The first thing you would likely notice about Leon Mercer's combine is that the tires are set wide, both front and rear. The spacing may seem a bit odd. Ask Mercer about it and he'll just smile. They're set exactly where he intends for them to run. Tires run on the second and seventh row.

"My theory is kind of different than what most people would believe," he says. "Instead of spacing combine tires so they run between the corn rows, I want them to run on top of the old row."

Why on top of the row? "The root mass seems to help hold the combine up, keeping it on top of the ground," he says. "There's seldom any noticeable damage, except in extreme years when we have to make a few ruts to get the crop out. Except for those years, no-till seems to help spots where tires run heal themselves."

The other advantage comes in the spring, especially if he's no-tilling corn after corn. "I plant into row middles," Mercer says. "So the area where the combine tires ran doesn't get a row. Overall, it's an approach that's worked for me."

Other tips

How he sets his combine tires and where he drives aren't the only things that Mercer does different in no-till. Although he plants with a White no-till planter set up for no-till just the way he likes it, he doesn't use conventional White closing wheels behind. Instead, he runs Great Plains rubber press wheels. They're the same kind that he runs on his 30-foot-0wide Great Plains no-till drill in soybeans.

"We've found that these Great Plains press wheels do just he right kind of job sealing over the seed," he says. The Great Plains wheels are narrower on the inside, and full depth on the outside. A pair of them running as closing wheels behind each planter row in corn gives Mercer the effect he wants in closing the seed trench without creating soil compaction.

"We've also added Keeton seed firmers in recent years," he notes. "I never was one for dragging a lot of things across the soil, but these newer style firmers do a god job. They're also made so that you can apply fertilizer in the row with them."

Mercer applies starter fertilizer beside the row, plus what he applies in-furrow. The fertilizer applied in-furrow is a low analysis, high-quality product.

Mercer developed the system he prefers through 18 years of no-till. He's retiring this year, but has already rented the farm to someone who also no-tills. "My farm is going to be no-tilled," he concludes.