I don't know about that. Late April corn will be 12" by first week of June and canopied by the last week of June. I know I for one don't want any competition in my corn for that long of a period while the corn is scrounging for nutrients and rainfall throughout the summer. I know we're not farming for profit here but i still want a solid stand of corn if i'm putting that much work into it.
Yup, I'd overseed corn the same time frame I would beans which here would be around September....corn sucks up enough nutrients as is and fixes nothing so I don't need it to have competition.
I just read an article on this topic where a farmer made his own side dresser/cover seeder for 60K and used it on his Ag corn. (Ag as in not food plot). He said he didnt see any changes to his yield. I believe he was using 30" rows. We overseeded brassicas into heavily browsed corn this last year and saw amazing results. Corn was browse to the point of no cobs, but the brassicas turned out amazing. I plan to do more testing this next growing season and will post the results in both the Tribute to LC Corn and Brassicas threads. One of the biggest motivators for me to keep trying this is the deer population is so dense where we are, we have yet to get a full stand of corn due to browse. We are easily in the 100 dpsm range and we have the only foodplots within a large area. The problem also is that even with Ag corn planted around our property and even on our property, the deer still target our foodplots, I think due to the closeness to good bedding. My theory is deer may target the leafy greens of Groundhog Forage radishes while the corn is in the silk stage and allow our corn to get to full stand.
Read that in The Farmer last week. Need to remember we had a ton of rain this summer, especially in his area. I'd like to see his results in a dry growing season.
We don't plant our corn until late may, so that may change things although im not sure how. I am going out on a limb here; I would assume brassicas, like corn, require a bulk of the total nitrogen during the bulb producing stage of growth. If the corn canopies the brassicas before bulb production, the brassicas will go dormant and not draw too much nitrogen. Meanwhile, the corn has canopied and starts to produce cobs, drawing much of it's own nitrogen needs. The corn will now continue to produce cobs without much competition until maturity, at which time it will turn yellow and open the canopy for the brassicas to start producing bulbs. This is all just theory here not facts or experience to back it up. Also, radishes pull nitrogen up from deeper than corn's roots. Does anyone know if the radish needs to be terminated and decomposed for corn to get this nitrogen? Will corn benefit from the nitrogen fixing ability of growing radishes?
We generally battle wet ground on 3 out of 4 years, so I guess I would roll the dice? Our corn is primarily for pheasants but I also do like the late season capabilities of a nice corn stand for whitetails. Beans are far to difficult with our dpsm to get a stand past august. I apologize for de-railing this conversation, but you asked for a corn vs beans discussion and you sure got one
Radishes utilize, not fix nitrogen like soybeans do along their roots (those white nodules you see) at least that's my understanding. Never have a I ripped up a turnip or radish and saw nodules but then again can't say I've tried for that reason of ripping them up.
Corn uses a majority of its nitrogen in vegetative stages around V8-V12, well before reproductive stages.
So for my theory to work, the corn would need to canopy the brassicas by V8? On our 24" row planter, I would guess that would be do able in that tiem frame, and maybe that is why it works for us? Hopefully this summer the growing conditions are good and I can get some meaningful test results! If we can get a full stand of corn a good bulb production on the brassicas, I don't know if there would be a better late season foodplot?
I wouldn't necessarily disagree...I see timing being much more crucial with corn overseeding brassicas than with beans and then overseeding brassicas. However if mastering the art of it I could see this as a valid argument. Granted beans though could be argued are more nutrient dense in their breakdown than corn is.
Probably not! So besides ease of planting into short corn, if brassicas truly are dormant throughout most of the summer, what is your reasoning for planting them so early?
At least you guys can see how stressful farming is! Timing and mother nature are everything and usually mother nature doesn't allow the "perfect timing".
Great discussion all around. My choice would be beans. Mainly because the area I hunt in Virginia is surrounded by acres and acres of corn fields that a dairy farmer turns into silage. They cut the corn around the end of September/October time frame and plant winter wheat. I picked up a new lease that starts next year and plan on planting two acres of beans in the spring. Then in the fall I plan on planting another two acres of a mix of oats, cereal rye, winter pea and radish. We will also broadcast cereal rye in the soybeans to hopefully ensure a late season food source. If the lease continues after that the plan is to rotate these to spots. The area we want to plant is on a creek bottom surrounded by woods. Plans could change once I am able to do a soil test though but that what we are thinking. I am hoping the deer stay in the corn which will eleven some pressure on the beans hopefully to let them mature. Its the only bean source around for a good stretch so hopefully we get some pull for it. Back in the day when the hog farmers planted soybeans they were full of deer. Im sure the corn is too you just can't see them.
My reasoning would be two fold, first and foremost, ideally the Brassicas would have grown to the point before being canopied that they are ready to start producing bulbs as soon as the canopy opens. Where we are in MN, I don't know if we can get full bulb production if germination is in late August or early September. Secondly, I don't know how fall over seeding by broadcasting would work in a full stand of corn? Sent from my SM-G930V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I'm your situation, I may actually opt for corn. Two reasons for me would be first the deer are used to eating corn so it will be a natural choice for them and easy transition, and second, If the deer do find your beans right away they may mow off all 2 acres before a full stand is produce just because of the palatabulity of beans for deer and the lack of age beans in your area. It would be worth a try the first year though, you would know early if it will produce or not and over seeding or re seeding into brassicas would always be a second option Sent from my SM-G930V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Very good points but I do also want to pull more deer in. So if they do eat them to the ground the greens will be planted in the fall for attraction and food late in season. I could just do 4 acres of beans and mix the variety up a little. They don't seem to like lab lab there. Maybe because they have not eaten it before. They will mow some peas and forage soybeans though.
I have a 2 acre plot that I have planted all beans one year and all corn the next year. The deer and I get the most bang for the buck out of beans.
Not to derail the discussion, but you cannot soil test for nitrogen. Some soil testing labs will include a soil N level, but it is not accurate. You really just need to base your nitrogen rates off of previous year's yield records. Eventually, you can figure out an optimum nitrogen rate. To add to the discussion, I think beans are nearly always better than corn. With that said though, if you are surrounded by beans, you may be better off planting corn.
Not to make it specific to my situation alone, we only have neighboring corn but no beans so I've decided we specifically will incorporate beans...to what degree I'm not sure honestly.
