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Thumb of Michigan | I've met many people south or west of you and I who've had very good luck ( I want to stress LUCK) planting a grass after a grass. In our case, corn after wheat has been a trainwreck. I try to prove myself wrong every 3 or 4 years, outcomes always the same. I'm not sure why other areas are so successful at this rotation, but I know many who are. Could be different wheat varieties, heat and humidity conditions, different or less pathogens, or maybe something else. If you have to follow wheat with corn, heres the minimum things I'd do:
1. Contact the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario. Lots of data and good info from that group if you're not familiar with them. In my opinion, that group is one of the top 5% agricultural related groups in the world. If you're not a member, I'd recommend you join. I can give you some phone numbers of members close to you if you'd like. I'm not getting any $ out of this suggestion, I just like the things the group's done over the years.
2. Plan on putting some kind of broadleaf cover crop after wheat. You can negate some of the ugliness of a grass after grass rotation using the right cover.
3. Plan on planting into a clean strip somehow, whatever that takes in your situation. I don't like row cleaners myself, as crusting on our clay soils is directly in proportion to the amount of residue we move. The more residue I move, the higher the chance of crusting. However, the less wheat residue you have in the row area, the less chance of slugs. I've had slugs reduce my corn stand after wheat by over 30%. Alleopathy won't be the only problem you have with corn after wheat.
4. This is a suggestion that goes 180 degrees against my philosophy, but the best I've done with corn after wheat is where we've burned the straw off, and planted oilseed radish or Austrian winter peas after we did some land leveling. Certainly not friendly to increasing OM, but we had a stand of corn anyway.
Don't want to rain on your parade, but of all the different crop residue I've planted corn into, wheat stubble is by far the most troublesome for me. Hope you get it figured out and let me know where I'm going wrong! | |
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Planting Corn After Wheat - Alleopathy?
