Corn stalks at end of season

Trev · Oct 6, 2002

What do most people do with the old corn stalks in the garden when the season is over? If I had a bottom plow, I suppose I could just plow them under and let them decompose during the winter. But lacking that, I figured they would just get all wrapped up in my tiller next year, so instead I knocked them all down and put them in a compost bin. Has anyone ever just tried to till them in the Spring?

TIA for any advice.

Bob

JJT · Oct 6, 2002

I just run them over with the brush hog in the fall, and then till the debris under in the spring.

Scott_in_WVA · Oct 6, 2002

Cows love them...............................

AndyF · Oct 6, 2002

Composting works well or bush-hogging and then till in in spring. My next door neighbor who farms ~1,000 acres bush-hogs his corn fields after harvest and then plows down the debris.

Trev · Oct 7, 2002

I don't suppose a rear finish mower would be able to handle this without damage, would it? I could keep it a few inches up in the air so it doesn't hit any of the really solid parts near the ground. Think this would kill a finish mower?

Bob

heehaw · Oct 7, 2002

i made the mistake of pulling ours after we pulled the corn; last year my wife bought corn stalks to decorate the outside of the house with for fall...so i was going to save that $10..well, i guess your suppose to let them stand till dry, because the ones i pulled rotted, even though i stood them against the side of the barn?? so she spent $12 on stalks this year..6 bucks for a bundle of @4 stalks.
heehaw

Trev · Oct 7, 2002

<font color=blue>well, i guess your suppose to let them stand till dry, because the ones i pulled rotted, even though i stood them against the side of the barn??</font color=blue>

Hmm. If they rot, then they whould be good for the dirt.. kind of like a compost. Maybe I should just knock them down and just let them lie there all winter, then till them under when they're rotted. We don't grow all that much corn, so it isn't a big deal.. I just wondered what others do with these things. I could just picture them all wound up in my tiller and my having to extract them! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Thanks,
Bob

heehaw · Oct 7, 2002

i pulled ours as soon as we removed the corn, and they got soft and "rotted", instead of "drying" like i have seen corn do before?? don't know what i did wrong, but it cost me $12 ..
heehaw