merited that continuous corn, for exam
ple, can degrade the soil structure,
which is the soil’s ability to form gra
nules and have good “tilth.” It is also
known that intensive tillage can reduce
soil structure and “bum up” organic
matter in the soil by introducing oxygen
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-YLVANIA MASTER
'RN GROWERS
SSOCIATION
Between The Rows
Dr. Greg Roth
Penn State Agronomy
Assistant Professor
Inuod from Pago 1)
in the soil.
Tillage can also reduce earthworm
populations. We also know that when
soils are intensively cropped and few
crop residues are returned to the field,
organic matter and other soil quality
factors will slowly decline.
In addition, traffic on soils with
heavy manure equipment and silage
wagons can cause compaction, which is
' not always overcome with subsequent
tillage operations.
This summer I visited one farm
where the com “just doesn’t grow like it
used to.” Unfortunately, that hasn’t
been the first time I heard that comment
recently. The farmer proceeded to tell
me about his system. The two fields
behind the bam had been cropped to
com silage for the last 20 years or so.
Each fall or spring they received a
healthy dose of liquid manure and were
chisel plowed, disked, and planted.
Com growth has been uneven, weed
pressure heavy, and the field has a
healthy dose of com rootworm beetles.
Heavy rains seem to run off more than
infiltrate. He has been reluctant to rotate
because his hay fields are hilly and his
conservation plan is very limiting in
terms of the amount of com that he can
grow there.
As I thought about the problem, I
began to realize that there were many
factors here that could contribute to a
decline in soil quality continuous
com, intensive tillage, no cover crop
over the winter, and frequent heavy
traffic on the fields. Even the manure he
was applying a low-organic-matter,
nitrogen-rich slurry would have a lot
less beneficial effect on the soil organic
matter than the solid manure his grand
father applied to the fields a generation
before. On top of those factors, pest
problems aggravated by continuous
com were building and reducing the
crop’s ability to compensate for the
lousy soil conditions.
There are a lot of fields in Pennsylva
nia which get treated in a similar fashion
and still grow decent com. This sug
gests to me that soils vary somewhat in
their ability to tolerate some of these
abuses. Some of the deep, loamy, very
productive soils in the southeast part of
the state, for example, have been
cropped to com for more than 30 years
continuously and still produce top
yields. My observations would indicate
the potential for problems would be
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Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 8,1994-Page
(0 wr mi miws
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
The Savin .
most on soils that are shallower or have
been eroded and arc a bit “clayey” in
texture.
Lets discuss the options I suggested
to the farmer I met earlier this summer.
It would be great if he could rotate the
field into hay for a few years and possib
ly no-till his com into existing hay fields
to meet conservation requirements.
Another option might be to get a rye
cover crop established immediately
after silage harvest. A good crop of rye
in the fall could help loosen the soil,
build soil structure, and help to return
some organic matter to the soil. This
may be enough to turn the situation
around. To go one step further. I’d
recommend eliminating the tillage for
com planting as much as possible and
applying the manure in early spring,
killing the rye early, and planting when
the soil is fit. This would eliminate til
lage and should help to improve soil
tilth and soil organic matter. We may
have to compromise here and spread our
manure on the surface, but the rye cover
and N accumulated from the cover crop
should help to offset the N lost from a
surface manure application.
He could also consider irrigating
manure on the fields. This would elimi
nate the traffic from manure hauling and
the resulting soil compaction. Other
possible solutions could also be deve
loped to address this problem, but
almost all require some additional
expense or compromises.
I’ve seen a number of beautiful com
fields this year and many of them in
cropping systems that include factors
such as short com rotation, irrigating
manure, early planted cover crops, or
more reliance on no-tillage.
So, it is possible to avoid soil prob
lems ‘ with some conventional
techniques.
If you think you are encountering soil
quality problems, consider addressing
them by eliminating one or more of the
factors that we know is associated with
this decline continuous com, traffic,
lack of crop residue, or intensive tillage.
If you’ve done your homework, your
com will show dramatic improvements.
Place
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223