No Tillage Corn Farming

To ugly for most Indiana corn farmers but to an experinced "ugly farmer" it is a thing of beauty. We who are into "no tillage" of the soil for many reasons have to quickly get used to farming ugly and learn to deal with it least we will fail.

You see in the two pics to the right the residue of last years soybean crop still lying there and also the previous corn crop residue from 2006 and several years residue previous to all of that...But if you get your mind made up that it can and will work it does and has for me for several years now. If you look close you can see where my planter has parted the soil and precisely placed the seed corn 2 inches deep and then covered it with firm moist soil. This 6 inch wide ban will now draw warmth from the sun and not reflect heat like the adjacent areas will...That is good though also as summer arrives and becomes very hot but the area has been pre mulched you might say with all the residue from those previous crops that have yet to be eaten and turning into soil by earthworms. So the 24 inches of the 30 inches between the rows is mulched by design and will not only reflect heat but will conserve moisture that falls and not allow it to quickly evaporate. Also during hard rains the soil will be protected from erosion that occurs on bare soils.

In a few days I will add a picture of the emerging corn plants that are right now swelling in the warm moist soil and sending down a tap root into the soil and a plant shoot towards the surface that will start the reproductive process we know as growing corn...We will follow this area from here to harvest this fall at least twice a month as everyday something changes in the corn field and exciting stuff happen some of which is not going to be like a good movie but you may find of interest as this summer passes by.

My first day of my three days of corn planting was the most challenging of my career as the MONO had a pretty good grip on me and was yet a few days before I knew what was taking me down. But usually the first day of planting season one is out early excited and ready to start a new year. Not for me that day which was a week from today. I did not get up until noon and I told myself I must get started so I went to the barn and did dig my planter out prepare it and air the tires. I came in the house thinking I would eat a bit and then plant corn... Instead the bed looked so good I got back into it for two more hours... I finally got to the field about 4 in the afternoon and did plant 20 acres of corn before dark....at least I was started.
But mono is an interesting illness and until you are told you got it and to go to bed you just hope each day that it is the worst and that tomorrow you will recover...It never comes till you admit that only sleep will cure you...which is where I am headed in about 5 minutes and have been doing most of this day....