Planting corn

[QDMAworks4me]

How many of you plant corn as a food plot?

We are looking at putting corn in as a food plot for next year, for protien and late season food.

To give you a little background we have about 100 acres of alfalfa, 4 acres of clover and chickory and 1 acre of brassica. We are looking to put in about 5 acres of corn but do not have a corn planter. We have been pricing one out and have a few leads. They are not cheap and I have seen a few articles on broadcast spreading the seed and rolling over it instead of drilling it we have planted the rest of our seed that way with great success. Has anyone ever planted corn this way? If so what type of success did you have?

We had talked about renting a piece of equipment but no luck finding anything to rent. We also talked about having a local farmer come in but we are concerened that we will be competing for his time and it is only 5 acres and it really could not be worth them coming in and would be realy expensive.

Feedback would be great

[wtnhunt]

With that much alfalfa around I honestly dont think I would worry about corn.

If you are dead set on plantiing the corn though, corn can be broadcast into furrows with some fair results. Run a disc and leave your furrows open abotu 1.5 to 2 inches deep. Broadcast the corn, then run a drag to cover the open furrows. You might be surprised how well the seed will fall into the rows. Downside to that method would be areas with crowding. I am kind of considering planting some corn this year myself, and I might use that method, either that or a walk behind seeder, but I am only planning to plant an acre or so of corn.

[Born2Hunt]

Brian, take this for what it is worth. As far as corn giving protien forget it. I believe it only has around 8% give or take 1 or 2%. It will work as a late season food source but there is not much nutrition in it. Corn will provide energy and heat for the deer and that is about it.
As for the broadcasting of corn. Why would a farmer spend 10's of thousands of dollars on a planter if corn can be broadcasted out of a 4-5 hundred dollar seeder? Sure the planter plants in rows so the corn can be picked with equipment but it also bands the fertilizer with the corn which is very important. The seed should be planted 3/4-1 inch deep with the fertilizer being 3/4 of an inch either below or beside the seed. The difference between planting in these two different methods will be seen. It was explained to me by an ag professional and a maker of a seeding machine designed for food plots that corn will grow if broadcasted and not banded but what you will have is stalks with no ears of corn and corn that blows over due to not rooting. To me it seems like you would waste a lot of time clearing land and planting corn that may not grow the way you were told it would.
Marc

PS. I'm not trying to bust your chops. This is what I have been told to my face. As I said take it for what it is worth.

[wtnhunt]

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It was explained to me by an ag professional and a maker of a seeding machine designed for food plots that corn will grow if broadcasted and not banded but what you will have is stalks with no ears of corn and corn that blows over due to not rooting.

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Not trying to encourage broadcasting corn, and not saying it will get the results a planter will, just saying it can be done. I have broadcast beans and peas into furrows similarly and had them look to be planted in rows. Like I said initially with that much alfalfa, I really do not think I would waste my time planting corn.

I would have to question what this ag professional told you as I have had corn grow that was not planted at all. About 5 years back after a previous fall planting of biologic that was less than what I had expected, I dumped a 50 lb bag of shelled corn over the fresh worked ground, dumping it out as I was driving the 4 wheeler. This was in the spring where the full draw had been planted before. Ironically my intentions were to watch some turkeys as we were beginning to see some in better numbers and I was surprised when the corn started growing just about a week after I dumped it out. I did not cover the corn up at all, the corn grew, had ears on the stalks and did not blow over. Had deer and turkeys in that corn that fall quite a few times when I went back there. I would think the success rate on the broadcast method would be better than my dumping. As far as fertilizing, it could very well be spread before covering the furrows to get the banding you are suggesting here.

[QDMAworks4me]

Thanks for your feedback guys, we are really looking to plant corn as our fall and winter food source, alfalfa is great in the spring and summer but the deer do not hit it much after the frost hits it and the plant stops growing. Just some food to get them through the winter and to get them traveling on our property during the hunting season. We are on a four year rotation with the farmers, 4 years of corn, then 4 years of alfalfa and so on. So we are going to establish these other plots to be corn when the property is in alfalfa and green plots when the farm is in corn. Our fields have a road that we HAVE to drive on to get on our property so the deer are not in our fields during the hunting season, that is a big reason we are putting other plots that have a little privacy so the deer feel comfortable to come out in them.

Marc, don't get me wrong we are looking for a corn planter but as you guys know finding one that is worth the money people want for it is hard and we have already spent the money to buy the tiller this year. If we find a planter by the planting season that we like I am sure we will buy it, and all the plots we are talking about putting corn is already cleared, so that is not a big deal.

We may try broadcasting this season to see what type of success we have, still up in the air right now.

[generallee]

just thought id throw this out there...my family is from a part of Wisconsin with a large Amish community. We always drive by their corn fields and they grow just fine....not all pretty and in nice rows....but they grow, and they do it without any seed drill or expensive disc or plow. I think if they can get a good stand of corn, then you could also.

[QDMAworks4me]

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just thought id throw this out there...my family is from a part of Wisconsin with a large Amish community. We always drive by their corn fields and they grow just fine....not all pretty and in nice rows....but they grow, and they do it without any seed drill or expensive disc or plow. I think if they can get a good stand of corn, then you could also.

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Yes I wonder what type of technique they use exactly? Do you know?

[wtnhunt]

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just thought id throw this out there...my family is from a part of Wisconsin with a large Amish community. We always drive by their corn fields and they grow just fine....not all pretty and in nice rows....but they grow, and they do it without any seed drill or expensive disc or plow. I think if they can get a good stand of corn, then you could also.

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Yes I wonder what type of technique they use exactly? Do you know?

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Maybe horse drawn planters? Not sure.

[QDMAworks4me]

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Maybe horse drawn planters? Not sure.

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With gas prices it might be cheaper for me to buy a horse and feed it instead of buying equipment for the tractor

[Randy]

Here's how the Amish plant it. Without the Tractor of course! The Planter was modified into a 3Pt. Hitch. It works good!

[LETMGROW]

There is no doubt most anything will grow something if you throw enough seed down. However if you want to get good results why not go the extra step and do it right?
I had my corn planted by a custom farmer who does this for a living for $15 per acre. I had 5 acres planted. No muss, no fuss and the crop grew 7' tall or more. It was all in rows so spraying the Roundup Ready plants was a breeze without running over any plants.
Simple, isn't it?

[QDMAworks4me]

[ QUOTE ]
There is no doubt most anything will grow something if you throw enough seed down. However if you want to get good results why not go the extra step and do it right?
I had my corn planted by a custom farmer who does this for a living for $15 per acre. I had 5 acres planted. No muss, no fuss and the crop grew 7' tall or more. It was all in rows so spraying the Roundup Ready plants was a breeze without running over any plants.
Simple, isn't it?

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The only problem is relying on someone else and their schedule, and we are really trying to be self sufficent like you guys are becoming.

I guess I figured you were not really happy going that route since you bought a planter at an auction after that.

[Randy]

Don't know if you have a Tractor or not, but I paid $250 for this two row planter and it works pretty good as you can see from the pics.

[dogdoc]

do you have Ed Spin's new Food Plot book? If not I would recommend it. There is a section on planting corn without a drill.

[LETMGROW]

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There is no doubt most anything will grow something if you throw enough seed down. However if you want to get good results why not go the extra step and do it right?
I had my corn planted by a custom farmer who does this for a living for $15 per acre. I had 5 acres planted. No muss, no fuss and the crop grew 7' tall or more. It was all in rows so spraying the Roundup Ready plants was a breeze without running over any plants.
Simple, isn't it?

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The only problem is relying on someone else and their schedule, and we are really trying to be self sufficent like you guys are becoming.

I guess I figured you were not really happy going that route since you bought a planter at an auction after that.

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As you know we may lose our lease land because it is up for sale. That property was the reason I bought the planter. I figured after a few years it would pay for itself. I bought the planter not knowing the land was going up for sale.