Cornstalks

[freedhardwoods]

What do you do with them after you pick your sweet corn? I want to cut it into pieces anywhere from 6" to silage.

[Shotgun Wedding]

Since I am lacking in the pig department, I let them dry out a bit and ram 'em into my chipper/shredder and turn them into organic mulch, then till them back into the garden.

Works pretty good. Have a 7.5HP MTD chipper/shredder, it does a sweet job.

Would rather have pigs though.

[j4c11]

Sell them for $10 a bundle on Halloween.

[Berwil]

Originally Posted by j4c11

Sell them for $10 a bundle on Halloween.

I couldn't even sell mine for $3 a bundle, 2 for $5 last yr.

I make a bundle for decoration come fall. The rest I cut down, let them dry a bit, then chop them up with my cub and till them back in the next spring.

Bill

[IHCadetCollector]

Bush hog the corn down and leave it there. The disc takes care of the stalks leftover in the spring.

[CADplans]

My daughter said;
"Lets make a fall display!"

I said;

[freedhardwoods]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas. I'd like to hear from others too.

I should also say I want to double or cover crop the ground as soon after the corn is picked as possible. That means chopping them green and working the dirt right after.

I have bid on a chipper/shredder at two different auctions in the last few months with shredding cornstalks in mind, but it went for more than I wanted to go at the time. I am thinking about ¼ to ½ acre of sweet corn for next year. That would be an awful lot of stalk feeding.

Selling them sounds like a good plan, but I don't see very many around home in the fall, so the market may not be too good here.

I technically do have a bush hog now, but it's too big for my tractor (6' wide and too heavy to lift). I got it really cheap (almost free) because the deck is completely shot. All the mechanicals work fine. If I could remake it into a 4' wide, that might work.

That Gravely looks like it can handle the job. Gravely's are pretty rare around here though.

Originally Posted by Berwil

.....then chop them up with my cub.....

Bill

Could you go into a little more detail? How do you chop them up?

[Berwil]

I cut all the stalks off at the ground with shears and lay them in the garden. I raise the mowing deck on my 1450 full up, turn on the blades and have at it. After driving over them a few times I lower the deck, usually have to get off to and lift the bottom ones out of the dirt so I can chop them. I also take a minute to chop up the bean plants too. I don't think it would matter if they were green or dry, it's just that by the time I take the fence down around my garden to get the tractor in, they have dried out. I don't have 1/4-1/2 acre, it's about a 15'x15' plot of corn.

Aside from looking like a nut job , why not try cutting the stalks with your cub? Put the bucket 18" off the ground to knock the stalks down, raise the deck up and see what it does. Made need a second pass to shred it up to your liking. Watch out for rocks!

Bill

[freedhardwoods]

Originally Posted by Berwil

I cut all the stalks off at the ground with shears and lay them in the garden. I raise the mowing deck on my 1450 full up, turn on the blades and have at it. After driving over them a few times I lower the deck, usually have to get off to and lift the bottom ones out of the dirt so I can chop them. I also take a minute to chop up the bean plants too. I don't think it would matter if they were green or dry, it's just that by the time I take the fence down around my garden to get the tractor in, they have dried out. I don't have 1/4-1/2 acre, it's about a 15'x15' plot of corn.

Aside from looking like a nut job , why not try cutting the stalks with your cub? Put the bucket 18" off the ground to knock the stalks down, raise the deck up and see what it does. Made need a second pass to shred it up to your liking. Watch out for rocks!

Bill

"Aside from looking like a nut job"

I've got that one covered. I've said for years, if someone doesn't like the way I look, they can look the other way.

I have tried several passes with my Husqvarna lawn mower with high lift blades and ended up with a bunch of full length cornstalks flat on the ground with no leaves. I didn't shear them off first though. I guess I could try putting the deck back on the CC and see what it does.

[freedhardwoods]

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to think on it a while and see what I come up with.