One weedy corn field!!!
 

You all may remember me posting in June - about finishing up the spring corn planting. Even at the time, it was clear the the high yeild corn of last year was not likely going to happen this year. Our area was no different than most other - cold & wet. I thought I' d share a " failed" plot story with anyone who wanted to read. We have higher hopes for the 1+ acre re-planted plot (see sunflower post).

Well - the pictures tell the story of manual cultivation of a corn plot - when the corn is slow to grow. I cultivated with a 3 row 3point hitch implement - three different times until July 8th. These pictures are taken on 8/1:

This picture shows a couple rows of sweet corn, with field corn in the backround. The obvious problem is the ridiculous ragweed growth - all the ragweed growth occured within the rows with the corn (in between was cultivated). The sweet corn is the corn tasseled out - the ears are VERY small, and we do not expext to get much from them.




Sorry to say that the picture below shows one of the best sections of the 3 acre plot. - We' ll get some corn - but its spotty, and the yeild will suffer greatly. Quite simply - ragweed and some other weeds grow faster and use nutrients more efficiently than corn when the weather is cold. From planting on May 20-June 20 - Our corn never got higher than 6" while weeds flourished. - When I applied the UREA In early July - those weeds really took off!!!! The corn rebounded - but whole sections of the feild will fail.

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...nter_field.jpg

This picture gives you an idea of the corn height and weed infestation - my Son is 8 yrs old.
URL: http://images.andale.com/f2/115...orn_8_1_03.jpg


Already we are considering ROUNDUP READY corn for next year. While the cost seemed SO HIGH only 2 years ago, it would have been a SAVINGS of several hundred dollars this year when you consider failed/poor plots, and replanting.



Any questions or comments - I' d be happy to respond.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

Hi farmhunter, I planted my first corn this year and I went with roundup ready and am I glad I did as weeds are on a rampage this year. The four acres I planted with my new seed drill around the end of May is really looking great. I wasnt real sure how the spacing would turn out using a drill to plant corn, but you would be hard pressed to see a difference between it and a local farmers corn. I planted a three acre block and a 30' strip of corn around a 1.5 acre soybean field. The soys came up great until we got 10 inches of rain in 3 days about three weeks ago. I lost all but about a half acre of beans and lost just a little strip of corn on one side of the bean plot. Im sure my corn plot would look just like yours if it wasnt for being able to spray the roundup. Hope you get atleast some corn this year farmhunter.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

pilot,

how much did that rr corn cost?

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

Hey Malloy I keep telling you guys to plant Roundup ready corn, of course I sell it. Dekalb and Asgrow,, I hope they soon devekope a R/R sweet corn. Our Silver Queen is full of grass, it still tastes good, getting a lot of bird damage, just cut that off and have at it..........

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

Don' t worry Farm Hunter, your fields are just starting to look like mine. You should still get enough corn for the deer even with the weeds. The plot that you showed with the Sunflowers didn' t look that bad for weeds. Did the Sunflowers choke them out.

You are going to have fun next year when the weed seeds germinate.

Dan O.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

How to you spray Roundup Ready corn? I wouldn' t think you would want to drive through it with your ATV.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

wigmap; with a row crop sprayer and booms that stick out over the corn rows.

Dan O.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

Man you werent' kidding! there are a lot ofweeds mixed in.

RE: One weedy corn field!!!
 

Below I posted a link picture - from today 8-15-03 - as an update, 2 weeks later.

Even though its weedy - Where the corn is taller than the ragweed (4 ft high ragweed!) we will get some ears. Hopefully enough to be attractive during hunting season - though not likely enough to provode for deer through a tough winter like last year.

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...5_03_weeds.jpg


One thing for sure - Next year we will have to use roundup ready corn to plant here (imagine the seed production for ragweed in this field for next year!!!) - or mover the corn plot. So far - the corn at the other end of the property does not have ragweed as the primary problem (still foxtail, lambsquarters, goldenrod, milkweed).