I'm trying to decide what to do with some ground that came out of CRP last fall-------been in CRP for at least 15 yrs..........that we were not allowed to work last fall..........and with the rain, etc. it looks like we are not going to get into the fields for a while..........

Remember.........chemical burn down is NOT an option for me.

Concerns are...........(1) soil structure and allowing roots to penetrate (2) effect of the CRP grass tieing up N due to late application of the N source.

I was going to

I was going to ............paraplow (assuming it ever turns dry), spread litter, rotovate the grass down to about 2 inches below surface (plant corn at 2 inches-----30inch rows).

But I was planning on being done by now, and planting about May 05.

Grass that would have been turned under should have been processed enough that N would not have been tied up much by May 05.......and we were going to put on a little extra N to compensate for the problem.

Now I'm concerned-----Alt 1

Due to the discussion below about the effect of slots not being closed 100%-------which could be the case due to the paraplow, even after the rotovator goes thru, which would function to seal the surface-------I am concerned that using the paraplow to loosen the soil for purpose of allowing roots to go down easier........will leave potential "soft trenches" that the seeds could be put into.

Question-------would your guess be that the underlying soil structure, after 15yrs in CRP, would be soft enough to allow easy root penetration by the corn plants?

Soil in all areas of this field is not the best........heavy on clay side.  CRP is not really thick in all places, so grass penetration is probably not necessarily really deep.

So........procedures would then be.......NO paraplow, spread litter, rotovate, plant.

MAYBE.....run the slotter later, after the plants are up...........like an anhydrous shank, runs between the rows......about 10 inches deep...........we would pump in liquid N to that bottom.

Alt 2

Again, forget the paraplow with its deep slots, use the flamer to burn off or boil the grass, spread litter, disk the result, rotovate the resulting clods.......and there will be clods from the disk, but the rotovator could then run faster.

This would allow the N to be less tied up, since the grass would be basically boiled and crumbled....at least for all but the roots.

 Again...............the questions boil down to the probability of the soil structure being tight, and needing some loosening for the roots, just to get ready for the dry weather which we are sure to have in July/August.........and the effect of the deep slotting on the seed foundation-------and even if we paraplow contra to the intended planter direction, the slots will still exist.

The more I think about it.........the more the root question is the need for the paraplow.

Using the flamer to burn off the trash would be the best thing to reduce N tieup........since I "know" the weather won't allow a really good burn using "natural" methods of burning..........good, slow, intense, directed heat from the flamers will incinerate the grass better on hoping enough heat would be generated by the underlying trash to crumble the green stuff.    Mow it, let it lay for a few days, flame it.......that would allow the dead trash to burn off, and the short grass to boil.

Thanks..........comments appreciated.