{"id":10691,"date":"2019-10-30T11:22:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/?page_id=10691"},"modified":"2021-05-28T11:41:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:41:32","slug":"farmer-experiences-with-no-till-corn-and-cover-cropping","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/soil-health\/no-till-and-reduced-tillage\/farmer-experiences-with-no-till-corn-and-cover-cropping\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmer Experiences with No-Till Corn and Cover Cropping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Katie O\u2019Brien, UMaine summer student worker<br \/>\nEllen Mallory, UMaine Extension<\/p>\n<p>At the 2018 Maine Dairy Seminar, four experienced no-till growers discussed why they use no-till and cover crops, some of the associated challenges, and their tips for getting started. UMaine Extension\u2019s Rick Kersbergen started the session with an overview. A video of the full session is posted on the UMaine Extension Soil Health website. Here we provide the highlights.<\/p>\n<p>To watch the video and find other no-till and cover cropping resources, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/soil-health\/\">https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/soil-health\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Overview of Benefits and Challenges of No-Till and Cover Cropping<\/strong><br \/>\nRick Kersbergen, UMaine Cooperative Extension<\/p>\n<p>Benefits<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Saves fuel and time because of fewer passes and no rock picking<\/li>\n<li>Improves soil health<\/li>\n<li>Improves water infiltration and availability<\/li>\n<li>Reduces runoff and erosion<\/li>\n<li>Cover crops provide crop rotation that benefits corn<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Challenges<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Weed control<\/li>\n<li>Manure cannot be incorporated, but cover crops help retain nutrients<\/li>\n<li>Soil ruts and wheel tracks persist<\/li>\n<li>Short window after corn harvest to establish cover crops. Interseeding is used by some.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Farmer Panel<\/strong><br \/>\nPerry Lilley, Lilley Farms, Houlton<br \/>\nNo-tills about 600 acres per year (250 corn, 100 barley, 150 soybeans, and 30-50 alfalfa)<\/p>\n<p>Robert Fogler, Stonyvale Farms, Exeter<br \/>\nNo-tills almost 2000 acres per year (1000 corn, 500 alfalfa, and 300-400 timothy)<\/p>\n<p>Penny and Jeff Stevens, Wind Gate Farm, Knox<br \/>\nNo-till 180 acres per year (150 corn and 30 alfalfa)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why No Till?<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m focused on soil health&#8230; especially water infiltration and stopping erosion. That is really the key to me.\u201d \u2013 Robert Fogler<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Soil health<\/li>\n<li>Better water drainage and infiltration<\/li>\n<li>No rock picking<\/li>\n<li>Being able to grow corn on ledgey ground<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>No-Till Planters<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a new planter.\u00a0 There\u2019s all sorts of equipment out there that you can add to these old planters and make them work.\u201d \u2013 Perry Lilley<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maintenance is extremely important. Seed opener discs need to be set up correctly and they need to be sharp to penetrate the soil!<\/li>\n<li>The longer you no-till, the easier it is to penetrate the soil because soil health improves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cover Cropping with No Till<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019re in the worm feeding business with our cover crops. It\u2019s not for erosion control, it\u2019s for feeding worms (and the million other soil critters).\u201d \u2013 Robert Fogler<\/p>\n<p>The farmers use a variety of methods:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No-till drilling or broadcasting winter rye immediately following corn silage harvest<\/li>\n<li>Interseeding cover crop mixes into standing corn, either with an air-type seeder or by helicopter or airplane<\/li>\n<li>Interseeding Italian ryegrass into barley at planting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Manure Spreading with No Till<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cYou have to get over the mindset that manure has to be incorporated.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like to put it on bare ground. I like to put it on ground with cover crop or some residue &#8230; to help soak some of those nutrients up.\u201d \u2013 Perry Lilley<\/p>\n<p>The farmers have noticed that manure soaks into worm holes and root channels, but they do need to avoid putting on too much at once to avoid drowning out worms, and to spread it evenly to prevent getting clumps drying out on the soil surface.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advice for New No-Tillers<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid!\u00a0 It\u2019s gonna work so go out and do it.\u201d \u2013 Jeff Stevens<br \/>\n\u201cBut at the same time, be aware. You\u2019re going to have to check your corn (seeding depth) and you\u2019re going to have to rotate your fields. \u201d \u2013 Penny Stevens<\/p>\n<p>Key practices<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Weed control. Your sprayer becomes your tillage tool. You need to be on top of your weeds because they can get away from you in a hurry. Roundup ready corn is very helpful when starting out no-till, as preliminary tilling would usually be the first weed killing effort of the season and with no-till you don\u2019t get that.<\/li>\n<li>Cover crops. If you don\u2019t rotate with perennial sod you need cover crops to give you the soil health that makes no-till work.<\/li>\n<li>Good soil to seed contact, which requires a good, patient seeder operator. \u201cI think the biggest think you need to do is to get out of the tractor and make sure that seed is where you want it.\u201d &#8211; Perry Lilley<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-12842 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1-300x266.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1-300x266.jpg 300w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1-105x93.jpg 105w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1-317x281.jpg 317w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1-423x375.jpg 423w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2021\/05\/SARE-logos-2008-007-1.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 115px) 100vw, 115px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the farmers for participating on this panel. This summary and a video of the panel was made possible with funding from Northeast SARE project SNE17-07.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Katie O\u2019Brien, UMaine summer student worker Ellen Mallory, UMaine Extension At the 2018 Maine Dairy Seminar, four experienced no-till growers discussed why they use no-till and cover crops, some of the associated challenges, and their tips for getting started. UMaine Extension\u2019s Rick Kersbergen started the session with an overview. A video of the full session [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"parent":7936,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10691","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Farmer Experiences with No-Till Corn and Cover Cropping - Cooperative Extension: Agriculture - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agriculture\/soil-health\/no-till-and-reduced-tillage\/farmer-experiences-with-no-till-corn-and-cover-cropping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Farmer Experiences with No-Till Corn and Cover Cropping - Cooperative Extension: Agriculture - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Katie O\u2019Brien, UMaine summer student worker Ellen Mallory, UMaine Extension At the 2018 Maine Dairy Seminar, four experienced no-till growers discussed why they use no-till and cover crops, some of the associated challenges, and their tips for getting started. 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