Going to plant a small area that farmer had corn last year in corn again this year. The guys next door want to move their dove field closer to the bottoms. We ain’t needing 200 bushels an acre just some for doves and deer. Going to put rest of field in strips of sunflowers grain sorghum and millet. My question is how much corn would he make brings it was corn last year? Would you need to fertilize heavy or would it make enough for doves to just plant it?

I’m not CNC but I’ll take a stab at it. First corn is a very heavy feeder!! It takes a lot out of the ground. In my opinion, you need to fertilize pretty heavy preplant with a higher nitrogen blend and come back and top dress with nitrogen when corn is about knee high. Unless you have some ridiculously fertile soil. This is the bare minimum I’d do if I was planting corn on corn. I’m sure others that actually farm corn will have better advice for you. I’m just going by what works for me.

Yes. Corn LOVES nitrogen.

And potash

100 Bushel corn removes 112 lbs N, 135 lbs K and 15 lbs S

I dont have much experience with corn.....I'd defer to some of these other guys opinions on it

Your advice is correct!

What you need to do is ask the farmer how many bushel he did on that field last year and try to get some intel on it. That matters because if he had a good crop you can go back with just nitrogen and probably make enough to have a good plot or dove field.

If the farmer says he didn't do great that opens up can of worms. That might not just be the soil fertility. At that point I would start asking questions. The first would be how long he has been planting that particular field and what he thinks happened since he hopefully is familiar with the field itself. He may alert you issues in particular wet spots or places in the field itself that didn't do well which can occur for a variety of reasons. Either way this is valuable information to you.

That's where you start. Corn is not hard to grow as a plant itself the difficulty is in the yields. You'll get 1 ear most likely no matter what you do.... and I would increase the seed population a bit myself. It's certainly doable I have done it plenty of times.


You need to be planting right now IMO.

Farmers never say they did great

True.... here's how you'll know = Average non-irrigated is around 130 bushel

If you don't plan on fertilizing heavy, don't do corn. I felt like I fertilized pretty well for a wildlife corn plot, but it was not even nearly enough. It takes hundreds and hundreds of pounds per acre to get near enough. Could easily be 10 bags an acre.

Chicken manure works great if you can get a load of it, not as pricey as ammonia nitrate,

i broad cast 400lb of 13-13-13 per ac . then layed by with 200lb per ac .

i keep my spacing at about 14 to 16 inches plant to plant ( chop it out with a hoe) ,,,,, takes less water . thicker you plant more water you gotta have and corn needs the water .

thats how i do it for me to eat works well for me .

Guys up here I know are averaging way over 130 without a pivot. I'd guess around 175. I know my field does and my Father's farms.

Average expected was 159 for 2023 but that was higher than previous years it was about 130 in 2022. I don't know what the true average was I would have to look it up. Up there in God's Country I would expect 150+ but South Alabama is like planting in a sandy drought ridden wasteland if you are not irrigated. It's iffy a lot of years and doesn't do well. The only way I personally have overcome it was planting early as possible I planted some corn on the Bullock/Pike County line 2 weeks ago. That's all I can do and pray.

The point in all that was my opinion - if the Farmer did over 130 you can probably go back in Corn and get a decent enough crop for a food plot. That was the complete circle of where I was going with that. You'll need Nitrogen but you can probably get by without worrying too much over the P and K.

The other thing mentioned above about spacing wide is a good idea corn needs water and increasing your spacing will help but if your deer density is high you are lowering your overall plant population. Either way you go where you ultimately will wind up depends on rain as anyone might have guessed. Row spacing and seed population is getting too technical for a food plot discussion.

Kyles, AKA Danny, will be planting in Tenn River bottom land , some of the best producing row crop land in the state. It's 200 bushel to the acre corn land.

I know a little about growing corn. PM me your number and I will give you a call.

2 tons of chicken litter per acre before planting. 250# of 13-13-13 per acre while planting. RR seed (I recommend not using the NWTF RRseed) planted in 26” rows with 4” spacing between seeds. Spray it 2 to 3 weeks after planting. Enjoy!

Corn Estimate by County for the State of AL per USA released March 2024

Jackson County, AL:

2022
Planted - 23,900 acres
Harvested - 23,000 acres
Yeild Per Acre - 110.7
Bushel - 2,546,000

2023
Planted - 23,900
Harvested - 23.500
Yeild Per Acre - 164.3
Bushel - 3,860,000

110.7 + 164.3 = 275 / 2 = 137.5 bushel last 2 year average

Nobody is making numbers up but if there are any questions I guess get with 2Dogs since he knows a farmer.

2 tons of litter per acre I incorporate with the Chisel right after spreading but I did about 50 acres last year and didn't incorporate as a test and didn't see much difference on the yield monitor. Take that for what it's worth

Making sure I understand you correctly, are you saying you noticed no difference in yields on the fields you put the litter on vs the fields you didn't?

Comments
15 LBS OF NITROGEN AND 50 LBS OF PHOSPHATE RECOMMENDED AS A STARTER ON ALL CORN. FERTILIZER APPLIED AS A STARTER,
SHOULD BE DEDUCTED FROM ABOVE. BE SURE THAT SULFUR IS APPLIED IN ORDER THAT NITROGEN-SULFUR RATIO IS MAINTAINED. A
PORTION OF THE NITROGEN AND POTASSIUM SHOULD BE APPLIED THROUGH THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM IF AVAILABLE, BEGINNING PRIOR
TO TASSEL. 25% OF POTASSIUM SHOULD BE APPLIED IN SPLIT APPLICATIONS OF NO MORE THAN 20 LBS OF EACH. IF DOLOMITE LIME HAS
BEEN APPLIED RECENTLY - MAGNESIUM RECOMMENDATION CAN BE CUT IN HALF

The note above was added by the lab for the soil test for the spot I normally plant corn.

Gotta throw out Skyline and Sand Mountain numbers. Fact, river bottoms out produce sandy, plateau top ground hands down , ain't even close. Danny will be planting in very good bottom ground.

I am talking about covering the litter I have a chisel plow with twisted shovels that will throw dirt over it and I've been doing that to keep the stink down and also thinking I wouldn't lose nitrogen. I didn't see much difference just broadcasting it and walking away other than the stank would gag a maggot for another week or so.

That's great. I'm trying to help the guy. If you want to help him then maybe offer something up.

That's interesting. I have been using litter on my pastures and on some of my produce fields. I too work it in on produce fields, and have not been getting the results I've expected. They say they changed the way they clean houses. And I've wondered if that makes a difference. I've been considering get a test done on some to just see, and I believe I will now for sure. There should have been a noticeable difference in yeild on corn, I would think

Yeah, those estimated yields for passed years are helpful.

Danny , Goatkiller says I need to offer some real advice . Here ya go, go over and talk to our neighbors , the Chandler boys . I'd say they know more about growing corn in Jackson Co bottomland than anyone else , seeing how they farm more acres than anyone else.

17-17-17 at planting. As others have said......sidedress once knee high with 34-0-0 if rain is coming in the near future. Otherwise you'll burn it. Finally....PRAY for all the rain you can get-----Corn is actually a "Grass" and LOVES Water.

I use the nitrogen with the suffer added to it .

If it's just for critters I don't put near as much fert of any kind as I would for a cash crop/feeding the family. The critters get it ALL not just left overs like they would on a working farm and munching on combine spit seems just fine to them. Saves a bunch of $$$.

best to go on and spend that money .

Don't plant corn. It's obviously destroying our deer herd in Alabama.

Exactly right. It’s for dove don’t over think it! Fertilize it as much as you want/afford at planting and top dress it knee high before a rain with urea if ya can. Put down some Dual II Magnum after planting and spray it with RU and more Dual about boot high and call it a day.

That would be the best thing to do. I planted a lot for duck hunters last year but I know they don’t plant anything 2 years in a row. These duck hunters next door wanted to move there dove field towards the bottoms where chandlers had corn last year. I just got in I want you to post a picture for me. To show Cnc the greatest destroyer of these bottoms got 3 today lol

I plant corn but never 2 years in a row. They ain’t no use in heavily fertilizing a dove field

You can’t get nitrogen without sulfur in it . Keeps it from going boom

What is urea? Never knew urea had sulfur in it. I know 33% is a mix of urea and Ammonium sufate.

theres a difference . ask for it .

I don’t understand what you mean. You can’t get pure ammonia nitrate in my area . Even the coop can’t get it anymore because of insurance want let them. I use to get a buggy full for food plots then save a bunch to mix aluminum powder with to blow beaver dams. This is legal it is exactly what you buy called tannerite.

You thought about planting some popcorn too be easier for the Doves to eat

Corn on the right leads into duck hole and gets no fertilizer and is planted back to back to back years
The corn in the left is shelled for harvest and gets fertilizer etc……..

Corn on the right was planted a month later right before Memorial Day
Ground was warmer and rain hit just right. Corn on the left didn’t get the right rain timing
Pic taken Aug 13