his corn nearly as well as they use my beans. I think for your average food plotter, beans are much easier. Most of us don't have a row planter and beans do great when they are broadcast, they don't require the fertilizer that corn does, hogs or coons don't mess with them much, you can shoot into beans, and the deer use them from planting time in April until you bush hog them down in February. Plus, my bees like them. Protein is much higher than corn, and the deer will utilize them heavily in May, June, and July when the antlers are growing and the does need the extra nutrition.

My planting costs are $80 per acre for Eagle Seed Forage Beans, $70 per acre for fertilizer, and $10 per acre for each application of glyphosate (usually 2 for me). Labor and equipment not included. If I had a row planter, I might plant some in my duck ponds - and stand guard for the hogs.;)
 
bigbluetruck said:
Neither do I but I can see where the guys who do dont want corn at all.
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Another example of why we all do different things.....our situations are all different in some way, shape or form and we have to do what suits our own situation. Corn can be great for some and be totally frustrating or all but impossible for others.
 
j-bird said:
Another example of why we all do different things.....our situations are all different in some way, shape or form and we have to do what suits our own situation. Corn can be great for some and be totally frustrating or all but impossible for others.
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I have two properties, 8 miles from each other, and there are a lot of differences between the two.
 
Update: Due to the continued drought conditions, I have decided to not interseed my corn plot with cowpeas this year. Saves me some $ when we barely have enough moisture to germinate them let alone support them and corn. In a normal moisture year I don't think it'll be a problem.

Not to fear, I have a small test plot of cover crops on one of our best fields, it's pivot irrigated, planted about 32K with plenty of N. This field will usually run about 225-250bu/acre figuring in the dryland acres.

This was planted 7/7 and the corn was V5-V6 and I took these this morning, the first is Black Cowpeas and the second is Crimson Clover.
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bigbluetruck said:
Neither do I but I can see where the guys who do dont want corn at all.
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I actually tried a few rows of corn once a few years ago. It was more a visual barrier than a crop as I planted it next to a dirt road that runs through my place. This is a nutrition plot and we don't hunt it, but I thought the visual barrier might be nice for the deer to feel more secure, so we hand planted ten rows of corn. The hogs came through that very night and went up the rows and ate virtually all the corn. I think four or five sprouts came up. Needless to say, I was whizzed !:mad:
 
buckdeer1 said:
I also tried the mix process this year in my kasco,it id doing ok and I think will do fine next year using liberty corn and beansView attachment 8047
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That's one way to do it! Am I the only one who sees the humor in the fact that you purposely mixed seed in your hopper and yet there is a large white letter sign essentially warning to not mix seed????:D What do your results look like with doing this? Reason I ask is that bean and corn population rates tend to be very different....beans tend to be 100,000 seed or more an acre, while corn tends to be 1/3 of that. Where you able to control that with your drill somehow?
 
So I went to check my plot and pull the card so I snapped some pictures for an update.

First pic is what the corn looks like around the camera, it's only about waist high and you can see it's been heavily browsed, it probably extends out about 50ft from the tree that's in the middle of the plot.

Meanwhile the second pic is the beans that are in the background. There has been some browsing but not like the corn.

Third pic is in the areas where they haven't browsed as hard, it's about 6ft tall and should be putting on an ear pretty soon.

Fourth is an area where bindweed took over earlier this spring when the corn was young. You can see it won't amount to much. There is a certain period of time early in it's life that corn cannot handle competition, and if there is some, it will affect it for it's entire life. If your doing some interseeding, it's critical to know this and plan accordingly.

Last pic is some Arrow Green Screen that I am pretty disappointed in. It was supposed to surround this plot and make them feel safe after the field of corn is taken off. It's only about waist high at the tallest. I fertilized with 25lbs/acre of 46-0-0 before I planted it, then sprayed once with 2-4d to keep ahead of the broadleaves. I think that the drought had some affect but I still feel like it should've taken off better than this. For next year I'll be planting corn or switchgrass as my screen.

Speaking of next year, as of right now my plan is to either reduce the size of this plot a bit, or to add more things that can't be found around this area, maybe a little of both. Right now it's about 3 acres, almost evenly split between corn, beans, and soon 3/4 acre of an LC type mix and 1/4 acre of BOB clover mix.

I'm thinking about an acre of corn/beans in some type of alternating rows, then seeding some type of brassica, possibly collards, in the spring in the LC mix so they can grow all summer, and depending how hard the clover is hit, expanding it to 1/2 acre. Then seeding the rest to switchgrass.

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