Potato and Corn tips?

cheesedawg82 · #1 04-05-2019, 12:57 PM

I've set myself a goal to produce 1000 lbs of potatoes this season, looking for any tips and tricks I can get. The plan is to till with the 149 & #1 tiller, then use the 106 to dig furrows with a Brinly middle buster, plant the furrowed rows at 12" spacing, then cover with bedding discs on the Brinly cultivator bar that I probably just paid too much for on eBay.

I have no discs, sweeps, stems, or hardware for the Brinly Cultivator, which should be arriving Monday. Really close to ordering discs and stems from Agri-Supply, and I'd certainly value your opinions and input before I do so. I also need sweeps. Tire cover sweeps for sure, with stems, or S-tines, depending mostly on your suggestions, shared experiences, and dealers.

I'd like to do a couple rows of corn, not a whole lot so there's no reason I can't fertilize by hand, but if these sweeps had fertilizer injectors for side dressing I would definitely put them to use. I'd like very much to get something like that all dialed in and functional, should I get the opportunity to expand my garden next year.

finsruskw · #2 04-05-2019, 01:20 PM

For spuds.
I till then push the spuds into the soft soil face down for those that are cut then hill.
Works great for me and we grow about 300 lbs each year and have plenty left over for seed come spring.

john hall · #3 04-05-2019, 08:36 PM

We quit gardening a few years ago, but raised a LOT in years past (over an acre). For most everything we planted in raised bed rows, because that's the type of equipment you have on a tobacco farm. Make sure your tater patch can drain well if you get a LOT of rain. One year where we had it the rows could not drain and the taters rotted---the other end of the rows were great!

Our favorite corn is Silver Queen--does great here in the Southeast. Others like Golden Queen or Peaches and Cream. Plant the same time as the farmers in your area do--should be reasonably soon. We noticed with late planted sweet corn it tends to get worms, not really an issue with normal planting dates. Regarding fertilizer, I don't know how much to tell you to use--too much can upset your stomach. That said, we planted our sweet corn with a 4 row planter and sprayed liquid nitrogen on it. Probably planted a little thicker than most folks too. Probably should side dress your corn fertilizer and get it at or just below seeding depth.

cheesedawg82 · #4 04-12-2019, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john hall

We quit gardening a few years ago, but raised a LOT in years past (over an acre). For most everything we planted in raised bed rows, because that's the type of equipment you have on a tobacco farm. Make sure your tater patch can drain well if you get a LOT of rain. One year where we had it the rows could not drain and the taters rotted---the other end of the rows were great!

Our favorite corn is Silver Queen--does great here in the Southeast. Others like Golden Queen or Peaches and Cream. Plant the same time as the farmers in your area do--should be reasonably soon. We noticed with late planted sweet corn it tends to get worms, not really an issue with normal planting dates. Regarding fertilizer, I don't know how much to tell you to use--too much can upset your stomach. That said, we planted our sweet corn with a 4 row planter and sprayed liquid nitrogen on it. Probably planted a little thicker than most folks too. Probably should side dress your corn fertilizer and get it at or just below seeding depth.

I planted taters in the same spot last year and they did pretty well. I used a rented tiller to make 6 rows that ran up and down the hill, wide enough to mow between on the tractor. 2 rows of taters were successful crops, as was a row of cukes. Everything else wound up deer food, so everything else is going in raised beds inside of an electric fence.

This year I've got a 149 and a #1 tiller with an extension, and I'm about a belt and pulley away from breaking ground. I'll be able to plant across the hill, and a whole lot more. I'm on the hunt for the right sweeps and discs to hill 'em, just like your benders probably did.

As far as the corn goes, I'm mostly hoping to get the tractor set up to work a small corn field than anything. I may only grow 2 or 3 rows, and I'll plant them by hand if I don't go pick up an Earth Way seeder. It's the side dressing that gets me. I have my Cubs and that's it. If you or anyone else has rigged your cub to side dress, be it liquid or solid, I'd like to see what you did.

CADplans · #5 04-12-2019, 11:49 AM

Last year, I ordered my seed off of Amazon,,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

john hall · #6 04-12-2019, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesedawg82

I planted taters in the same spot last year and they did pretty well. I used a rented tiller to make 6 rows that ran up and down the hill, wide enough to mow between on the tractor. 2 rows of taters were successful crops, as was a row of cukes. Everything else wound up deer food, so everything else is going in raised beds inside of an electric fence.

This year I've got a 149 and a #1 tiller with an extension, and I'm about a belt and pulley away from breaking ground. I'll be able to plant across the hill, and a whole lot more. I'm on the hunt for the right sweeps and discs to hill 'em, just like your benders probably did.

As far as the corn goes, I'm mostly hoping to get the tractor set up to work a small corn field than anything. I may only grow 2 or 3 rows, and I'll plant them by hand if I don't go pick up an Earth Way seeder. It's the side dressing that gets me. I have my Cubs and that's it. If you or anyone else has rigged your cub to side dress, be it liquid or solid, I'd like to see what you did.

No real ideas on side dressing unless you go with a tractor such as the Farmall offset series--Cub through 140. Maybe you could cultivate a trench, drop your fertilizer in it and then cover it back up? I do remember using a horse drawn fertilizer distributor. Probably some of the older guys here remember them. Basically it looked like a plow with a hopper big enough to hold 50lb of fertilizer. We bedded the rows with the tractor, then opened them, pulled this down the row, then probably stirred the fertilizer with the rear sweeps on the tractor. Gardening is different when every thing you have is set up for tobacco fields!!

Just had a thought, look into a Cole horse drawn corn planter. Here in the Southeast those things are still very popular for gardeners. Guys make a hitch for them and pull them behind the offset series tractors. I think they have fertilizer hoppers on them. Nobody here uses the offset IH tractors for tobacco anymore so we are flooded with those machines for gardening. I would think with some welding you could put one behind a Cadet.

Another product that comes to mind would be an old Soda-Flo off a tobacco planter. These were add on attachments for putting out some starter fertilizer when planting with the old Holland transplanters. Pretty sure they have been obsolete for the last 25 years.

Just tossing out ideas, best of luck with your corn!

Here is a quick search on CL for Cole planters.
https://raleigh.craigslist.org/searc...y=cole+planter

cheesedawg82 · #7 05-07-2019, 06:07 PM

Got my corn in this weekend. Would have been sooner, but trying to use the wrong pulley shredded my tiller belt. https://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/...lies/angry.gif

I tilled up a nice patch with the 149 and #1 with one extension, 5 rows wide by 30 feet, same size as the tater patch, only she did a much better job with a proper pulley and a few adjustments. Tightening the friction nut on the throttle and removing the depth tine on the tiller made it a completely different machine. Still won't crawl so it still needs work, I'll have to split it and weld up the trunion, but she's gonna have to last the season.

Using the 106 and a middlebuster, I made 5 rows, which we then dressed and covered by hand. We hand planted in blocks on either side of the dressed row. (1) Early Sunglow, (2,3) Golden Bantam, (4,5) Peaches and Cream - Burpee Seed. Got a good soaking rain right after.

Now we wait...

In the meantime, where would I go about getting one of those signs I see on the side of cornfields? That would look cool as hell.

How long do I have to get sweeps for my cultivator before I can't run the corn over anymore?

I planted the potatoes in a similar fashion 2 weeks ago with less tilling, having broadcast my dressing over the patch prior to tilling. 4 rows, 2 Kennebec, 2 Red. How long until I have to put a couple of discs on the cultivator and hill them up? I tilled up grass with the depth tine attached, and wanted to do more passes but I had shredded the belt, so I'm definitely gonna be growing more grass than I want in this patch. Tips would be appreciated.

cheesedawg82 · #8 05-07-2019, 06:26 PM

John Hall sorry I didn't respond there. We had a pair of 140's on the farm I worked on as a kid, all set to side dress, hoods permanently dented from throwing fertilizer bags up there, and the oldest farmer still farming always ran them. I remember one fellow who side dressed corn on the 140 until the day he died. He was 96 when he passed.

Something like the 140 setup would be perfect. I would totally consider buying another Snapper rear engine rider and putting tall tires on it like a baby Allis Chalmers G for this job, too.