fertilizer rate per acre of corn?

[motorbreaker]

We are going to plant about 4 acres of corn next year. I need to know what is the best fertilizer to use and how many lbs. per acre to use. The field is now a hay field and has been for 6 years. Thanks for any help guys.

Also, is it best to spray before or after planting the corn?

 

[Milo]

do you have a corn planter? the rates are generally set on the planter. corn uses a bunch of fertilizer. 19-19-19 will be what you use or 13-13-13. I'm going to suggest you turn that field over with a plow and disc it down. Are you planting roundup ready corn? i think a bag is like like 400 bucks...

 

[motorbreaker]

we have a 2 row planter. were gonna have to broadcast the fertilizer before we run the tiller over the ground, we already have 2 bags of roundup ready corn. we were going to spray the hay about 3 weeks before we till. does that sound right?

 

[MK111]

The fertilizer will vary depending on the soil test. A soil test is necessary to get it right. A acid soil will not permit the plants to use the fertilizer correctly if at all.
3 weeks spraying with roundup is about right but I would recommend a little earlier spray, then rototill or disk it under then let the new weeds come up again and then re-spray again. Much better weed control that way.
It's a common fact that weed seeds will not germinate unless exposed to sunlight. So every time ground is worked up new weeds come up.

 

[Milo]

we have a 2 row planter. were gonna have to broadcast the fertilizer before we run the tiller over the ground, we already have 2 bags of roundup ready corn. we were going to spray the hay about 3 weeks before we till. does that sound right?

can i ask what kind? there is the old show type planter or the newer knife type. there is a huge difference in their performance. if you broadcast the fertilizer you will loose a lot of potency do to other plants using the available nitrogen. Since you have round up ready corn, you can spray once, let it die then turn over, work the ground and then plant and you will want to spray again when the corn begins to poke through the ground. we usually spray our when its an inch or two out of the ground. then we hit it and that usually does most of the weeds in for the season.

 

[Milo]

this is a shoe type planter

 

[motorbreaker]

I don't know what type the planter is but it dose not apply fertilizer. were stuck using a spreader. So how much per acre do you think? Not looking to have a world class corn field. Thanks for your advice guys.

 

[MK111]

I'll refer you back to the soil test result.

I don't know what type the planter is but it dose not apply fertilizer. were stuck using a spreader. So how much per acre do you think? Not looking to have a world class corn field. Thanks for your advice guys.

 

[Milo]

Don't get upset with me by the comment but if your not going to do it right, save your money. Plant a bedding grass mix and dump corn on the ground. About the best seed you can broadcast is a soybean. but you need to have a cultipacker to get really good results.

 

[yotehunter]

All mentioned above is right spray, work under and get your seedbed ready as soon as the ground is fit or even plow this year if its fit . As soon as weeds get 2 to3 inches tall burn them off. Then fertilize, work , and plant. As far as fertilizer start with a triple 13 or higher. Then as the corn reaches the third or fourth leaf give it a shot of nitrogen. A healthy corn plant needs about 150 lbs of actual nitrogen which equals about 50 gal of 28% liquid nitrogen per acre. But again your pH must be around 6.5 to 7.0 for best fertilizer results. I don't recommend broadcasting your corn seed. Corn needs room to root and broadcasting the seem will place them too close.

 

[jagermeister]

Milo and MK are spot on. I'd take their advice. The problem with broadcasting fertilizer is that so much of it will go to waste. If your planter is not incorporating fert right into the rows you're basically fertilizing weeds, and then killing them. But if you wanna just wing it, I understand that too. I've been there. Broadcast 2-300# per acre of triple-19 or 20-10-10.

 

[motorbreaker]

I guess ill have to pay the farmer we lease from to plant it for us then, we could still till and spray it our self. His stuff is old but all our other corn plots are doing well. Just the one in that area gets hammered to hard and needs to be bigger. we have 3 acres we rotate corn and beans every year. wanted to add another 3 acres of corn. and then rotate 3 acres beans and 3 acres corn after that.

 

[Milo]

The absolute number one piece of equipment in our arsenal that does THE most good for whatever you plant is the cultipacker. Get your hands on one this spring at farm auctions or consignment auctions.. We have 3 of them

 

[jagermeister]

The absolute number one piece of equipment in our arsenal that does THE most good for whatever you plant is the cultipacker. Get your hands on one this spring at farm auctions or consignment auctions.. We have 3 of them

It truly is a world of difference between using a cultipacker and not using one.

 

[MK111]

Yes that's the reason after 2 years I'm looking for one.

It truly is a world of difference between using a cultipacker and not using one.

 

[motorbreaker]

we can use the farmers cultipacker. He has 2 of them.

 

[Milo]

we can use the farmers cultipacker. He has 2 of them.

Man your fortunate. That will increase your seed efficiency by 100%. Sorry about the bad news about the corn. It's an expensive lesson we learned many years ago. IF it were cheaper I would tell you to try it but your talking a lot of fertilizer.