no-till with conventional planter?
 

Has anyone tried using a conventional planter for corn or soybeans without plowing first? My field has been ni-till planted for years by a farmer. If I takeover, given the field is relatively clean and level, could I get by with applying glyophosphate and after weeds die back, making a couple of passes with a disk, cultipacker, disk then use a conventional two rowplanter for corn and soybeans, or will too much of the ground remain untilled resulting in poor seed/soil contact. I really do not want to plow. The field is 7 acres and with a two bottom plow would take forever and the ride is really rough when disking afterward.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

If I were you I would plant using the same no-till method the other farmer is using. If it worked for him it should work for you. It would be easier, less time consuming, and less expensive.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe if you disk the land you aren't 'no till' farming.

That said; there is no need to plow if the land is as you describe. Just disk, plant and culti pack.
If you use RR soys you shouldn't have to spray until the soys come up.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

Based upon your responses, I'm wondering if I've poorly worded my question.

How much tillage, if any, is required to successfully plant corn or soybeans with a conventional planter?

A no-till planter requires zero tillage. I don't own or have access to one. I do have access to a conventional planter.

thanks

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

What you propose to do is known as minimum tillage. Your success depends upon your ability to loosen the soil enough to get good seed coverage. I would not cultipack before I plant, since you need loose soil to roll in behind the planter shoe so that your pack wheels have something to pack over the seed.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

I hope nobody suggested that he cultipack before planting.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

what's the purpose of applying the gly if you're going to make a couple of passes with a disk a week or two later?

you can kill the weeds by just going over it with a disk. but, when you go over the ground with the disk you are going to bring new weed seeds to the germination zone. so spraying the weeds is kind of an irrelevant step if you are going to disk.

ideally, you could spray, wait 2 weeks, and then plant right into the ground with the two row. but that probably won't allow for good seed to soil contact.

how about disking the weeds thoroughly, waiting a few weeks for new weeds to germinate, then going in with your conventional 2 row planter to plant into the existing weedbed, then spraying gly to kill everything that's already germinated. a week or 2 later your seeds you planted should be the only thing growing in the field. does this sound feasible?

i'm kind of in a similar situation with a 2 row planter, a disk, boom sprayer, and a field with lots of residual pigweed seed that i'm trying to plant sunflowers into.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

Minimum tillage, it will work, run the disc and packer over the desired acreage,let it sit if it didnt work up enough, then run the disc and packer over it again and plant, that is what we do for around 4200 acres, the other 2000 acres we no till drill beans right in wheat stubble... Whatever you do DONT run the packer over it after you plant....as someone suggested....I would doubt that your planter is heavy enough for no till.

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

Psandu,

The purpose of spraying prior to disking is that we have considerable weed growth prior to planting dates for corn May 15th) and tons before beans (July 15th). If I were to try and disk without spraying, the vegetation would prevent adequate tillage, unless I wanted to make many passes (6+). I think if I spray first, I may get by with 2 passes if I cultipack between them. I guess my primary problem is I'm doing this with a Ford 8N pulling a 6 foot disk. Not exactly a ton of power for deep penetration of a disk.

RonM,

You can probably understand my predicament, trying to do 7 acres with this size equipment. I'd appreciate your input on whether or not you think I'll get adequate seed/soil contact with the equipment and method I describe.

thanks guys

RE: no-till with conventional planter?
 

You are making a great case for using Round Up Ready corn (or soys). If you have lots of weeds left over from last year you can spray as soon as they start growing. Then you can disk and plant in a couple of days (no need to wait for the weeds to show signs of dieing). Sure you'll stir up some more weed seed with the disking but another shot of RR will take care of them mid season or so. If the weeds seem to be getting a foothold in early fall give another shot of RR and you should be ready for an early start next year.