With corn demand increasing and the market moving up, many believe 5-10 million more acres of corn will be planted in 2007. This issue’s question centers on growing interest in raising more corn on corn.

A. “I’ve been experimenting with continuous no-till corn for the past few years. The best results occur when I strip-till in the fall between the old corn rows. Straight and equally spaced rows are key and a guidance system helps.

“Match the direction and the number of rows to be stripped at harvest to ensure proper residue flow.”

— Todd Hesterman, Napoleon, Ohio

A. “My main concern is the disease resistance of the variety along with the buildup of the present disease pathogen pool.

“I’m also concerned about the paths the roots choose in the soil to obtain nutrients — they’ll follow the path of least resistance and travel the channels created by last year’s roots.

“I rarely no-till corn after corn because of residue problems. I can’t afford a yield drop of 20 bu. in year two and 10 bu. in year three.”

— Scott Miller, Ekron, Ky.

A. “I’ve never tried continuous no-till corn, but am thinking about it. The key factors in my mind are: residue management for stand establishment with strip-till or Nu-Till-type row clearing to get the corn plants going quickly, plant nutrition, season-long nitrogen availability, plant health, fungicide applications to control leaf disease and proper hybrid selection for cold tolerance, root growth, stalk quality and rootworm control.

“You’ve got…