Spray now.

 

Granted, we just run the cows, but the farming part of this outfit has about 20,000 acres of farmground. The vast majority of which is RR corn. Looking at the field by our house, the corn is only about 3-4 inches.
They just sprayed insecticide (and drove all the hoppers into my yard!) but next week it'll be herbicide.

 

Here is a link to a Purdue University News column that may help answer your question.
"Annual grass weeds should be controlled before they reach 4 inches in height, or about 23 days after planting when corn is at the V2 to V3 leaf stages, Johnson said."

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2006/060330.Johnson.roundup.html

 

I don't.

Ag Talk forums another place to ask.
http://talk.newagtalk.com/category-view.asp

Crop talk forum at Yesterday's Tractors. http://www.ytmag.com/using/wwwboard1.html

 

I grow some and I would Spray in the next few days if I were you. I wait till the corn its close a foot tall or sooner if the weeds are trying to take it over. I know we are in different parts of the world---my RR Corn is head high with ears forming. Be careful on the amount of round-up you apply to a Acre. I did not own a sprayer so I borrowed one and I had to figure out a simple way to figure out how much Round-up to mix. What I did was fill the sprayer to a marked spot with just water and make a round in the field--spraying--then measure how much water it used on that round--figure out how many rounds per acre--then add enough round-up to take care of it. Sure Hope I get some rain Soooon--if I don't---Corn will not make anything.

 

Spray it now. Even if you do have to respray, with $7.50 corn, you'll gain enough yield getting the weeds under control now to pay for respraying.

 

If you do no other weed control, you need to spray RU 2 times in corn.

Now.

And just before canopy. I believe you should not spray corn after 30 inches tall.

You will use a quart or less per acre, so 3 quarts now, and 3 quarts later - a total of less than 2 gallons.

Corn comes up & sits at 4-6 inches high, building it's root system. Then it springs up & grows very rapidly.

If weeds grow above the corn during it's 'root building' period, the corn will either fade away & never grow; or it will stop building root & try to compete with the weeds to grow taller. This will leave a weak, under-nurished corn plant, even if you do kill the weeds later.

Allowing weeds to shade corn is a bad thing, and can easily - easily - cost you 1/2 the possible yield.

I'd spray now, and spray again once later. You won't need more than the 2 times, so it's no big cost.

--->Paul

 

Thank you all a great great deal. I have only been growing corn on a smaller scale for feed for my animals only. 7 acres total. Nobody ever took the time to explain anything about it, so it's been a learn as I go venture. I have learned a great deal from the information that everyone was kind enough to share or provide me with here.

Paul seemed to sum up what everyone else was telling me along with some extra valuable information. I think I have a handle on it. I'll have to let you all know how I make out, and what the field ends up looking like.

My schedule will be, spray as soon as I can get the boom cleaned out, nozles replaced and sprayer calibrated. I assume wait a bit for weed knockdown, fertilize, then just before canopy, or in my case, just before it grows too tall for me to drive the tractor over it, I'll spray for the last time. Sound right?

Thank you all again.

Jay

 

Around here we double crop. We harvest the previous crop and immediately sod plant and apply starter fertilizer simultaneously . Within a few days, before emergence, we broadcast fertilizer, the crop emerges a few inches and we roundup, the crop grows some more and we roundup again. At that time we are finished until harvest. If we were not double cropping we would have applied the main fertilizer application before seeding.

 

I hope you don't plan on eating those animals. You're virtually poisoning them.

And I seriously hope you don't think, that after spraying your corn, that everything is okay. That corn was genetically modified to ignore the Round Up poison.

If you check out Monsanto's web site, they have children's ezines to read/print. In one of them, an experiment tailored to justify Monsanto's poisoning, they have you grow some soy plants. One Monsanto Round Up Ready and one not. They then ask you to spray the plants with the poison. And oh look at that! The non-Round Up Ready plant dies because it's too weak (because everything should already be immune to poison, right?). So the plant that is now covered in the poison is the one you are left with. To eat.

I hope for the safety of anyone (including animals) using that poison as food.

 

Thank you for your concern, but I really find no problem with genetically enhanced crops. I'm sure my stock will survive just fine and I'll eat them as I always do. Water can be considered a poinson too if you look at it. Drink too much of it and it kills you. Same goes for headache meds or anything in the world. Everything has an acceptable comsumption limit. It's just that some as lower than others. If you're so concerned with poison, I assume you raise every single thing you eat, and you purchase no produce, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, spices, and you drink nothing but pure out of the ground well water, right?

Jay

 

Soybeans grow differently, & one can let them compete with weeds for a while. But corn has that funny waiting period, where it doesn't grow taller. Weeds so easily overtake the corn & ruin it.

Your schedule sounds pretty good.

--->Paul

 

Jay,
How is your soils fertility? Weeds are a symptom.
Tom

 

I hope you don't plan on eating those animals. You're virtually poisoning them.

And I seriously hope you don't think, that after spraying your corn, that everything is okay. That corn was genetically modified to ignore the Round Up poison.

If you check out Monsanto's web site, they have children's ezines to read/print. In one of them, an experiment tailored to justify Monsanto's poisoning, they have you grow some soy plants. One Monsanto Round Up Ready and one not. They then ask you to spray the plants with the poison. And oh look at that! The non-Round Up Ready plant dies because it's too weak (because everything should already be immune to poison, right?). So the plant that is now covered in the poison is the one you are left with. To eat.

I hope for the safety of anyone (including animals) using that poison as food.

Thank you newhomemaker you get it. Of course the chemical addicts will attack you telling you how good unnaturally produced food is.
Tom

 

I, too, was concerned about this thread. Round Up ready corn is not proven safe to consume over the long term. Unfortunately, it's in our food chain already. If you eat Corn Flakes or use store bought corn meal, you are most likely eating genetically altered corn.

As the grandmother to two children with health issues, I wonder about what we are doing to future generations with our food supply tinkering.

Just my two cents.

 

I work my ground, plant the coen,have 28% nitrogen sprayed on with some harness herbicide in it to control grass.I then spray with roundup when the weeds are about three inches tall.I spray again later if there is another flush of weeds before canopy.If you want to avoid consuming genetically modified food you will have to ovoid just about everything in the store.Corn sweetener is used in nearly everything.Nearly all crops in Iowa are genetically modified.

 

This is a subject that will draw many diverse and strong opinions. For me if the plant has been altered into Frankenfood and then sprayed with various poisons I don't want to be eating such a thing. These poisons and toxins were not made to benefit my health or anyone else's health for that matter.

Now if someone else wants to eat it, well, what can I say other than thinking twice about such an action might be in order.

 

My husband is spraying now, and has been for the last two weeks. It's bigger than 6 inches tall, though. He plants about 400 acres, and only sprays once.

And yes, we eat the Round-Up ready corn, too.

 

Thank you newhomemaker you get it. Of course the chemical addicts will attack you telling you how good unnaturally produced food is.
Tom

I'm glad you're one of the few people here that understand that. And if reading above, you'll see that I have been 'attacked' already.

No, I don't raise everything I eat, but I shop mostly in health and wellness stores and from local farmers (who have a smilar mindset agains GMO filth). I use high rejection reverse osmosis filters for any water I drink, and yes, I do grow all of my own herbs/spices. And not a bit of it's been touch with chemical garbage as the heirloom varieties aren't immune to artifical (and deadly)fertilizers and pesticides.

If you get some time away from spraying your fields (which most GMO farmers have to do more often and in higher amounts), I would reccomend "Patient for a Pig"(documentary) and "Seeds of Destruction"(book). Lots of information about the allergies, health concerns, false advertising, and medical issues involving GMO produce and livestock.

Do you mix your corn with anything before you feed it to your livestock? Most farmers have to in order to trick their herds into eating it. If left to eat it plain, most won't touch it unless hungry. They can tell the difference. Why can't you?

And Nette, I'm sorry. I wish you good health and anyone else who chooses to eat RUR corn. I pray for your safety and longevity.

 

Please seriously consider doing more research on Monsanto and their history of chemical
infractions. One only has to look at the past to understand the present and future course of this company.
The french made a great and balanced documentary about them. It's not easy to find as it was pulled from google soon after being posted.
Here is a link with lots of different research http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-Roundup-Glyphosate.htm

 

I live on a 400 acre working farm. We seeded (finally) this weekend with Poncho250 (Roundup ready). My house is up on a hill and the corn is between me and the road. There's a warning label - do not use for feed, food or oil. This corn will be used to feed the farmers cows for market. I plan to finish my Ayrshire bottle calves on grass only. It will take longer, but I think I'll be more comfortable with the results.

I have a big market garden sited just above this field of corn. I can't in good conscience advertise anything I sell as organic or naturally grown. The garden is in a hayfield but I'll be dealing with overspray when the farmer starts spraying. This spring, the soil life was nonexistant when I started turning the earth. I kidnapped worms off the sideroad and did a whack of composting. It really brings home to me how much heavy tilling and modern practices damage the soil. I couldn't grow a huge stand of corn without machinery and help, but for what I need, natural soil practices are the way to go.

 

rileyjo,
It is misunderstood postings such as yours that create a lot of hysteria. Poncho 250 is a non restricted use insecticide and has little or nothing to do with Roundup Ready. The Poncho 250 warning label is to advise the user of the seed to not feed the seed, use the seed for food or oil. Here is a cut and paste for Poncho 250.
Seed protected with Poncho 250 produced an average 8.4 bu/A more yield than untreated seed in 471 head-to-head comparisons over past 3 years. It delivers the early-season protection your crop needs against cutworms, wireworms, white grubs, seedcorn maggots, grape colaspis, flea beetles, chinch bugs, and other early season pests.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and are entitled to post their thoughts. Just get the information correct however.

 

Riley Jo - What agmantoo said needs to be reinforced - the warning on Poncho treated seed applies to the seed in the bag only - corn grown from that seed is absolutely fine, you just can't open the bag of seed and dump it in a feeder. Not that you'd want to at $180+/bag. Has nothing to do with Roundup Ready, Poncho is used on non-RR seed as well.

 

Yes, I know that. I am reading off the tag. My error was in omitting "treated with" Poncho 250. I have some seed in my garden that is treated with fungicides too. We've had such a cold, wet spring that I wouldn't have some veggies at all if I went with untreated seed. I don't eat seed corn out of the bag or spray insecticides on my own garden. I live with a few blemishes and take what I can get.

I am kind of on the fence when it comes to RR2 corn. It's fine for me to goof around in my half acre garden, but the farmers here need to use what will work, in order to get a crop in to make a living. When they spray, I wish it wouldn't blow onto my place, but it's going to, and I have to live with that. Like someone else said, nothing in the world is pure and sometimes we don't have the control we'd like over what we consume.

 

Riley Jo if they're watching what they're doing when they're spraying it shouldn't be coming onto your garden. I've had my license for 12 years now, I've never seen even slight damage from my spray on my neighbours property.