Food Plot Implements...again

[Briarwood]

I will be planting several 1/2 acre food plots. Some in corn and some in clover blend. On advice from a local dealer, I am planning to buy a tiller to fit my B2710 supplemented with a corn planter and grain drill. I found a used John Deere 2-row corn planter (492 or 494?) in very good condition for $450 and an International 8 foot (13 hole) grain drill with single blade opener that the owner bought used in 1975 and he wants $400 for it. I haven't seen the drill yet, but I understand that it is set up to plant grass seed and does not have working fertilizer box. Owner says I will need to get a cylinder to lift it. He used to pull it behind a Ford 8N. I am pretty much a newbie to farming but I have put about 350 hours on my B2710 in the last three years doing other things (mostly bush hogging/mowing). I will be planting in soil that is high in clay content (having it tested now). Am I on the right track with these implements and are the prices fair? I appreciate your experienced comments.

Briarwood

 

[Rimmer]

This is an interesting question, and I'm sorry that I can't offer more help -- all I can give you is one more detail to think about:

Fifty years ago, my father planted both field corn and sweet corn with a modified horse-drawn two-row corn planter pulled by a Ford 8N (with me in the planter seat to operate the controls). I think the 8N has a wider stance than your B2710, although I'm not certain about that. As I recall, he would plow and plant with the rear tires set "narrow," and then swap them around to "wide" to cultivate once the corn was up. However, I suspect that 8N "narrow" is still wider than the B2710. So, my concerns with using the B2710 to plant corn would be:

1. Will you end up planting in the area compacted by your tire tracks?

2. If you do, does it really matter anyway?

Maybe someone with more experience can comment on this.

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[KHawk]

I think you are on the right track. I have a Ford Model 319 2 row corn planter with 3 point hitch. I paid 500.00 for my planter that is in real good condition. Make sure the planter has seed plates. Seed plates differ in size, depending on what type (size) seed you are planting. For example I have different seed plates for sweet corn and for field corn. I don't use weed killer. I use a 1 row, 3 point cultivator to cultivate. I paid 30.00 for the cultivator. On my corn planter, I can adjust the width of the rows. I don't think it is a problem to plant over your tractor wheels. Use plenty of fertilizer when planting. I fertilize twice with my planter. Once when planting and once when the corn is about 12 inches tall. I fertilize the second time with my planter, staggering the plants and using only the fertilizer box. I probably havent explained very well, but old age has its way of doing that. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Slamfire]

Well if you were tryin' to make a profit on these plots, I could see gettin' all that expensive equipment. I don't much care for tillers, they powder the soil too much and not enough air gets down to the roots. I just run over my food plots with a single row cultivator,(used $70) then a disc harrow.(used $150) I broadcast any seed and fertilizer with one of the 3-point broadcasters (used $100). Then run over the seed with a drag made from a mobile home trailer (used and I got paid $20 to remove them from the trailer and the property). /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif All these implements do double duty on the wife's garden and orchard.

 

[Deerlope]

I think that you could get by without the drill. other than corn , seed can be broadcast by hand or tractor mounted machine& the different seed plates are a must for the corn planter. Wheel width is something that can be checked out before you buy. Happy holidays.

 

[Egon]

Slamfire's on the track I'd be taking. Might change the drag to a set of harrows.

Give the corn a experiment by broadcasting and see what happens. Maybe soak the seeds overnight first to help sprouting.

Egon

 

[soarkrebel]

I use a 14" moldboard plow for breaking new areas and disc's after that. i have a spreader for my atv and drag with a section of chain link fence.

i might recommend a spring tooth harrow . i would like to have one but decent priced used ones are hard to find.

you really don't need to spend alot of money on complicated equipment to do food plots.

save the money you would spend on fancy stuff and put it in seed for more plots. hey you'll get more time on your machine and have a blast working.

 

[PineRidge]

I bought an old 2 bottom plow, an old disk, and an old Allis 2 row corn planter. I'm good to go.

 

[rambler]

I'm a farmer, so it is very interesting to read how to do this. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Corn does not like compation at all - you will have a poorer stand if you plant into wheel tracks. (Soybeans wouldn't care very much.) Plant into drier soil & it probably won't matter much for food plots.

They make pretty good broadcast spinners for applying fertilizer. Most all planters have rusted out fertilizer units or costs way to much to make them work. Just buy a spinner, broadcast the fertilizer, and go over the ground with a harrow/drag, or any of your other disk/field cultivator implements.

Many of these fert spinners can also spread the same seeds the drill would seed. Not quite as well sometimes, but for food plots it will be just fine. Sometimes you can mix the seed & fert, go over once, harrow, & sit back & wait. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

For corn, you need, absoulutely need, to control weeds somehow while it is growing. Either spray it or cultivate it. If you broadcast corn, you cannot cultivate it - so you will be spraying.

I too do not like a tiller around my soils, it makes the ground too fine. If you are starting with hard sod or other compacted soil, might be a good start, but for future years, you could use something else. A plow would be great, but then you get into lumpy soil in spring & need to work that smooth, which can be a challenge with small implements & compact tractors.

A lot of this depends on your soils & rainfall.

Here in the midwest, the planter would be less than $200, and the grain drill would be about $100 at farm auctions. Dealers ask for what they think they can bleed out of you.

--->Paul

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> For corn, you need, absoulutely need, to control weeds somehow while it is growing. Either spray it or cultivate it. If you broadcast corn, you cannot cultivate it - so you will be spraying.
</font>

Clover keeps corn weed free! Once my corn has been planted and comes up I shallow cultivate it only once. Corn has a lot of surface roots and doesn’t like lots of cultivation. I then let it get about 12 inches tall and then I broadcast clover over the same area. If you spread the clover any sooner it will choke the corn so let the corn get established first. You can use dwarf white clover at the rate of 1 ounce per 100 square foot (it goes a long way). It quickly comes up makes a very thick mat and deters weeds from getting established alongside the corn plants. The clover is a legume; it will add nitrogen to the soil that helps the corn further. When the season is done I turn it all under, which really helps to build up the soil.

Just an alternative method. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif