Crop rotation

what would you guys recommend for a normal crop rotation for corn and soybean ground? corn, corn, soybeans or corn, soybeans, soybeans, etc.

Corn-soybean 50-50 is good.

However, several insect pests in some areas have adapted to that, and now survive in the soybean stubble waiting an extra year for the corn to return.

As well some of the soybean diseases also have concentrated themselves to where they get ahold of the beans even with a year off between.

So, the bean advisors tell us a corn, corn, bean rotation is great.

While the corn advisors tell us a bean, bean, corn rotation is great.

Well - year. You ask any questions on that and they say well do a bean, corn, wheat rotation, but then however you do it the corn and wheat tend to share some diseases as they are both grasses....

So it comes back to economics. Locally in my small neighborhood corn grows much better in our soil type, and so many folk end up at about 1/3 beans, 2/3 corn and rotate based on the soil types, keep watching for insect and disease problems, and rotate the hot spots. This clay high ph wet soil we have grows better corn.....

I think your soil types, insect types, and climate for your neighborhood have a lot to do with it, but starting from a 50-50 mix is a good plan as far as disease, insect, time use, and economic return goes.

Adjust from there.

I personally believe while notill and minimum till have many good parts to them, they allow the build up of insects, fungus, and other diseases in the soil that can survive off the mulched crop residue. We never heard of Goss' wilt and the extended diapause insects, rarely needed insecticide back when we did full plowing. I suspect your tillage system has something to do with it too.

Paul

Around this area (northern Maryland), we usually rotate corn to wheat in the fall after the corn comes off, combine the wheat in the early summer and come back with a shorter season bean, then go back in corn the next spring. The beans, if gotten in as soon as the wheat comes off, may not make a really high harvest, but the wheat and straw plus the beans in one year take out a lot of weeds and make a nice seed bed for the corn the next year. This is all done no-til and you have to roll for the wheat straw and planting, but the rotation works very well......

In my area it is common to have a corn soybean wheat rotation on poorer ground. A corn bean corn bean rotation and no wheat on better ground.

they are telling us corn/corn/soybeans/soybean if you want to stay with those 2 crops. soybean/wheat/corn is the best 3yr when you use a covercrop planted into wht stubble!