organic sweet corn weed management

Hey all,
We are a small family farm that goes to market every week. My parents are trying to make it their retirement as this is the 96th year on the farmstead for our family. We currently do a .25 acre of sweet corn and cant keep tje weeds out. My mom is super against spraying, but i was wondering if anyone knows of organic sprays that we can use to kill weeds that are truly OMRI listed????

This would also be for other crops, but my dad wants to plant 7 acres of sweet corn and i want to figure out how to help.
 
A rotary hoe and a row crop cultivator will help if done right. The hoe has to be used when the corn spikes.
 
Disking a couple times over a couple weeks before planting will help control weeds,then cultivate when the corn is very young with guards or fenders as they used to be called to protect the young seedlings.I use
disk hillers turned to throw the dirt away from the plants at that stage then turn the hillers around to throw dirt between the rows once the corn gets a little taller.Also well balanced soil won't have nearly as much of a weed problem as unbalanced soil.
 
Several things will work one thing I did
that worked great was plant oats in the
fall then it will winter kill planted no
till in the mulch which natural kept the
weeds down. Timing work the ground in the
fall just before the fall rains and Indian
summer that tricks the weeds into thinking
it's spring and start growing and winter
kill. One old trick turn sheep into the
corn apparently the sheep won't knock the
corn down but will eat the weeds. Lots of
tricks just don't get discouraged with a
few weeds.
 
Corn is actually one of the easier crops to keep weeds out of organically since it can be hilled.
As soon as the corn is tall enough to not get buried begin pushing soil into the row to cover small
weeds in the row. This of course is easiest with mechanical power and for a patch your size a
garden tractor (preferably a taller model like a Power King) and cultivator would work well.
Cultivating like this often, adjusting the shovels to push more soil into the row as the corn
grows, will get you ahead of most weeds.
 
(quoted from post at 15:35:21 07/31/16) Hey all,
We are a small family farm that goes to market every week. My parents are trying to make it their retirement as this is the 96th year on the farmstead for our family. We currently do a .25 acre of sweet corn and cant keep tje weeds out. My mom is super against spraying, but i was wondering if anyone knows of organic sprays that we can use to kill weeds that are truly OMRI listed????

This would also be for other crops, but my dad wants to plant 7 acres of sweet corn and i want to figure out how to help.

I lost this battle this year too. Of course having the clutch go out on tractor and 3 weeks of work travel didn't help.

We'll try again next year. It's still amazing how much sweet corn you can get even with bad weeds, just sucks to pick it.
 
Shop around right now for some poor quality rained on hay that you can buy for $1 a bale or less. Spread that in the rows when the stalks are 8 inches tall.
 
are you certified USDA organic or just want to grow it organic? If you are certified organic then you can not use the junk hay idea mentioned on another reply unless that junk hay came from a certified organic source. I would focus on correcting soil imbalance, increasing spring tillage with 12 to 14 day rest (weed growth) periods between passes. Other ideas include broadcasting sweet clover as a cover crop into the rows after last cultivation of the plants. The rotary hoe previously noted can have positive effects, just make sure the soil is not too wet.

Far as OMRI certified sprays you only have a few options. I've tried a product called avenger. It's a burn down with no selective properties. What you spray will be dead - guaranteed! if you are not certified and just want a natural option you can spot spray with the mix below. Three spray passes on a hot day will kill everything so be careful not to spray the corn.

1 gal canning vinegar
1 bottle of lemon juice concentrate
few squirts of dawn dish soap or clove oil to reduce evaporation
 
I plow with a Farmall Super C dragging a 2-14" mold board plow. Then disc untill I get the seed bed the way I want it then use a C251 fast hitch
planter set on 36" rows. I plant 1/2 acre of sweet corn every year along with several kinds of beans. The corn and beans seem to germinate
faster than the weeds. About the time the weeds come on I start cultivating with a Farmall 200 with 2 row mounted cultivator with fertilizer side
dressers. I'll cultivate 2-3 times as needed till the crop canapies out. That's about the time it's too tall to cultivate any more.

I have about 50 laying hens that free range on 4 acres. I'll open up the garden to them and any weeds left they seem to eat along with the
bugs. If the chickens get into the garden when the crop is too young they'll eat every bit of it.

Not certified organic but trying to following organic practices.
 
My sheep will eat the corn, stalk and all. As soon as where done picking I turn the sheep in and they eat it down to the ground, weeds and all. No need to shred. And they'll fertilize as they go.
 

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