| To plant corn there are three different methods; a farmer can use regular tillage, minimum tillage, or no-till methods. For regular tillage a disc is used on the ground and then the crop is planted. For minimum tillage a plow with chisel teeth (12" - 15" apart) tears up the soil into sections a couple inches wide. |
Regular tillage field in Hilltown, PA plowed for planting. |
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No till corn field on Route 113 in Blooming Glen, PA |
With no till operations, nothing is done to the field. For example one might use a no-till corn planter. This piece of equipment is designed just to do this operation and plant the corn right into the ground. With the no-till method, the farmer has to do a different job of spraying to control all the weeds. The no-till method also helps to reduce soil erosion. Once you get the planting done with the no-till method one has to worry about the weeds through a herbicide program. |
| A corn planter is used for corn.The farmer needs to make lots of decisions. How deep do you plant. If it is too deep it won't grow. The seed needs water to germinate. It needs to be deep enough to germinate where the water is in the soil. |
Hilltown, PA corn field in July |
