Chopping Corn Head Provides Up to 15-Bushel Yield Advantage

3 years of data from Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR) found the Capello Quasar chopping head averaged a 14.9 bushel per acre yield advantage for corn after corn and a 2.3 bushel per acre advantage for soybeans after corn. The Yetter Stalk Devastator added 6.3 bushels per acre for corn after corn. Beck’s says sizing the residue into manageable pieces allows the planter to manage residue more effectively and nutrients from the residue to cycle faster. 

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Control Resistant Weed Populations with Diversity

In September, Bayer reported likely dicamba-resistant water hemp populations in Iowa. Some tips to best manage weeds are to pick an effective herbicide, diversify the weed control application and practices, control weed escapes prior to seed set to reduce future weed populations, prevent resistant traits from presenting and reduce the influx of weed seed into the crop field.

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Properly Manage Crop Residue Decay

Doug Miller, vice president and agronomist for Midwest Bio-Tech, answered common questions about the residue decay process in a recent No-Till Farmer webinar. Soil contact is not required to initiate the residue decay process, according to Miller, and it’s possible to reduce weed pressure over time through an active decay program. Miller says there’s also an economic advantage to removing excess residue in times of  high fertilizer prices. Excess residue ties up valuable nutrients, hampers planting and emergence, slows the warming and drying of the soil…