Feedgrains
A Profitable Rotation
Planting strip-tilled corn in rotation with no-till cotton eliminates surface soil compaction that tends to develop when cotton follows cotton, says Paul Clark, who partners on 700 acres of corn near Courtland, Ala.
Because the compaction tends to occur only in the top 4 inches of soil, Clark shortened the subsoiler shanks on his strip-till machine to till to a 6inch depth. (Most farmers subsoil to a 15-inch depth.) That reduces his power requirements from 25 hp per row to 15 hp per row.
Clark applies 75 pounds of 32% liquid nitrogen in a 15-inch band behind two waffle coulters that follow the subsoiler shank. Two sets of rolling spider wheels work the fertilizer into the soil, and a chain drag smoothes the tilled area.
Two for Corn Weeds
Southern growers can expect two new allies for weed control in corn next season.
BASF plans to market both Celebrity and Distinct herbicides.
Celebrity combines the active ingredient found in Accent for grass control with dicamba for broadleaf control. It is applied early postemergence and can be used in a two-pass program with other postemergence herbicides for season-long control.
Distinct, assuming it gets the EPA’s nod of approval, is effective primarily against broadleaf weeds. A new active ingredient, diflufenzopyr, provides broad-spectrum control of pigweed, cocklebur and morningglories, as well as triazine- and AI.S-resistant weeds. Pairing Distinct with either preemergence or postemergence grass herbicides broadens its spectrum of control.
Atrazine Tops Control List
University of Illinois weed scientist David Pike looked at net returns produced per dollar invested in 14 corn weed-control treatments.
Harness Extra (acetochlor plus atrazine) topped the list with a net return of $3.30, followed by Bicep (metolachlor plus atrazine), yielding a $3.15 net return. Next was a tie between Dual and Buctril ($2.90), followed by a combination of atrazine, Dual and Buctril, which came in at $2.50 per dollar invested.
Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Nov 1998
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
