Disc or not

[Anonymous-0]

The guy I had my field rented to got his corn down and used a 5 shank ripper to break the compaction. Whats best to go over it now, a disc or a pulvimulcher? Or any other ideas? he rented the land this year about 2 weeks before i bought it. Now he's done its my turn. Alot of clods and its pretty rough.
Ben

 

[glennster]

not sure where you are at but if he hit it with a ripper or chisel plow, let er lay over the winter as is. the freeze thaw cycles with break up the clods and the stalks will start rotting down. next spring hit it with a field cultivator and drag. (north east illinois)

 

[Bill(Wis)]

glennster has it right. Only exception I can think of is that if you have a lot of stalk residue on the surface you might have plugging problems with a field cultivator or especially a drag. In that case, a disc might be in order. That stalk material deteriorates a lot over winter and I've had no problems planting right thru it in May. Getting the field smoothed out will be the objective in the spring, otherwise, you've done a perfect job preparing the field for winter.

 

[paul]

Here in Minnesota, likewise do nothing now, in sring go over with a field cultivator (with drag, or drag after) & plant. If he left a lot of cornstalks on top & long, may need to disk in spring instead of field cultivator.

Disk puts fine soil on surface, packs down hard the ground at seeding depth. Field cultivator puts lumps on surface, fine dirt at seeding depth. _Most_ of the time a field cultivator makes a better seedbed.

--->Paul

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks guys thats what i was looking for
ben

 

[Anonymous-0]

If it has great drainage, or you don't plan on having a wet spring, let it set. Otherwise run a disk over it this fall. We ripped (not chiseled) wheat ground with a 5 shank inline ripper, and although we have pretty good drainage with decent amount of tile, the next spring was wet, and too many bottomless wet spots were discovered. Pattern tiling would likely have avoided this problem. Others have written on similar forums that an additional fall tillage pass would solve this problem. I would use a disk. Wasn't a concern on chiseled ground. Don't need to worry about the clods, freeze/thaw will eliminate them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

you may want to talk to him first. if he ripped it, he likely is planning to farm it next year. depending on your state, to cancel even a verbal rental agreement, it takes a certified letter mailed up to 60 days prior to the end of the lease agreement. he might not appreciate you scratching around on his ripped corn field.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The written contract is up, and i talked to him, he knows this was his last year

 

[Anonymous-0]

Why did he rip it if his contract was up?Fuel is pretty high to be doing that.