Plowing Corn Stalks

Is there something that can be done to help the plowing go better?

Any help most appreciated!

Some of the suggestions below will help, but it will always be a struggle. A stalk chopper will help a lot, but for the cost, extra trip & extra fuel to chop all that stalks, you might just want to get a newer plow. I got a 4-18 720 IH plow for under $800 last fall, works well.

--->Paul

Wires were 6 to 8 feet long and attached, I believe, to the coulter close to the frame.
We kept the coulters sharp too.
I'll try to dig up more info on how the wires were attached and utilized.
Gerb

--->Paul

Thanks,

Mike

Basically just get a thick wire (we have a small roll of old power line, too stiff to use for anything else!) cut it 8-10 feet long - well, longer is better.

Tie the wires onto each coulter, so that it hangs out to the right side of the plow between each bottom. Easy to tie onto a double-arm coulter, had to tie onto a little gap in the swivel on the single-arm coulters we have. It would be ideal to be coming right out of the right side of the coulter shaft - get as close to that as you can.

As you plow, these wires will get tossed down into the furrows, curves will form naturally, and any standing vegitation will get bowled over flat & turn under. Worked real well for plowing down tall alfalfa & sweet clovers. Never tried it in cornstalks, don't know how that would work.

Plowing clockwise is easy - plowing counterclockwise and you tended to cut off the wires as you put the plow in the ground.

--->Paul

I tried to brush hog it, but is still clogging the plow, then ran the disk over it and still have the same results, then tried taking colters off, no better. Should have done it last fall, corn was pretty heavy. Don't have any other implement to try.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

BIG coulters helps the most - 20" or more if you can fit them.

Time of day - light dew makes it just MISERABLE. Sometimes a heavy dew works better. Sometimes very dry stalks don't work so well. Some of the best stalk plowing has been during a slow rain (I have a cab). Need to catch this just right, sun, wind, dew, etc.

'Here' we have stalk shreaders, that are designed for chopping them - work like a flail mower. These help lots.

They made stalk wheels that would trail the plow, spin the stalks for the next round into the furrow behind the plow. Helped, but put all the trash into one furrow, not always what one wants.

I got real tired of my JD 145 plugging, got an IH 720 last fall, MUCH BIG improvement. Sometimes the only thing to help is to upgrade. :)

--->Paul

Small wore down coulters can cause more problems - time for new big ones. I've pulled mine off too in some conditions, but nice big coulters are always a help in stalks.

--->Paul