# No till corn into hay ground



## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

We have just been offered a share crop deal on a 35 acre hayfield that has done its time. The owner wants to return to hay asap.
As we are too late to kill the old stand off I was considering burn off asap in the spring and no till corn. Following the corn we would bale the stalks and till next fall ready for seeding down in spring '12.
Has anyone had any experience good or bad with no till corn after hay? The soil type in question is a medium loam.


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## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

We do it all the time, Have raised some real good corn after alfalfa. Would have been nice if you could have got it killed this fall.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

The planter has to put the seed in the ground, and firm the ground on top of the seed. So your planter needs to be able to get the openers in the ground, and have closing wheels that will be able to close the trench. The biggest issue (here anyway) is getting the seed in the ground and closing the trench. I've had very limited success no-tilling beans into hay fields, and as for corn..... we normally follow hay with a small grain, and then plant corn. No-tilling into hay ground is hard to do, but so is working that same ground with a plow and a disc. Early spring might do alright and be easier than later when I try to do it, so it might not be too bad. I'd get the planter into shape, and try it.

Rodney


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## jhag (Dec 25, 2009)

Mike
I have been doing this for several years. I do it with a conventional planter and still get really good results. This year one field with no extra fertilizer yielded 200 bu/ac. It is nice if you can kill it off this fall but its a little too late here in Ontario. I still spray for broadleaf weeds after planting.

Jim


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Rodney pointed out the major concerns. If you have a heavy enough planter to get the seed in the ground and adequately cover it, you'll be fine. We do this all the time, it's preferable to spray in the fall then again in the spring. Some of our best corn yields have been following hay.

One year we even planted into a foot of standing hay, burned it all down with gramoxone(sp?) and had no problems getting the seed into the ground with a White 8 row planter using frame mounted no-till coulters. Using a 16 row White now with the frame mounted no-till coulters and have no problems with that either.


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## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. That gives me a bit more confidence to give it a try. As you say it would have been nice to have have got a kill this fall but that is not going to happen now. 
The field (and surrounding area) is real bad for dandelions. Is no till corn going to give me enough opportunity to hit them in a one year break bearing in mind we are going to go straight back with hay?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Planting RR corn? If not and you use drops, you can always come back thru and hit any growing dandelions with 2-4d once the corn is up and growing. We even have a neighbor that sprays a pint to a quart of 2-4d under the canopy while side dressing anhydrous.


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## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

mlappin said:


> Planting RR corn? If not and you use drops, you can always come back thru and hit any growing dandelions with 2-4d once the corn is up and growing. We even have a neighbor that sprays a pint to a quart of 2-4d under the canopy while side dressing anhydrous.


More than likely will be RR but this is a 7 year stand of hay with some huge and well established dandelions. We have increasingly found that Roundup struggles to get these snuffed out in one hit.


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

While a number of people on the post have had success with no-till corn into alfalfa I would sugggest you consider either strip tilling or discing or something before planting the corn if you weren't going to apply any additional N. I've seen a number of guys run out of N in they didn't at least strip till, especially if they took the first cut of hay and then went in with corn that same season.

Also if there are giant dandelion some well timed tillage would be very good weed control practice. No weed is resistant to steel.


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## jpritchett (Sep 22, 2009)

Last year we developed and put irrigation pivots on two of are quarters of ground. They were pasture and hayground the year before. One quarter they just went in and planted no-till. The other quarter they disked once to break up the sod. The quarter that was disked had a higher yield. The no-till quarter was 30 or more bushel less a acre.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

jpritchett said:


> Last year we developed and put irrigation pivots on two of are quarters of ground. They were pasture and hayground the year before. One quarter they just went in and planted no-till. The other quarter they disked once to break up the sod. The quarter that was disked had a higher yield. The no-till quarter was 30 or more bushel less a acre.


Our experiences have been exactly opposite, take into account as well that most of our hayfield's are on lighter drought prone soils with no irrigation.

Side dressing takes care of any nitrogen deficits.


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## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

jpritchett said:


> Last year we developed and put irrigation pivots on two of are quarters of ground. They were pasture and hayground the year before. One quarter they just went in and planted no-till. The other quarter they disked once to break up the sod. The quarter that was disked had a higher yield. The no-till quarter was 30 or more bushel less a acre.


Presumably you are talking hay/pasture burned off in fall and then light tillage in the spring. Discing only once within a few weeks of burning off in spring would leave a really rough seedbed wouldn't it? The root structure would still be mostly intact.


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