Condition. Rinse. Repeat.

We have been planting corn for the last two weeks.  My latest job has been to drive the four wheel drive tractor and pull a field conditioner.  A field conditioner is a farm implement that has V shaped blades and tines (spike looking things) that rake the back of the implement.

This implement, with its v shaped blades, cuts the roots of any weeds or volunteer corn that have started to grow in the field.  Volunteer corn is corn that was left in the field from the previous season.  I wasn't sure at first why this was a bad thing, but to get corn to yield as much as possible you have to have the right amount of space between each plant.  Volunteer corn will sap the sunlight, moisture and nutrients from the corn that we are trying to grow this season. 

Below is some volunteer corn that started to grow in one of the fields I was conditioning.  This is corn that is growing out of a corn cob that fell last season.   You can see the cob on the right of all the corn plant shoots.

After we get a field conditioned if it rains before we can get the corn planted, we have to go back and condition the field again, because other weeds and volunteer corn will start to grow again.   Condition. Rinse. Repeat.

 -Farmer Ryan