Plow-Plant Method Saves Time, Money And Moisture For Wisconsin Farmer

Plow-Plant Method saves Time, Money and Moisture for Wisconsin Farmer CROPS New Techniques 11-1-23 "Our rows are a little more crooked than our neighbors but we don't care," says Tony Veriha, Porterfield, Wis., who saves time, money and moisture with his "plow-plant" method of raising corn. Tony explains that he and his sons, Bob and Jim, plant their corn crop directly into plowed ground with their Deere Max-Emerge planter 24 to 48 hrs. after plowing without any disking or other tillage in between. "It saves time because we eliminate the need for secondary tillage, especially important in the spring when there's never enough time. It also saves fuel by cutting down trips through the field, and because there's less runoff in the roughest fields, it helps conserve moisture," says Veriha. Veriha has been plow-planting for 40 years. Yields, he says, are as good or better than his neighbors. "We use the money we save on fuel to apply extra fertilizer," he told FARM SHOW. Veriha says rows get crooked because it's harder to follow the marker on plowed ground and because the planter shifts more on rough-plowed ground when on hills. The planter also tends to skip more than normal so, to compensate, he plants about 2,000 more plants per acre than normal. "You bounce a little bit but the advantages more than make up for it," he notes, adding that the biggest disadvantage is that it's harder to see rocks in the plowed fields. He advises against plow-planting in heavy, low-land soils. The only secondary tillage he does before planting is to run a disc over dead furrows and along headlands. Once the crop is up, he cultivates once, which helps level the ground between rows. Last year Veriha had yields as high as 165 bu. on some fields.

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