How to prepare lands for planting maize seeds
There are three key aspects of field selection:
Altitude: Maize is a sub-tropical plant and the altitude at which it is grown is critical to its ability to mature.
Wherever the crop is grown above 140m there must be other factors to favour of growing at this height, such south-facing and free-draining soil.
Aspect: Aim for south-facing sites that are not too exposed.
Soil type: Maize needs a dry soil in the spring, but not a soil type that will dry out too much in late spring when the young plants are developing.
Growing maize on heavy, clay-type soils is probably the biggest handicap to trying to get the best out of this crop because of the difficulty in creating the correct seed-bed in the spring.
Medium loams that are easy to work in the spring, free-draining and will warm up early in the season to enable the young plants to get the best possible start are the most favoured.
Very free-draining and light, sandy soils can be too extreme.
The aim is to achieve a deep, loose seed-bed. Maize is a free-rooting plant so there needs to be no restriction on root development in the early stages.
Crops that struggle with compaction then struggle to mature and achieve optimum yield.
Farms with heavy soils often need to winter plough to achieve the correct seed-bed in the spring. But if there is a wet March, water can hold under the furrows and can take a long time to dry out.
The topsoil can look dry and good, but it’s important to look deeper down and see what conditions are really like.
Crumblers and other machinery that will cultivate the ground to achieve the openness of the soil that maize requires for sowing should be used rather than any kit that will compact the bed. Being able to kick a foot through soils is a good guide.