redlevel
Gold Member
I finally got my corn planted on the Saturday before and the Monday after Easter. That's really a little bit late for this area, but considering the weather we had Easter weekend, I'm probably just as well off.
Here is how it went.
First, I had to get the land ready. Most of the corn was planted on a field than has not been cultivated for about five or six years. I didn't even take a soil sample. I knew I needed at least 500 lb of 5-10-15 per acre and a ton of lime per acre. I put the fertilizer out with my cone spreader and hired a truck to apply 1.5 tons of lime per acre. I'll pull a soil sample this fall and see if I still need more lime.
I had tried to start breaking some of the land with a bottom plow last fall, but quickly found that there was too much of a hard pan to allow the plow to stay in the ground. I decided that subsoiling was the best thing to do. Here, I have subsoiled on about 60" centers, pulling the subsoiler at least 16" deep. The Farmtrac 535 did a good job in 3rd gear. As you can see, subsoiling when the moisture is right (not too wet, not too dry) actually "shatters" the soil 10 to 16 inches on either side of the actual subsoiler trench. Some of the newer parabolic subsoilers will do an even better job.
This shows where I went back for a second trip with the subsoiler, actually running the tractor tires in the rows made by the first pass. This helps break up any clods that were pulled up, and doesn't appreciably re-compact the soil. The result leaves a subsoiler trench every 30", and a very soft and deeply plowed field. In years to come I should be able to easily plow the field with a bottom plow.
Two trips with a disc harrow, one immediately after the subsoiling operation and the other after a rain and immediately before planting got the soil in pretty good shape to plant. All this tillage incorporated the fertilizer and lime into the soil. The ground was still very soft, and I didn't want to compact the soil any more by harrowing again to get a smoother, more even seedbed. Besides, I was in a hurry.
I used Covington planters, an old set my father-in-law used for close to 50 years.
I am the distinguished looking portly gentleman on the 600 Ford with the Covington planters. This particular field is a smaller food plot close to the farmhouse.
Here are some of the different seed plates available for the Covingtons.
The plate on the left is for planting larger-seeded crops, like peanuts, and has eight cells, or points where seed are picked up as the plate revolves. The plate in the middle is a six-cell corn plate, and is the one I used (one in each planter). The plate on the right is a four-cell corn plate that I use when planting on poor land, or when planting corn very late.
Here you can see the that the plate has picked up a single corn seed kernel in one of the cells and is about to drop it into the seed tube.
Spacing can be adjusted by changing plates and/or changing the sprockets on the ground drive wheel and the driven wheel as you can see in this picture.
My planters probably look a little different than some other Covingtons you may see. I have removed the larger fertilizer hoppers that go in front of the other two boxes or hoppers. A cotton hopper, in front of the grain (corn) hopper, is included on these planters. Those round hoppers were used to plant cotton that had not had the "fuzz" removed. Farmers used to call that "gin run" seed. Acid delinted cotton seed were planted in the grain hoppers. I believe my fil added the rubber press wheels sometime in the late 1960's or early 70's. They make it easier to plant in sticky soil, and also do a better job of sealing and firming the soil over the seed.
This year I chose to plant Roundup Ready seed since some of the plots have bermuda grass patches in them. Hopefully, I will not have to cultivate the corn at all. The old-timers insisted on plowing corn twice, whether it needed it or not. In those pre-herbicide years, especially if it was a wet year, it usually needed it. Now, savvy farmers claim you are only "plowing the ears off" if you plow clean corn. Research has shown that unneeded cultivation destroys a lot of very small feeder roots and allows moisture to escape.
These are the two tractors I did the work with. I wouldn't be afraid to tackle a hundred acre farm with these two tractors and a part-time hired man to help me a few weeks in the spring.
In a few weeks, hopefully, I can pull this thread back to the top and show you rows of fast-growing corn. Then, this fall, I hope to show you some good, well-filled-out ears of corn.
We'll see.
Here is how it went.
First, I had to get the land ready. Most of the corn was planted on a field than has not been cultivated for about five or six years. I didn't even take a soil sample. I knew I needed at least 500 lb of 5-10-15 per acre and a ton of lime per acre. I put the fertilizer out with my cone spreader and hired a truck to apply 1.5 tons of lime per acre. I'll pull a soil sample this fall and see if I still need more lime.
I had tried to start breaking some of the land with a bottom plow last fall, but quickly found that there was too much of a hard pan to allow the plow to stay in the ground. I decided that subsoiling was the best thing to do. Here, I have subsoiled on about 60" centers, pulling the subsoiler at least 16" deep. The Farmtrac 535 did a good job in 3rd gear. As you can see, subsoiling when the moisture is right (not too wet, not too dry) actually "shatters" the soil 10 to 16 inches on either side of the actual subsoiler trench. Some of the newer parabolic subsoilers will do an even better job.
This shows where I went back for a second trip with the subsoiler, actually running the tractor tires in the rows made by the first pass. This helps break up any clods that were pulled up, and doesn't appreciably re-compact the soil. The result leaves a subsoiler trench every 30", and a very soft and deeply plowed field. In years to come I should be able to easily plow the field with a bottom plow.
Two trips with a disc harrow, one immediately after the subsoiling operation and the other after a rain and immediately before planting got the soil in pretty good shape to plant. All this tillage incorporated the fertilizer and lime into the soil. The ground was still very soft, and I didn't want to compact the soil any more by harrowing again to get a smoother, more even seedbed. Besides, I was in a hurry.
I used Covington planters, an old set my father-in-law used for close to 50 years.
I am the distinguished looking portly gentleman on the 600 Ford with the Covington planters. This particular field is a smaller food plot close to the farmhouse.
Here are some of the different seed plates available for the Covingtons.
The plate on the left is for planting larger-seeded crops, like peanuts, and has eight cells, or points where seed are picked up as the plate revolves. The plate in the middle is a six-cell corn plate, and is the one I used (one in each planter). The plate on the right is a four-cell corn plate that I use when planting on poor land, or when planting corn very late.
Here you can see the that the plate has picked up a single corn seed kernel in one of the cells and is about to drop it into the seed tube.
Spacing can be adjusted by changing plates and/or changing the sprockets on the ground drive wheel and the driven wheel as you can see in this picture.
My planters probably look a little different than some other Covingtons you may see. I have removed the larger fertilizer hoppers that go in front of the other two boxes or hoppers. A cotton hopper, in front of the grain (corn) hopper, is included on these planters. Those round hoppers were used to plant cotton that had not had the "fuzz" removed. Farmers used to call that "gin run" seed. Acid delinted cotton seed were planted in the grain hoppers. I believe my fil added the rubber press wheels sometime in the late 1960's or early 70's. They make it easier to plant in sticky soil, and also do a better job of sealing and firming the soil over the seed.
This year I chose to plant Roundup Ready seed since some of the plots have bermuda grass patches in them. Hopefully, I will not have to cultivate the corn at all. The old-timers insisted on plowing corn twice, whether it needed it or not. In those pre-herbicide years, especially if it was a wet year, it usually needed it. Now, savvy farmers claim you are only "plowing the ears off" if you plow clean corn. Research has shown that unneeded cultivation destroys a lot of very small feeder roots and allows moisture to escape.
These are the two tractors I did the work with. I wouldn't be afraid to tackle a hundred acre farm with these two tractors and a part-time hired man to help me a few weeks in the spring.
In a few weeks, hopefully, I can pull this thread back to the top and show you rows of fast-growing corn. Then, this fall, I hope to show you some good, well-filled-out ears of corn.
We'll see.
