Rotary Hoes - Organic Weed Control

Rotary hoes are important light tillage tools for early season weed control for organic corn and soybean farmers. In this video, several PFI farmers share their experience with what and when they use rotary hoes for; how often they like to rotary hoe a crop; how they use rotary hoes in corn production differently than for soybean production; how soil and weather conditions affect rotary hoeing; and how to determine condition of used rotary hoes, and more.
Farmers featured in this video say they’re important, because they let you control weeds in the entire field, whereas after the crop gets bigger, in-row weed control becomes much more difficult. They’re often used as a blind cultivation tool - after planting, rotary hoes can stir up the topsoil, killing weeds that are emerging from shallower depths than the crop, giving the crop a head start when it emerges. They’re also used after the crop has emerged, and can continue to scoop tiny weeds out of the soil, even from within the row.
Learn more about organic weed control:
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For more information about Practical Farmers of Iowa, and to see our upcoming field days, our latest research reports and a blog loaded with practical information about farming, visit our website: practicalfarmers.org/

[@robertpayne2717]

On sandy loam soils in the south especially after a rain we used a rotary hoe to do light tillage in very young cotton for blowing sand control just cracking the crust wlll slow the sand down.young cotton is very tender.. ive used a tool called a cropmaker to run the middles of the cotton rows....my dad has had in the past had to replant cotton due to sand damage....

[@danielw3369]

Can I use rotary how 2 time after I use lemkrn Rubin disc the ground 3days later, then plan soybean, after 3 days I use rotary hoe again after 3 days. Maybe 2times again, after beans germinate I stop use rotary how. I plant 7,5” row. Really don’t want do cultivate after beans setup.

[@donniebargo964]

Built my own tyne weeders using rake tines angle iron works fine

[@Hartney1]

Can I rotary how solid seeded corn? It’s about 3” tall right now

[@practicalfarmers]

Don't know the answer to your question, but I will say that we have several field days coming up this summer on organic production, and the farmers there would probably have lots of thoughts on that. You can find the schedule at practicalfarmers.org/events/field-days/. Or, if you become a member of PFI (practicalfarmers.org/get-involved/join-or-renew/), you can ask questions like that on our email discussion lists, and there's almost always someone willing to chime in with their thoughts.

[@tomcleverley18]

I need to figure out before next year how to rotary hoe peas and green beans

[@donniebargo964]

Don't .get a cultivator and wait till they are 1 inch tall and start hilling dirt on them with little bit of beans sticking up and the green beans will take off like kudzu

[@kevinwiggins9475]

Has anyone tried rotary hoeing bean ground before planting corn? There’s people using rotary harrows, just curious if a rotary hoe works?