Standing Corn
 

Hey guys,

I just wanted to get your input on leaving corn for the winter.

I've read where people leave it standing, others, knock it down, still others brush-hog sections - so the deer will get on it.

Last year I left it standing, and while it wasn't a huge attractant during the hunting season (very mild winter - I'll add) it was HEAVILY used in Feb and March.

I like the idea of leaving it standing. We average 150" of snow here a year (only 80" last year), and 2 ft of snow on the ground is fairly normal after Jan 1. I also like the idea of having a 6 acre and 2 acre corn "thicket" for our deer to lay up in (2 separate fields)during the hunting season.

What are your guys' experiences? Do you leave it standing? Do you maybe knock some down or brush-hog some? Just Curious -

RE: Standing Corn
 

I leave it standing. Keeps the moisture down reducing mildew and rot, makes it more difficult for other critters to access and provides cover so the deer are more comfortable feeding in daylight. Mine is almost gone already, 6 rows around the perimeter and down the middle of a seven acre field. I've had 8 antlerless as regular users and saw 3 bucks including a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year old 8 or 10 pointer as I drove out of the property this AM. He's a shooter in my book and will go 140-150 P&Y depending on the point count. Good luck.

RE: Standing Corn
 

Thanks for posting this topic, farmhunter. I was going to ask the same thing.
I think I'm going to leave mine standing. I have two 1 acre plots on opposite sides of a 10 acre field connected by a strip of winter wheat/rape. I want to see what hits it AFTER the late November gun season here in WI. It is also pretty close to a cedar swamp, so I think they would be in there all winter.
What do you do with it in the spring? Just disc it under? Plow it under? Brush hogg it?
ost

RE: Standing Corn
 

I'm real interested in this. I planted 6 rows in the spring before the last frost. Then we had no rain. Its 2 or so ft.tall with no corn on it. Going to do better next year. What kind of corn do you plant? Soil ph? I have 3acres in clover,alfalfa that's not doing too bad. terry<img src=icon_smile_clown.gif border=0 align=middle>

LIVE FREE OR DIE

RE: Standing Corn
 

It depends on what your goal is. You will SEE more action if it is down, but deer will actually bed down in standing corn. Standing corn does provide a good food source in areas that have a large amount of snowfall. If you can't decide, mow half and leave half. Patches of corn instead of strips probably would work best for this since strips may drift over.

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Live: Oregon, IL
Hunt: Knox County, IL

RE: Standing Corn
 

farm hunter; I can't offer personal experience except what I've seen in the neighbours field. As Sven said the deer appear to use the standing corn more. Once it's bushhogged they only feed (usually around the edges) early and late in the day to clean up the chopped corn.

Dan O.

RE: Standing Corn
 

Lawnfarmer - In my book corn is the most fickle and difficult (read expensive) plot to do well. I've posted on the topic here alot as I was learning to get a good stand, and know where you are coming from. I'm sure we'll talk alot about it in the late winter on this board again, but a quick synopsis - corn will grow in soil as low as 5.5 Ph. The better the Ph, the better the crop (and the more weeds to deal with). My Ph was 5.1 - 6.2 in different sections of the field. The really acidic land, did not grow corn very well, it ears out but the are small, and the plants only get 4-5 ft tall. Int he better sections of the field, it gre to 8 ft tall. We try to get ours planted in Central NY by the 1st week in June, and after May 20th. This was our third year of planting corn (the first was a disaster - each year has gotten better as we learned more). If you cannot spray, you almost must cultivate two or three times before the corn gets to high to work. Corn requires good P&K levels - and HIGH amounts of Nitrogen to ear out. The more Nitrogen, the better the ear crop will be. At planting this year, we banded in 150 lb/acre 15-15-15 and hit the plot with 170 lb/acre of Urea (46-0-0) 2nd week of July.

We plant insulage corn becuase its cheaper ($45.00/bag - plants 2-3 acres), but it should be a cow corn. Picking corn is probably best though it doesn't grow as tall.

If your corn stopped at 2-3 ft, along with no rain, the primary problem was likely Nitrogen and/or Phosphorus was lacking. A soil test will tell you how much N to put down, put it down some at planting and the rest at 6 leaves (knee high). You put the majority of the N down later, because the corn cannot use it much until that point, and by delaying N application, the weeds do not get the benefit of it early on. If you can spray, its not as big a deal to not delay N application.

Good luck, lets discuss corn in detail in the late winter.


Edited by - farm hunter on 10/31/2002 21:37:22

RE: Standing Corn
 

Ostdc - I'll leave mine standing again this year I guess. We did last year, and the deer used it alot in the later part of winter. Its tough though to see deer feeding in the picked corn fields, on the neighbor's land - when we have 8 acres standing. I did brushhog one ten ft path doen the center of the 2 acre plot to see what will happen.

Last spring we brushhogged the remaining standing stalks, sprayed round-up, waited 2 weeks, plowed an disked before planting again. It worked fairly well, the stalks if not mowed down ten to clog up our little two bottom plow. Next year is a big planting year for us. We will plant corn in 5 acres of old clover, and try to establish a new clover plot on what is 4 acres of corn this year. For this reason, we did not have a local farmer spray atrazine on the corn (lasts up to 2 yrs in the soil) and only cultivated after the initial round up spraying. We have alot of weeds, mostly ragweed, even with the cultivation - but we still got a HUGE amount of ears (got to love that Nitrogen).

Yeoman - Sounds like you've got a good thing going. Hopefully the corn will hold up long enough to keep that good buck in your area a while.

Thanks everyone else. - Standing corn it will be. I know that if we have one of those years with 2 ft of snow on the ground in hunting season, every deer for miles will be in it, as all the farmers have finished chopping and picking theirs already in my area.


Edited by - farm hunter on 10/31/2002 21:33:00

Edited by - farm hunter on 10/31/2002 21:40:29

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.

RE: Standing Corn
 

What do you think about rolling it down with a cultapacker? Is it better left as cover during the deer season?
-ost

RE: Standing Corn
 

Cover...

Romans 10:9 Psalms 42

RE: Standing Corn
 

If you really want to do it right, you need to setup a crop rotation. To have corn every year, you need to start with 3 plots. One plot will start as a cover plot, one as corn and the other as beans or other legume. The clover plot will stay the same for 3 seasons then rotate to a different field. The corn and beans alternate each year. Here is an example of an effecient rotation:

Clov-Bean-Corn
Clov-Corn-Bean
Clov-Bean-Corn&gt;&gt;Plant clover overseeded w/ wheat in fall in beans.
Corn-Clov-Bean
Bean-Clov-Corn
Corn-Clov-Bean&gt;&gt;Plant clover overseeded w/ wheat in fall in beans.
Bean-Corn-Clov
Corn-Bean-Clov
Bean-Corn-Clov&gt;&gt;Plant clover overseeded w/ wheat in fall in beans.
Etc.
Etc.

The benefit of doing this is the efficient use of soil nutrients. Corn and wheat are nitrogen users while beans and clover are nitrogen producers. Following the beans and clover with corn or wheat uses the nitrogen they produced and reduces the amount of N fertilizer you need to apply. This is why you will notice that farmers alternate corn and beans every year. Beans do well in the soil low in nitrogen, and corn uses up the nitrogen produced by the previous years beans. You will notice that when it's time to rotate the clover, you plant winter wheat into the bean ground. The wheat uses up the nitrogen from the beans to clear the way for the clover to take over the next spring.

If you feel you can get more than 3 good years out of a clover stand then you can extend the rotation to 5 years. Just add 2 more years of the corn-bean rotation per cycle.

RE: Standing Corn
 

One thing not covered that may be of help. Contact your local feed and seed and ask for a type of corn seed that stands well in the field with a strong stalk. Some will blow over with the first good wind.

RE: Standing Corn
 

I am leaving mine up, too. I stalked a doe in it on Friday night. What a RUSH! I got up within 15' of her, then when I clipped my release on my bowstring, it was as if all sound stopped. It went &quot;click&quot; and she blew out of there. I never got a shot. It was awesome!

RE: Standing Corn
 

I left 15 acres standing. The deer have devasted about half of it already. Going to rifle hunt it from a tower stand this weekend & I hope I'm able to see/shoot in standing corn.

RE: Standing Corn
 

I love standing corn(if I can hunt it)because the deer do to. The deer will stay in the corn pretty much full time here in Northern Wisconsin because it provides cover and feed at the same time. If they have a cedar swamp nearby all the better. I have stalked many deer in corn fields. The best time is after a fresh snow of about 2-3 inches. The deer are easy to track and see. I will walk across the corn field looking up and down each row until I see a deer, then I'll raise the binocs to get a good look. If it's not something I want to shoot I let it lay there. I would definitely leave it standing but if you plant corn on the same land every year you will soon find out that you can't raise very good corn there for long.

RE: Standing Corn
 

i am really wanting to get a food plot going on my property i plowed up about an 1/4 acre patch that i am going to plant with a clover alfalfa mix.. but anyways i live in eastern washington kinda up in the mountains the elevation here is 2700ft and we get about and we usaly have a bout 3 feet of snow on the ground.. anyways i was wondering what you guys though might be a good crop up here.. dont the deer eat the corn when it shoots up????

small but deadly

RE: Standing Corn
 

Thanks for all the advice guys. We decided to leave it standing, but the ice storm last weekend took most of the corn down to shoulder height or less. So.... We have alot on the ground now.

It still offers good cover however.

RE: Standing Corn
 

Farm hunter we too leave a few rows standing along the edge. We plant with a 16 row planter, and combine with two 8 row heads so we leave 4 rows in certain spots. We rent some Fish and Wildlife land and in our contract we have to leave 4 rows standing along the perimeter of the fields. On soybeans we also have to leave 4 rows plus a small strip in the middle for rabbits and birds as well. This has already been set up by the game biologists prior to the contracts being let...