Little Genius trash wheel

Back in the days of pulling Little Genius plows (and other brands, too) in cornstalks, we got #9 wire and cut a piece about 8 ft long, then tied one end around the coulter arm (making sure the coulter could still turn) and letting the wire just trail out. When the moldboards were turning soil, the wires were "buried" under the soil. The trash got tucked in between the wire and the soil and did a good job of moving that trash into the furrow and was covered up much better.

Of course, after a few hrs, when we lifted the plow at the end of the field, we"d notice a wire was gone....so we"d tie on another wire. Funny thing is we never plowed up those lost wires in succeeding years!

High yielding Iowa corn harvested by a picker, plus stalk choppers not invented yet, made for a real challenge to plow. Some farmers disked stalks before plowing.