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| A farmer neighbor called today and asked what he needs to be thinking about as he plans to drill no-till wheat into corn stalks. He is a traditional cotton farmer but the price opportunities in grains are too good to pass-up. I told him that 1.) it doesn't matter if he mows his stalks or not, 2.) make sure his disc opener blades on his drill are not too worn because they need to be in good shape to cut through those coarse stalks, 3.) he may have to increase his seeding rate in corn stalks compared to cotton or bean residue, 4.) spray a burn-down two weeks before drilling to eliminate any "green bridge" that may harbor insects that may vector in damaging diseases, and 5.) check regularly to make sure the seed is being covered by the closing wheels.
Another farmer neighbor dropped later and I told him about this conversation. He said he is leery of drilling wheat no-till behind corn because the corn roots or stalks secrete a substance that is alleopathic to the germinating wheat. I have never heard of that before. Is this true or just another farm country myth? | |
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No-till Wheat into Corn Stalks
