Dealing with corn stalks after harvest

Hi guys
I'd like to know the steps that you all take when dealing with corn stalks after harvest through getting ready for spring planting
do you just disk the land or what
Thanks for any information
 
I just have a few small sweet corn patches, but turning under corn stalks has been a problem for me,
As I only have 12? flat bottoms plows,

Finally I figured out to disk the heck out of the stalks a few times,
Then I plow them under with my MF64 double disc plow, it rolls them under much better, only choked up one time this fall plowing,

Am looking for a 2x16? flat bottom plow, I understand a 16? plow has a much larger throat than a 12? plow, so the debris will flow through much
better,

No till is the way to go but I am to small a operator for that,
 
The no-till planter will just whisk the debris away from the planting area, actually harder if you go in a mess with it first.
 
Used to turn the cows out on a corn field for a month or so- with the good fence on another field, the near grown hogs cleaned up corn stalks, etc. Other way for brother without good fence- chopper and put stalks in wagon for bedding, then disk in spring. I got disk duty couple times- one pass the direction of row, next pass at 45 degree angle to rows. Sister has wide disk unit with very large disks- 3 foot or so diameter- and they do a good job on corn stalks without clogging. some of wisconsin dairy operations do a rake and bale of stalks for bedding. small sweet corn patch- couple people use a bush hog to shred, chop and winter ground cover. RN
 
We dont have any cows
It will be about 30 acres of ground
I think I'll try disking it with the offset harrow then let it lay for a few weeks then once over agin with the finishing disk
Should be good then I hope
My planter dosent have the row cleaners on it
 
Here they run across the field with a rotary mower open at both ends, wheels on the side operated with a tube across the top which was
connected to a hydraulic cylinder for adjusting the height from the tractor....forget the name of it. Being open front and rear it was easy to
get the stiff plant stem into the machine for cutting. Then you disc it all in. Ag. agent is real heavy on returning crop matter to the field
since it's Houston Black Clay and percolates poorly. Also county has a burn ban so no more burning off the fields which is ok fine with me
for the soil, air, and possible fire hazard as it happens during the dry season.

Have also seen them round baled like is usually done with Maze stalks or in the case I'm working right now, the crop was marginal so the
owner just baled the whole plant along with the Johnson Grass that was about as prolific.
 
On the ones close to home I run the cows on them to pickup lost ears and reduce residue then chop and disc chisel them before freeze up, usually then they will go through the digger in the spring, if they are going back to corn I try to molboard them, I had a no-till drill but sold it.
 

If you plan to disk, leave them stand through the winter and disk in the spring. The disk really sinks in and cuts the stalks after a hard winter. You might get by with one pass depending on what you have for a disk, the type of soil you have and how heavy the stalks are.

Or for what you will spend trying to wear down the stalks with a disk you can possibly find a set of good used row cleaners for the planter and do it no till.
 
Run a stalk chopper over them and work the
material in. Builds up the organic matter
in the soil.
 
We shred and bale them for bedding. The ones we do not bale we still shred and use a disk chisel or disk ripper to work the ground in the fall when possible. You lose nutrients that are in the stalks if you leave them lay on the surface without any soil contact. Our organic mater levels are raising and our yields are more consistent than they were when we no tilled 20 years ago.

This is very farm specific too. What works on this ground may not be the best for your ground.
 
we have started brush hogging the stocks then run the rip over and ripping at 20". this year will be my first year doing cover crop on no till bean ground.
 
I have to use the equipment I have. So plow them under asap, chisel usually but
sometimes a moldboard, then disk in Spring.
 
Chop them.

Glencoe Soil Saver. (Twisted shank chisel plow with coulter blades in front of it.)

In spring, one trip with a ihc 4800 field cultivator.

Plant.

A disk is often a bad thing in my clayish wet soil, so we try not to do that.

Paul
 

After harvest broadcast cover crop seed (rye or wheat) then chop and scatter stalks with a brush hog and let them rot over the winter.
In the spring spray cover crop with Roundup and no-til.
Only time we work the soil is when putting crop ground back into hay, I like a smooth hay field.
 
If you choose to chop them first, use a flail type stalk chopper as apposed to a rotary blade bush hog. Does lot better job and no rock worries.
 

We leave the stalks as tall as we can and leave them, we then no-till into them in the spring with no problems here in NE Indiana.
 

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