Re: crops that drain the soil?

Posted by paul on October 05, 2005 at 21:21:12 from (66.44.137.198):

In Reply to: Re: crops that drain the soil? posted by James2 on October 05, 2005 at 20:18:46:

I'm more familiar with systems where solid
manure is returned to the land, so the om is
not of much concern - it's only rented for a
year, not removed. :) We are speculating only
manure juice is being returned here, so some
om is being exported.

It has long been held, from university research
& so, that 1/3 of cornstalks, possibly 50%, can
be removed without reducing om.

Corn is supposed to yield 200 bu an acre
here, I've actually gotten 183 some years on a
whole field basis, so grain corn pushes
ground pretty hard. The problem with rotting
corn stalks is that they _use_ so much n to
break down on the soil, even if you raise the
om of the soil, they are sucking up so much N,
you need to add an extra 50 units of N to keep
it going. You raise om at the price of extra N
needed. Lots.

As you say, that can, over time, raise om, but
soil fertility suffers, or lots of commercial
fertilizer has to be added and a lot of
insecticide.

I do a lot of corn/ beans, with oats and a wee
bit of alfalfa thrown in to break up the weed/
insect cycles.

I'd be real happy with a corn & alfalfa rotation,
better than a corn/ bean rotation. I'm just not a
fan of continuios corn at all, no matter what
Richard the corn yield champion could do on
his fields. ;)

To me it sounds like things are being
managed very well, far better than a typical
continuios corn on corn rotation around here.
and better than a typical corn/ soybean rotation
as well It depends on what type of soil he is
starting out with to begin with, if it can take
removing all crop material all the time.
Neighbor of mine is running 120 acres that
way - he's the one that is using rye too - but he
returns all the manure to that 120 acres too.

Alfalfa roots go very deep if allowed to grow 4
years or so, brings up nutrients from deep
down, and the thick roots of an old stand help
break up hardpan, allow paths for moisture &
such.

Didn't really see where you disagreed with
me, I enjoy this topic & like to discuss it, happy
to see what folks have to say, I can sure learn
a lot. I don't know much myself, just trying to
keep the discussion going. :)

--->Paul

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