Strip-tilling and deep-banding nitrogen and phosphate increased corn grain yield vs. conventional-tillage and conventional fertilizer placement methods in highly eroded low fertile soils in 2007 research at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Northwest Irrigation & Soils Research Laboratory at Kimberly, Idaho.
Just down the road from the machine shed of Pennville, Ind., strip-tiller Shane Houck, a tan boulder stands halfway between the edge of the cornfield and the county blacktop. Cut into the top of the rock is the inscription, “Houck Homestead Farm 1838.”
Strip-tilling helps manage residue, increase continuous-corn yields and protect the soil, say four Iowa strip-tillers and an ag retailer who have been using the system for years.
Conventional wisdom says no-till won’t work in northern Iowa, an area infamous for cold, wet soils. But Thornton, Iowa, farmer Doug Caffrey, who grows corn and soybeans and raises grow-to-finish hogs, has no-tilled successfully for almost 25 years.
If conditions permit, there’s likely to be a lot of sidedressed nitrogen going on fields the rest of the month. Guy Swanson, developer of the Exactrix anhydrous delivery system, says that putting down nutrients at this time of the year can be your most cost-effective application, but there’s also a lot of risk involved if you don’t get them applied in time or properly.
Although it has been available for several years, an often-overlooked, environ- mentally friendly slug-control product is gaining popularity in the United States and could provide an alternative to metaldehyde- based products for no-tillers.
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On this edition of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by CultivAce, longtime no-tiller Jim Leverich explains why 20-inch corn rows are paying off big time on his Sparta, Wis., farm.
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