RE: Standing Corn
When you bushhog the corn stocks you're adding a large amount of high carbon matter to the soil. The stocks have about an 80:1 C:N ratio. They create a nitrogen debt for the next crop and can takes years to break down. For that reason you actually end up needing to add Nitrogen for the next crop as well as to decompose the last crop. They add a lot of organic matter and the nitrogen release is great when they do break down, but a lot of farmers follow a corn crop with soyabeans or legumes so they don't have to add too much nitrogen.
Dan O.