Indy, or anyone else, With the 20" spacing you are talking about, are you listing the field and then coming back with a planter or do you just plant on flat ground? Are you able to cultivate and drive in the middles with that narrow of a spacing?
row crop spacing?
- Thread starter bdog
- Start date
- Views: 29686
Indydirtfarmer
Platinum Member
Never saw a lister used this far north.... They might be SOMEWHERE, just not around here. We want ground as level as we can get it here.
Another thing to consider.... 80% of our corn, and 90%(+) of our soybeans in this immediate area are no-tilled. No cultivators.... 20" rows would require a steady hand when cultivating, but I don't see why it can't be done. You'd need a tractor with relatively narrow rear tires though. My smallest tractor has 16.9X30's.....
We grow a lot of sweet corn and green beans too. That gets planted in 30" rows with a 2-row planter. That's to make room for cultivating.... (That's about 2 weeks away! Pictures sure to follow)
Bottom line.... No matter what row width you go with, you need to match your equipment to that width. A cultivator for 40" (+) rows would be set up COMPLETELY different than one for 30". (More shanks per row) 20" would require yet another totally different set-up.
This is why I use full-sized row-crop or row-crop utility tractors.... Compacts do not lend themselves to row-crop farming nearly so well.
Everything has its place......
Another thing to consider.... 80% of our corn, and 90%(+) of our soybeans in this immediate area are no-tilled. No cultivators.... 20" rows would require a steady hand when cultivating, but I don't see why it can't be done. You'd need a tractor with relatively narrow rear tires though. My smallest tractor has 16.9X30's.....
We grow a lot of sweet corn and green beans too. That gets planted in 30" rows with a 2-row planter. That's to make room for cultivating.... (That's about 2 weeks away! Pictures sure to follow)
Bottom line.... No matter what row width you go with, you need to match your equipment to that width. A cultivator for 40" (+) rows would be set up COMPLETELY different than one for 30". (More shanks per row) 20" would require yet another totally different set-up.
This is why I use full-sized row-crop or row-crop utility tractors.... Compacts do not lend themselves to row-crop farming nearly so well.
Everything has its place......
Thanks for the reply. I totally agree there is the right and wrong equipment for the job, and our compacts are not designed for row crops, or commercial farming in any sense as they are just too small. I like doing this stuff as a hobby and trying to make things work. Maybe I have too much time on my hands.
Around here cotton is the number one crop and it is grown in 40" raised bed rows. They also plant a lot of winter wheat, which of course is just drilled in on flat ground. My house is surrounded by large cotton fields and I watch the farmers working their fields, cultivating, spraying, etc. It just seems that the rows make all operations so much easier and more precise.
Around here cotton is the number one crop and it is grown in 40" raised bed rows. They also plant a lot of winter wheat, which of course is just drilled in on flat ground. My house is surrounded by large cotton fields and I watch the farmers working their fields, cultivating, spraying, etc. It just seems that the rows make all operations so much easier and more precise.
hobbyfarm
Veteran Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( This is why I use full-sized row-crop or row-crop utility tractors.... Compacts do not lend themselves to row-crop farming nearly so well.
Everything has its place...... )</font>
Indydirtfarmer,
Sounds to me like those engineers need to come up with a CUT for row crops. Especially since they aren't making any more offset Farmalls.
Everything has its place...... )</font>
Indydirtfarmer,
Sounds to me like those engineers need to come up with a CUT for row crops. Especially since they aren't making any more offset Farmalls.
bjr
Veteran Member
Okay, I'm responding to a 5 yr old thread, but I find the subject interesting and I just spent the better portion of a month fabricating some wheel spacers to get a 60" tire center for my Chinese semi CUT tractor. I say semi CUT because it's kinda on the large size for a compact. Anyway I'm able to row crop 30" rows with my spaced out wheels now. And this is my first attempt at a row cropping, planting corn for the neighbors. Anyone else built their own wheel spacers? bjr
bp fick
Super Member
Sorry to quote from so many years back, but.....
I also find this subject interesting, as I am a vegetable farmer. There is a narrow orchard tractor that Kubota makes. But, let's face it, with the tobacco base gone and small row croppers rare as hen's teeth, there aren't enough of us to constitute a market for the CUT builders, although in relative size and horse power (more than enough), the modern CUT is roughly equivalent to the small Masseys, Farmalls and such we used to use.
If push came to shove, the regular B2320 or JD2320 is about the closest and one might well be my future tractor for this purpose. Even so, they are still a little low to the ground. BTW, your 30" spacing sounds good.
It is "interesting".
What I find "interesting" about it is that compacts are used for small scale farming in countries other than the US, apparently without row spacing issues.
So,,,,,
Maybe, just maybe, some of the "issues" expressed in this thread are a result of trying to mix CUTs with olde tyme small utility tractor implements ?
and/or metric (-:
What I find "interesting" about it is that compacts are used for small scale farming in countries other than the US, apparently without row spacing issues.
So,,,,,
Maybe, just maybe, some of the "issues" expressed in this thread are a result of trying to mix CUTs with olde tyme small utility tractor implements ?
and/or metric (-:
gasmanlng
New member
I puchased a 2005 McCormick GX50 CUT recently. It is 50hp, 4wd with FEL, AG tires. The gx50 is built in Europe and I found it to be really narrow (52" outside to outside of rear tires). I needed a wider stance for hills on my property so I extended tires to 60". I figured they probably were built more as orchard tractors.
6011Artist
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2008
- Messages
- 375
- Location
- Darlington, SC
- Tractor
- 1957 Ferguson 35, 1977? Yanmar 2200, 1963 Cub Cadet Original
I have a Yanmar 2200 and have never tried to plant a garden until last year. I have access to a nice established garden spot and tractors so I decided to go for it. I chose the Yanmar over the Ferguson due to it not being as wide, more rows in a small area.
I build all my equipment from older tractor equipment that has been cut down or parts from it built on my frame. Not having any experience, I went with 1 row cultivating. I only have 12 50' rows and can run the tractor over it and be on to something else in 30 min.
I agree that the CUTs will not work well with the older equipment unless you go with 1 row, whether bought as is or built from parts. Having a shop with fabrication tools made it very simple to build up what I needed. No bigger than my garden is, it is not time consuming with the tractor, and converting equipment down to my needs is working well for me.
I am in the process of building rolling cultivators now, using two gangs and two middle sweeps. Last year I converted an older C tine mule weeder to do my cultivating and it worked good but I only have 50.00 in all the parts to build a 1 row rig like the big boys use.
Next year I plan to lengthen out my garden, 100' rows. I think I will lay it off with the wider tractor. In case of a breakdown with my narrow tractor, I can use my wider to cultivate. By laying it off with the narrow one, it is the only one I can use to cultivate. There is only 6" difference, so not that big of a difference.
If doing large areas the multi row implements work faster but for the hobby gardener, 1 row should be fast enough. I seem to not plow up a lot of plants this way.
When asking the old timers how to cultivate, several told me you had to get out there and learn it on your own. Told me, "you haven't learned to cultivate until you take out a few rows"...lol.
I build all my equipment from older tractor equipment that has been cut down or parts from it built on my frame. Not having any experience, I went with 1 row cultivating. I only have 12 50' rows and can run the tractor over it and be on to something else in 30 min.
I agree that the CUTs will not work well with the older equipment unless you go with 1 row, whether bought as is or built from parts. Having a shop with fabrication tools made it very simple to build up what I needed. No bigger than my garden is, it is not time consuming with the tractor, and converting equipment down to my needs is working well for me.
I am in the process of building rolling cultivators now, using two gangs and two middle sweeps. Last year I converted an older C tine mule weeder to do my cultivating and it worked good but I only have 50.00 in all the parts to build a 1 row rig like the big boys use.
Next year I plan to lengthen out my garden, 100' rows. I think I will lay it off with the wider tractor. In case of a breakdown with my narrow tractor, I can use my wider to cultivate. By laying it off with the narrow one, it is the only one I can use to cultivate. There is only 6" difference, so not that big of a difference.
If doing large areas the multi row implements work faster but for the hobby gardener, 1 row should be fast enough. I seem to not plow up a lot of plants this way.
When asking the old timers how to cultivate, several told me you had to get out there and learn it on your own. Told me, "you haven't learned to cultivate until you take out a few rows"...lol.
