D6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 18,1981
NEWARK, Dela. - There’s been
a significant increase in no-tUI
corn acreage throughout Delaware
this year.
Nearly 30-35 percent of the
state’s approximately 190,000-acre
corn crop was planted without
cultivation this spring, estimates
University of Delaware Extension
crops specialist Frank Webb. This
is up from about 10 percent last
year.
The rapid shift to this method of
farming is the result of a number
of things, says Webb-for one, the
performance of no-till com on
neighboring farms in 1980.
“Last year was extremely dry
and many no-tillage plots yielded
significantly better than con
ventionally grown com. This
impressed farmers,” Webb ob
serves.
Besides reducing moisture
stress, no-till has other advantages
as a tune and labor saver. The
technique uses less fuel by
reducing the number of passages
over a field, so it has definite cost
benefits.
“All these factors considered,”
he says, “I think farmers were in a
frame of mind to want to try the
new production system.”
No-till isn’t exactly new. It’s
been around Delaware since the
early 1970’5. But it wasn’t until
after Extension specialists put
together what they call their no-till
com “recipe” around 1977 that the
system started to catch hold on
local farms.
Overall, Webb says he thinks this
year’s no-till com plantings have
been successful. In most instances,
farmers new to the technique
apparently followed recommended
procedures fairly closely.
“When the crops came up this
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year, most of the no-tiil plantings
were more uniform and had fewer
problems than many of the con
ventional ones,” he says.
This doesn't ‘mean no-till was
entirely without problems,
however. Where Webb did see poor
stands, they were often associated
with low soil temperatures.
During the normal com planting
period for Delaware this spring,
the weather was unusually cool.
Because the ground wasn’t worked
up, the soil in no-till plantings
stayed considerably colder than
that on plowed land. Under this
stress, some com seed had trouble
germinating.
“It certainly showed up the
difference in emergence vigor of
different hybrids,” says Webb.
Conventionally planted com had
similar problems, but not to the
same degree.
Even so, most no-till stands
around the state look extremely
good right now, he says. A few
fields are showing signs of nitrogen
deficiency-apparently because
some farmers new to no-till
misunderstood instructions they
received regarding application of
30-percent liquid nitrogen.
“We advise growers not to apply
liquid N with the herbicide to be
sprayed on the no-till surface
either before or just after plan
ting,” he explains. “I think some
farmers misinterpreted this ad
vice when it came to the later side
dressed application that’s
recommended especially for no-till
com.
“Then, 30-percent liquid N can
be dribbled-not sprayed-on the
soil surface in a band between the
rows. Many farmers want to kmfe
this in,” he notes, “but there’s no
research data to indicate you’ll get
I’4"
-J
I’ll”
More Del. farmers try no-till
Up Jo 12’
14"
, I Up to 12'0"
yi
any greater N efficiency by knifing
it in than you will from dribbling it
on.
“At present,” he says, “we see
no real advantage to knifing N
solution into the soil. It’s much
more expensive to do it that way
because of the knives that are
needed on the applicators. It’s also
slower."
As the season progresses, Webb
says farmers with no-till com
NEWARK, Del. - The function
ot an irrigation system is to apply
water uniformly and at a rate less
than the soil’s intake rate so there
is no runoff. This seems
straightforward enough, but rarely
is perfect distribution uniformity
achieved.
The uniformity and application
rates on continuously moving
sprinklers are affected by nozzle
size; spacing, pressure, and travel
speed as well as wind and
evaporation.
Farmers can learn some easy
methods of evaluating their own
center pivot irrigation systems tor
distribution uniformity, ap
plication rate and depth at the
irrigation field days that will be
held in all three Delaware counties
this month.
On Tuesday, July 21, there will
be a demonstration at Manning
and Louis O'Neal's farm, which is
located 2 l h miles east of Laurel on
Road 466 (Sycamore Road). The
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should keep an eye open for any
grass breakthrough problems in
their fields. These problems can be
handled quite effectively with post
directed sprays of Evik or Lorox.
Both materials must be applied
with surfactants, but they’re ef
fective in controlling escaped
grasses in corn. Any broad-ieaf
weed problems can be handled
with applications of Banvel or 2,4-
D Be sure to follow label direc-
Delaware holds
irrigation field days
O’Neals have a 5 tower low
pressure Valley with corner
systems.
On Wednesday, July 22, the
second demonstration will be held
at Francis Winkler’s farm, located
Ite miles north ot Harrington on
U.S. Route 13. Winkler has an 11
tower Remke Alumigator high
pressure center pivot system.
The third and tmal demon
stration will be held on Thursday,
July 23, at Don Isaac’s farm,
located on Route 446 one mile
southeast ot Middletown. Isaacs
has a 5 tower towable low pressure
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lions carefully.
“Other than that, we can just
hope for ample rainfall to carry the
crop through to harvest,” says
Webb. “I expect everyone to keep
close tabs on all this no-till corn, so
we should be able to get a general
idea of farmer acceptance at the
end of the growing season. That
will tell us what to expect in the
future in terms of no-till com
acreage in Delaware. ’'
zimmaUc system,
All three held meetings will
begin at 6:30 p.m. and will con
clude by 9 p.m., ram or shine.
Other subjects to be discussed
include soil moisture holding
capacity, irrigation scheduling,
and use of tensiometers. Engineers
and agronomists will be available
to discuss other topics of interest.
The irrigation field days are
sponsored by the Cooperative
Extension Service at the
University of Delaware, the Soil
Conservation Service, and local
irrigation dealers.
Small trailers for tractors