Question on lime and that cheap rent feild

[Dave from MN]

OK, it doesnt look like that cheap feild will get lime before it is time to get the crops in, well, which actually should have been last week. It,s PH is 5.0, I am not gonna put beans in there, but am considering RR corn. Hopefully have an early enopugh harvest(87 day corn), that I can get the lime spread in the fall(they do that right?), disc it in and and seed down rye which I would in turn possibly disc in in the spring along with layer poop,3-4 tons/acre or just leave the rye as a crop. Any way, will the corn do OK in a 5.0 ph SANDY LOAM?

 

[CumminsMan]

Lime just before planting won"t do any good anyway. Best to put it on in the fall/winter.

 

[Dave from MN]

Well, just doing some figuring and I think my best bet is to just seed it in oats and hope for rainfall. Lots of horsey people around here and they love that golden straw and they oats. For corn, potash and nitrogen would be way up there and with such acidity it probably would not take up the nutrients. The owners said I could have it for quite a few years, more than 5 for sure.

 

[Dave from MN]

Thanks, as of right now neither coop can get me lime for this spring. I should have had soil test taken last fall. Plan is oays this spring, I have to relly get on that in the am, because I have to till it, spray it(?), buy the seed and seed it ASAP cause it's getting late. It has been in a poorly established pasture mix the last 3 years, the previous few years it was in beans or corn, with very, very poor results. The guy that was farming it doesnt believe in soil tests. He did put fertlizer down, just never got a crop hardly. Now to build up the organic matter and fix it up a bit.

 

[Anonymous-0]

For a good straw yield, the oats will use more K than corn will. 50# N would make a tremendous difference also.

If the farm is really run down, I wouldn't waste my time seeding oats without fertilizer. I use 50# N and 130# K, maybe more K if soil tests are bad.
Seed the oats heavy. Old rules of thumb are way too light, just like we now plant corn at 34000, not 24000. I sow 5 to 6 bu/A broadcast. Oats make 100-130 bu depending on year, Pick the right variety and shave the ground with the combine and you may get 100 bales of straw/A as well.
Getting too late for oats in my opinion

 

[Rick Kaufmann]

Dave:
Just another alternative that you might consider. Since you can't get lime until this fall and the ground is currently in sod, and it may be a little late for oats, you might want to think about sowing Buckwheat this summer. This will buy you some time also. Buckwheat will tolerate pH to 5.0 pretty well and usually doesn't require a lot of fertilizer, especially N. It also acts as a smother crop and will choke out most of the weeds and grass residuals in the existng sod. I would probably spray glyphosate first then plow and disk and fertilize if your soil is testing very low in P and/or K. Plant the Buckwheat by around June 15th. It has a vey short growth cycle, usually only 10-12 weeks. You could harvest the grain to sell or use it mixed in with your normal cattle or poultry feed. Get your lime on as soon as the Buckwheat is off and disk it in and then plant Rye this fall for a winter cover crop. Plow the Rye under in the spring for green manure and switch to beans or corn. This will give your lime time to work, will help rejuvinate that old field and help eliminate weeds. Your inputs should be minimal compared to other crops. Lots of good info on the web regarding Buckwheat/Rye rotation. Good luck.
Rick