Ashburn, GA, (very close to Heaven!) | Well, we don't like burning that straw. We lose almost all our carbon, some N and some P. Some cut high and bale the straw, really raping the K from the soil, but sure leaves a good cover that is not too bad to plant through. A few can plant through all of it, but it's hard to get a good stand.
We make a lot of dry, stemmy, stiff straw. It's hard to not get a lot of build up and pile up a bunch in front of our shanks, and we just about have to rip whatever we are planting whenever and however we plant. Between the straw and the sandy dirt, it's hard to get good seed to soil contact, especially if it's too dry or too wet, even a little bit either way. We can plant into killed winter wheat cover crop with ease in April and May, as it's easy to part the stems, clean a row for the shank and planter, and get good emergence. Behind combined wheat, it's hard to keep that straw away from the seed, and too much straw in there next to the seed affects the stand.
We have a lot to learn though. We double cropped a lot of soybeans in the 80's, almost always burning. Then we moved back to cotton. Now, at these prices, we are moving back to wheat/soy, and are trying to find our niche. Things have changed a lot in 20+ years, and it's hard to decide which new stuff to use and which old stuff to bring back.
With irrigation and good management, our average to good land can make good corn yield and decent soybean yields. However, our per bushel production costs down here on these sandy soils, in this heat, and in this pest environment are very high. If it's less than average to good land, we usually throw out some soybean seed and let them make what they can, not even considering corn. |
15" Soys, So. Ga. Style: Esp for Ed. W. (pics)
