Jerry Carlson of Renewable Farming continually writes great articles that you won’t want to miss. This information is cutting edge and offers a new way of thinking to solve today’s farming issues. Learn how to achieve mature ears on green stalks, and the latest on stock rot and the biological breakdown of stalks.
Enjoy these three articles that are especially important.
How Dave Schwartz achieves the classic corn-grower’s goal: Mature ears on green stalk
Healthy, 300-bu. plus corn on rolling hillsides with a corn suitability rating in the mid-50s? See the photos below taken at the Dave Schwartz farm a few miles west of Guthrie Center, Iowa.
October 13, 2018 — The photos below were shot Oct. 1 by crop consultant Bob Streit of Boone, Iowa. He and Dave Schwartz of Verdesian Life Sciences teamed up to build a no-till corn growing system which sequences several biological boosters and management practices to keep corn alive and filling to normal maturity.
That includes residue digestion microbials, cover crops, bioprotection against diseases, all-season nutrient feeding (including stabilized nitrogen), and foliars applied for maximum absorption and translocation.
We’ll intend to report the detailed programs, including costs and yields, after harvest. Meanwhile here’s an update showing field conditions as of Oct. 1, 2018. Virtually all of the cornfields in central and southern Iowa were dead brown by then. Cornstalks on Dave’s steep hillsides — “Billy Goat country — as this area is nicknamed — was mostly green, with heavy ears filled to the tips.
Read more HERE.
Farmers fighting stalk rot see major benefits from biologically healthy soil
The rivers of rain which lashed much of the upper Midwest in September and early October spawned an array of stalk rot fungi and bacteria which are now threatening substantial corn yield losses. Here’s a tool you can use this fall — soon as possible — to keep corn alive longer in future years. The final 40 bu. or more is built in during late August until the first frost.
October 12, 2018 — Here’s the management approach we consider very important for preventing stalk rot: Improve your soil health with a wide diversity of beneficial fungi and bacteria.
Healthy soils with a wide array of beneficial organisms speed digestion of heavy stalk residue. That deprives pathogens of overwintering habitat, and stimulates a wider range of crop-friendly, competitive microbes. The term, “disease suppressive soils” is migrating from scientific papers into more common management use. It arose from the work of professionals such as Dr. Bob Kremer, ARS/USDA pathologist at the University of Missouri, and a few crop consultants who emphasize biologically healthy soils. In the war against crop disease, it’s a numbers battle of good guys vs. bad.
Read more HERE.
Waves of late rains offer opportunities for faster biological breakdown of stalks
Several new stalk residue digester products are emerging in the marketplace. Your decision may well be not deciding whether to speed residue breakdown, but “which one is best?” Farmers’ demand is demonstrating their effectiveness. Although a strong cover-crop program also enhances your microbial diversity, the tonnage of cornstalks still presents a challenge.
September 27, 2018 — Many fields in the upper Midwest have abundant soil moisture this fall. That’s a key ingredient to give munching microbes an early feast on heavy cornstalk residue, and set up your fields for easier planting next spring.
None of the long-established or new microbial residue breakdown products are promoted with a promise of immediate yield response. But this fall we measured a 2.63 bu. gain for soybeans fall-treated with Environoc 501, versus the untreated control. This was an average of only four random replications. Due to wide variability in test strip yields, the least significant difference in yield at the 95% confidence level was 3.84 bushels. (Even so, seed corn companies say that a 2-bu. average yield gain over their competitors indicates worthwhile value.)
Read more HERE.
