Jack, I wish I could say we were getting more than shop work and cleaning/organizing done. But sadly it’s rained every day accept Tuesday since last week this time... we got over an inch today.
Hi! When you mention row gap, would I measure from the closest place to the plants on the spikes duck foot or sweep to the same place on the other side of the row? Or do you mean measure centre to centre on the tine or shank that is holding the spike, duck foot or sweep?
We do not side dress anything. Someday though, I am going to get one of the new airseeder units to place on aggressive "final" cultivator. I would like to be able to sow rye, turnips, radishes, etc. during the final cultivation.
Whats your opinion on single sweep cultivator like a hiniker, kinze etc? Love your operation. Reason for asking i want to get into organics in the future and for corn i thought of using a strip till machine for initial seedbed into clover cover crop and possibly flame weeding the middles to stunt the growth of the clover post plant. Setting up a rotary hoe to only have wheels on strip/ plant row. Come back latet with a single sweep with a sharp shank to about 2in to kill clover. My idea is to keep the clover living longer to nodulate more/seed out a little to let the cultivator pass act as a sidedress for the corn to have more nitrogen later on and possibly grow under the corn as a in season cover crop. Maybe finger weed only in row v4-6 without any shanks in middle till the killing pass. I feel that the corn roots would be deeper than clover and would be in different moisture zone. Would that make any sense to you?
Your idea in premised on a lot of mechanization (capital) and weather dependent (which is increasingly variable). There are a lot of moving parts here!! On paper it sounds viable. If you were a beginning farmer looking into incurring debt to to try the idea, I would say start small experimentally. That being said, there are a lot of innovative processes that will work in one area/soil type but not another. I was introduced to successful no-till organic a couple of years ago. I was amazed by the production capability of that system. I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING. I simply know what works for me and my geographic area. This knowledge is based upon experience and production systems from my area dating back to the 1800's. A couple of things to think about...corn is a "weak" competitor when young, red clover must have a well balanced soil to have complete domination in spring (lime), in a dry spring red clover will dominate the moisture in the soil (it is very vigorous). Single sweep cultivators require good tilth for the soil to "flow". In a clay soil, they can ribbon, slab, or "clod" depending upon moisture. In your planning, it would be very helpful to consider and develop contingencies for when things go wrong...too wet, too dry, row cultivation techniques that will work in differing soil moisture aspects, usage of annual clovers, etc. I hope I am not discouraging you ;), organic agriculture thrives on innovation! Good Luck
Sounds good. It was an idea. I live in eastern nc and most soils are sandy loam low organic matter soils. Early springs are usually wet but typically drys out later on with fairly decent rain events after. Im worried with low organic levels having too much erosion. You definitely have me thinking and potentially test it out on some ground coming out of alfalfa as a future thought. Like you said tied up capital in equipment is rough farming. I do have access to unlimited turkey and chicken manure so i may look into investing that money into equipment to compost that and possibly pellet machine if i can get a couple farmers to invest with me. Mount some fert boxes on a cultivator and let that be a side dress pass. Thanks for being transparent and many blessings to your operation
SOOO, knowing your location/soils gives me a more positive take on your proposal! There are people in your general vicinity that are working on similar ideas...with some success! Remember that raw manure will bring a flush of weeds, as I show in the foxtail-hill ground video recently. I would think that an alfalfa field would be a good experiment. I don't know your area's weed profile...As far as fertility, I attempt to "pre-load" my system before planting. Remember the 40-30-30-10 manure rule. I do not side dress products but your topography may encourage this.
I have been thinking of the same idea. This year I’ve got a 60 inch corn plot because of all the options it would open up. All my tractors would be able to fit in the rows, top dress chicken litter, inter row mowing, inter-seeding covers, flame weeding(which I am not a fan of) and starter fertilizer costs would be half, etc. I believe putting all manure on after corn is going strong would be a huge advantage for weed control. 60 inch rows could be cultivated next to the row and still leave a strip of clover in between. There’s a good video about corn in alfalfa living mulch but I don’t know how to link a video. It’s on Jim Martindale’s channel. They’re using chemicals but I think we can figure something out for organic.
@@tylerbolton7310 I would love to talk to jim. He has a wealth of knowledge. My grandfather did similar to what you thinking for his sweet corn. Spent some days on a 140 or his super A. Just wish I was older to soak it up.
Yes! For a number of years, I had only the danish tine with rolling shields...the third cultivator. First pass, shields down and slow. Second pass, shields up and a bit more speed. Third pass as fast as you can go and keep on the row ;)! Once you start, you will figure what types and techniques work in your particular situation. Good luck.
@@benpol3537 Not really…watch my video. Do you have a danish tine OR a C shank? Danish or S tines usually have 5 shanks in a 30” row. C shanks usually have 3 per row. That being said, I know successful organic farmers that only use a C shank! This would not work in my soils.
Thanks for a great education on your cultivators and how and when you use them!
Hope this video is helpful and more concise than the last attempt. Hope you guys can get some work done!
Jack,
I wish I could say we were getting more than shop work and cleaning/organizing done. But sadly it’s rained every day accept Tuesday since last week this time... we got over an inch today.
David Weilein We’ve had 3 in last 3 days 😟
Great explanation on cultivators
Thank you. It was noted that I had not done a concise video on the inter row cultivation tools.
Great collection of weed fighting weapons. Cultivators are cheap so having several sitting around for specific situations is good insurance
Exactly!! I buy cultivators rather than crop insurance ;)!
Hi! When you mention row gap, would I measure from the closest place to the plants on the spikes duck foot or sweep to the same place on the other side of the row?
Or do you mean measure centre to centre on the tine or shank that is holding the spike, duck foot or sweep?
When I mention row gap, I mean C to C of the shank itself!
Very well thought out cultivation program. Do you ever side dress when cultivating? Thanks for sharing!
We do not side dress anything. Someday though, I am going to get one of the new airseeder units to place on aggressive "final" cultivator. I would like to be able to sow rye, turnips, radishes, etc. during the final cultivation.
Whats your opinion on single sweep cultivator like a hiniker, kinze etc? Love your operation. Reason for asking i want to get into organics in the future and for corn i thought of using a strip till machine for initial seedbed into clover cover crop and possibly flame weeding the middles to stunt the growth of the clover post plant. Setting up a rotary hoe to only have wheels on strip/ plant row. Come back latet with a single sweep with a sharp shank to about 2in to kill clover. My idea is to keep the clover living longer to nodulate more/seed out a little to let the cultivator pass act as a sidedress for the corn to have more nitrogen later on and possibly grow under the corn as a in season cover crop. Maybe finger weed only in row v4-6 without any shanks in middle till the killing pass. I feel that the corn roots would be deeper than clover and would be in different moisture zone. Would that make any sense to you?
Your idea in premised on a lot of mechanization (capital) and weather dependent (which is increasingly variable). There are a lot of moving parts here!! On paper it sounds viable. If you were a beginning farmer looking into incurring debt to to try the idea, I would say start small experimentally.
That being said, there are a lot of innovative processes that will work in one area/soil type but not another. I was introduced to successful no-till organic a couple of years ago. I was amazed by the production capability of that system. I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING. I simply know what works for me and my geographic area. This knowledge is based upon experience and production systems from my area dating back to the 1800's.
A couple of things to think about...corn is a "weak" competitor when young, red clover must have a well balanced soil to have complete domination in spring (lime), in a dry spring red clover will dominate the moisture in the soil (it is very vigorous). Single sweep cultivators require good tilth for the soil to "flow". In a clay soil, they can ribbon, slab, or "clod" depending upon moisture.
In your planning, it would be very helpful to consider and develop contingencies for when things go wrong...too wet, too dry, row cultivation techniques that will work in differing soil moisture aspects, usage of annual clovers, etc. I hope I am not discouraging you ;), organic agriculture thrives on innovation! Good Luck
Sounds good. It was an idea. I live in eastern nc and most soils are sandy loam low organic matter soils. Early springs are usually wet but typically drys out later on with fairly decent rain events after. Im worried with low organic levels having too much erosion. You definitely have me thinking and potentially test it out on some ground coming out of alfalfa as a future thought. Like you said tied up capital in equipment is rough farming. I do have access to unlimited turkey and chicken manure so i may look into investing that money into equipment to compost that and possibly pellet machine if i can get a couple farmers to invest with me. Mount some fert boxes on a cultivator and let that be a side dress pass. Thanks for being transparent and many blessings to your operation
SOOO, knowing your location/soils gives me a more positive take on your proposal! There are people in your general vicinity that are working on similar ideas...with some success! Remember that raw manure will bring a flush of weeds, as I show in the foxtail-hill ground video recently. I would think that an alfalfa field would be a good experiment. I don't know your area's weed profile...As far as fertility, I attempt to "pre-load" my system before planting. Remember the 40-30-30-10 manure rule. I do not side dress products but your topography may encourage this.
I have been thinking of the same idea. This year I’ve got a 60 inch corn plot because of all the options it would open up. All my tractors would be able to fit in the rows, top dress chicken litter, inter row mowing, inter-seeding covers, flame weeding(which I am not a fan of) and starter fertilizer costs would be half, etc. I believe putting all manure on after corn is going strong would be a huge advantage for weed control. 60 inch rows could be cultivated next to the row and still leave a strip of clover in between.
There’s a good video about corn in alfalfa living mulch but I don’t know how to link a video. It’s on Jim Martindale’s channel. They’re using chemicals but I think we can figure something out for organic.
@@tylerbolton7310 I would love to talk to jim. He has a wealth of knowledge. My grandfather did similar to what you thinking for his sweet corn. Spent some days on a 140 or his super A. Just wish I was older to soak it up.
we are new to organic, could you get away with one cultivator to start?
Yes! For a number of years, I had only the danish tine with rolling shields...the third cultivator. First pass, shields down and slow. Second pass, shields up and a bit more speed. Third pass as fast as you can go and keep on the row ;)! Once you start, you will figure what types and techniques work in your particular situation. Good luck.
@@GeigerFarm oh awesome that’s what I have except mine only has three shanks. Is it possible to add more?
@@benpol3537 Not really…watch my video. Do you have a danish tine OR a C shank? Danish or S tines usually have 5 shanks in a 30” row. C shanks usually have 3 per row. That being said, I know successful organic farmers that only use a C shank! This would not work in my soils.
@@GeigerFarm it’s definitely a danish tine. But it only has 3 shanks. Thank you for all your help. I’ve been studying your videos!
You might have to get creative on your tooth configuration and size…I can see the heavy shanks using a larger shovel.