Till? Don't Till?

Corn planting is off to a very late start because of wetness.  How wet is it?  I heard State Climatologist Jim Angel say that we had the 4th wettest April on record.  He said that we had more rain than April, May, June, and July combined last year. 

What problems will this cause?  One of the obvious ones is weeds.  The winter annuals are playing out and the summer annuals are starting to grow.  Some fields are tilled and ready to plant.  A few fields are planted but getting weedy.  The question becomes, "What should we do about the weeds?"  Should you re-till those stale seedbeds?  If you don't have resistant weeds, I would spray and plant.  The firm seedbed should be ideal for excellent seed placement and keeping your planter going about 1.5 inches deep might keep out of some potential wetness.

Another consideration in deciding whether or not to till is your conservation plan.  Extra tillage has the potential to increase your soil loss beyond a tolerable level.  

You will also need to control those weeds in the emerged fields.  Remember that early control is a key to killing the tough weeds such as Palmer amaranth and giant ragweed. As discussed last year, cultivation could help control resistant weeds.  It will also aerate some of the saturated and sealed over soils, but wait till it is dry enough to go.

Aaron Hagar put out a good Bulletin on weed control recently.