Growing Corn, On The Cob.

[egg6447]

my father in law has 15 rai . fallow for a year. he says he needs to plough twice, to get soil friable and a tractor again to plant seed. hes grown corn many times but wants me to finance it, which i,m not. question is how much to get this done. just checking to see how much b/s i,m being fed. oh hes claiming 25k, like ye i,ll buy it at market thanks. cheers.

[Somtham]

my father in law has 15 rai . fallow for a year. he says he needs to plough twice, to get soil friable and a tractor again to plant seed. hes grown corn many times but wants me to finance it, which i,m not. question is how much to get this done. just checking to see how much b/s i,m being fed. oh hes claiming 25k, like ye i,ll buy it at market thanks. cheers.

We planted sweet corn earlier this year and the ploughing was B300/rai for disc harrow in two directions and then rototilled in the direction of the planting rows. Syngenta Hybrid 3 seed was ~B800 per rai. So you should be looking somewhere around 1100 x 15 or B16,500. We planted in Feb so with the increases in fuel costs and probably seed maybe B25k isn't so far off the mark.

rgds

[Maizefarmer]

my father in law has 15 rai . fallow for a year. he says he needs to plough twice, to get soil friable and a tractor again to plant seed. hes grown corn many times but wants me to finance it, which i,m not. question is how much to get this done. just checking to see how much b/s i,m being fed. oh hes claiming 25k, like ye i,ll buy it at market thanks. cheers.

We planted sweet corn earlier this year and the ploughing was B300/rai for disc harrow in two directions and then rototilled in the direction of the planting rows. Syngenta Hybrid 3 seed was ~B800 per rai. So you should be looking somewhere around 1100 x 15 or B16,500. We planted in Feb so with the increases in fuel costs and probably seed maybe B25k isn't so far off the mark.

rgds

Basics for cultivating corn on the cob:

a) Cross-cut @ 7 - 10 days spacing between 1st & 2nd cut.

First discing as deep as poss - 15cm - 25cm will be great

c) 2nd discing (@ 90degrees to first) - set discs for approx half depth of 1st. This will consolidate the germination zone and help to hold moisture.

You should now be able forego with the cost of roto-tilling.

d) Irrigate (sprinklers) as soon as poss aftew 2nd cut and do so daily for 7 - 10 days - deliberately to promote weed grow.

e) Spray with herbicide and wait 36 - 48 hours - then plant (this will reduce weed growth by 50%-70% and leave more water, soil nutrient and fertilser for the corn)

f) Planting: rows at 75cm - 1m and distance between seeds 50cm - 75cm.

Costings: Baht 300 for cross-cut work is pretty much the going rate currently

Baht 800 for H3 per/rai - mmmmmm........ how are you buying it(?) - in those small boxes it is sold in? You can get it cheaper (B670) from wholesalers.

Fertilser - are you using any (if so which?) - idealy apply at planting and again 30/45days into growth.

NB - Class A s/corn from Sygenta (H3 is a good stuff) needs regular irrigation.

How many kg was obtained per rai for the last planting?

[egg6447]

thanks for the feedback you guys. and thanks to oz ,ref lost post, its come up eventually. cheers mate.

[ozzydom]

thanks for the feedback you guys. and thanks to oz ,ref lost post, its come up eventually. cheers mate.

Sounds like a TV show mate. "LOST IN CYBERSPACE"

[Somtham]

...

Costings: Baht 300 for cross-cut work is pretty much the going rate currently

Baht 800 for H3 per/rai - mmmmmm........ how are you buying it(?) - in those small boxes it is sold in? You can get it cheaper (B670) from wholesalers.

Fertilser - are you using any (if so which?) - idealy apply at planting and again 30/45days into growth.

NB - Class A s/corn from Sygenta (H3 is a good stuff) needs regular irrigation.

How many kg was obtained per rai for the last planting?

Yes, we bought the seed in those small, I think 1kg, boxes from a local supplier. We just planted 1 rai so not sure getting from a wholesaler is possible. The crop was picked by the neighbor starting at about 45 days and he paid B5/kg. The worker watered with a spinkler system with the source water coming from the fish settling pond so other than the fish poop no other fertilizer was used.

Not sure how many kilos we ended up selling as nobody tracked it but the noo na probably got at least a third of the crop and we ate a substantial amount also. Have to say it was some of the tastiest sweet corn I've had in a long time.

rgds

[SAP]

Syngenta Hybrid 3 seed was ~B800 per rai.

Just a note, I think Hybrid 3 is from Pacific Seeds

Also if you grow this variety in the mountains like Mae Sot, or Bak Chong, or area's that are doing continuous corn. The variety is quite susceptible to northern corn leaf blight, it is best to give it two shots of Mancozeb at about 30 days and again at 45 days if this is the case.

Maizefarmer are you sure about the seed spacing? It seems rather low to me.......??

SAP

[Maizefarmer]

...

Costings: Baht 300 for cross-cut work is pretty much the going rate currently

Baht 800 for H3 per/rai - mmmmmm........ how are you buying it(?) - in those small boxes it is sold in? You can get it cheaper (B670) from wholesalers.

Fertilser - are you using any (if so which?) - idealy apply at planting and again 30/45days into growth.

NB - Class A s/corn from Sygenta (H3 is a good stuff) needs regular irrigation.

How many kg was obtained per rai for the last planting?

Yes, we bought the seed in those small, I think 1kg, boxes from a local supplier. We just planted 1 rai so not sure getting from a wholesaler is possible. The crop was picked by the neighbor starting at about 45 days and he paid B5/kg. The worker watered with a spinkler system with the source water coming from the fish settling pond so other than the fish poop no other fertilizer was used.

Not sure how many kilos we ended up selling as nobody tracked it but the noo na probably got at least a third of the crop and we ate a substantial amount also. Have to say it was some of the tastiest sweet corn I've had in a long time.

rgds

Hunt around, you should be able to get it a bit cheaper.

1 rai was sold at Baht 5 per kg ........... that could be a good profit or a bad loss.

Here's a couple unsolicited comments which I hope will help you get the best from future harvests.

1) average cob mass as a part of total yield per rai - you can have x kg p/rai made up of y number of cobbs, or you can have x

kg p/rai made up of z number of cobbs.

Although the total mass per rai is the same in both case, your profit/loss will lie in the size of cobb's.

2) relationship between cobb length and mass - it's about moisture content (juiciness and sweetness): you can have a large cob with little moisture, in which case the mass will be low. Leaving the crop in a week longer in an effort to get more mass can backfire. You want to harvest at between 74% - 76% moisture content if growing in the dry season with irrigation (take a couple % off for crops grown in the rainy season) - this is more important than size, and then you want to cool them down pronto pronto to preserve sugar content/sweetness (sealed in plastic bags in bath of ice water, then into a large fridge)

Checking moisture content for any organic matter on a farm with a microwave - it's easy and accurately done with a microwave down to +/- 1 or 2% error.

1) Take 100grams of s/corn seed (seed only)

2) mash to a fine pulp with a mortar & pestel

3) put a small glass bowl (make sure you know the wieght of the bowl)

4) put in the microwave at a low heat/warm up setting for 3 minutes

5) take and weigh in the glass bowl (subtract weight of glass bowl - of course)

6) stirr the contents with a fork or teaspoon between each heating cycle (make sure no material sticks to the fork/spoon when you finish stirring)

6) keep repeating the above untill the mass no longer keeps dropping (could take as much as 5 - 7 x 3min cycles)

The before/after mass differance is your percentage of moisture

Note - do not use a high heat setting - as low as poss is best as you want to evapourate the water content only, not burn the organic matter in the seed

Spacings - nope, those spacings are fine/perfect/ideal - but please implement the prep notes I included in my earlier posting.

A lot of Thai's will disagree with these spacings - now go look at their s/corn crop - idealy in the last couple weeks before harvest: check out weed growth & water avalibility. There will be lots of the former and little of the latter - in which case, yes - the spacing I gave you will be no good. But prep the field properly, add fertilser when required and in the right quantity, irrigate as needed, monitor cobb moisture content versus size throughout the growth cycle and then these spacings will be fine.

[SAP]

Maizefarmer

What kind of percentage of double ears would expect with a spacing like this??

And what yield would you target?

Cheers

SAP

[DaveD]

my father in law has 15 rai . fallow for a year. he says he needs to plough twice, to get soil friable and a tractor again to plant seed. hes grown corn many times but wants me to finance it, which i,m not. question is how much to get this done. just checking to see how much b/s i,m being fed. oh hes claiming 25k, like ye i,ll buy it at market thanks. cheers.

We planted sweet corn earlier this year and the ploughing was B300/rai for disc harrow in two directions and then rototilled in the direction of the planting rows. Syngenta Hybrid 3 seed was ~B800 per rai. So you should be looking somewhere around 1100 x 15 or B16,500. We planted in Feb so with the increases in fuel costs and probably seed maybe B25k isn't so far off the mark.

rgds

Basics for cultivating corn on the cob:

a) Cross-cut @ 7 - 10 days spacing between 1st & 2nd cut.

First discing as deep as poss - 15cm - 25cm will be great

c) 2nd discing (@ 90degrees to first) - set discs for approx half depth of 1st. This will consolidate the germination zone and help to hold moisture.

You should now be able forego with the cost of roto-tilling.

d) Irrigate (sprinklers) as soon as poss aftew 2nd cut and do so daily for 7 - 10 days - deliberately to promote weed grow.

e) Spray with herbicide and wait 36 - 48 hours - then plant (this will reduce weed growth by 50%-70% and leave more water, soil nutrient and fertilser for the corn)

f) Planting: rows at 75cm - 1m and distance between seeds 50cm - 75cm.

Costings: Baht 300 for cross-cut work is pretty much the going rate currently

Baht 800 for H3 per/rai - mmmmmm........ how are you buying it(?) - in those small boxes it is sold in? You can get it cheaper (B670) from wholesalers.

Fertilser - are you using any (if so which?) - idealy apply at planting and again 30/45days into growth.

NB - Class A s/corn from Sygenta (H3 is a good stuff) needs regular irrigation.

How many kg was obtained per rai for the last planting?

Hi maizefarmer,

I read your piece about moisture content with interest.

How can the average farmer avoid being shafted at the factory gate as regards ,moisture content of corn,stach content of cassava,dirt on tubers etc?

I see factories posting prices at the gate ,but one inside with a crop ,the reality is different.

regards

Dave

[SAP]

Maizefarmer

What kind of percentage of double ears would expect with a spacing like this??

And what yield would you target?

Cheers

SAP

I am interested to keep this discussion going as it will lead to the different reasons why we choose the different row spacings and the advavtages and dis-advantages of high and low populaitons.

MF has recmmended 75cm-100cm row spacing and 50-75cm spacing in the row.

This is a max population of about 4,266 plants per rai

X 1.3 (30%) double ears.

=5545 ears per rai

less 8% for poor seed germ, vigour and non marketable ears (I usually use 12% for this)

equals 5102 ears / rai

Hybrid 3 has the potential to yield 4 ton/rai therefore you would need an average cob weight to be 785 grams/cob to get this.

For Hybrid 3 I would recommend 75X20cm spacing,

equal to 10,666 plants per rai

I Do NOT claculate for second ear

less 8% for poor seed germ, vigour and non marketable ears

equals 9813 ears per rai

This then requires an average cob yield of 407 grams per ear to reach 4 ton / rai.

If your yield expectation is 3 ton/rai use about a 75X25-30cm spacing

The main reason why I would not use 75X50cm is that the seed you will recieve is likely only to have a 95% germ and vigour rating. This means at 50cm seed spacing there are only 2 seeds per meter. Which will mean every 10 meters there will be a 1m gap? This is going to leave alot of un-used fertilizer and sunlight.

A rule of thumb, we want to utilize every ray of sunlight we can. Sunlight hitting the ground is wasted energy.

To determine plant population for corn, I learnt that at the flowering stage of the crop walk into the field at mid-day. The ground should be 95% shaded by the leaf of the corn plants. If it is not, means that you can increase the plant populaiton higher.

Has anyone on TV experimented using higher or lower populations than recommended by locals?

SAP

[Maizefarmer]

I'll try to reply to all in one reply....

SAP - double-ears are partly genetics as well as cultivation (conditions) - assuming the gentics are favourable, and all the prep work (good soil prep, good irrigation, good fertiliser regime - and weather), 45% is possible. BUT, there is a risk: deliberately cultivating to get double ears can result in smaller ears - with the nett result that total yield can be down. Personaly I care little for 2 ears as the cobs are almost always smaller with the resulting less moisture and consequently less shelf time. Cob/ear size is important for me because I retail - do not wholesale (see end of next paragraph)

What do I target? - my aim is a cob size 8" x 2" (immaterial if its one or two cobs) - but not at the expense of moisture content i.e. if moisture content reaches 74% - 76% before this size is achieved I harvest in any event (if you are wanting a Class A "super sweet" cob that can be plunge-cooled and kept for a good few days while the crop is sold, with min loss of sugar/sweetness). I get on average 4 days to off-load my crop at retail/market prices with little loss in quality or taste. Some folk around me (those who have tight cash flows and need access to cash quickly), get much the same sweetness, but from a smaller ear/cob. Thats fine, but they wholesale the crop in one go - and they need to because the ears don't have the milk volume to sustain them much more than 2, or 3 days at max, and many of them don't plunge cool.

What about yourself - do you retail or wholesale?

Do you plunge cool?

What is your average cob/ear size, and mass?

For all readers of these notes: SAP makes a good case for 75cm x 20cm spacings, and provides relivant data - which makes some good points, but what is an ideal regime for one cultivater is not neccessarily good for another.

A complete understanding why 75cm x 20cm is ideal for SAP needs some additional points to be clarified to be understood in its real world context e.g:

a) soil ph - a big factor in sweetcorn production (mine is by and large crap) - yours (SAP) is pretty close to 6.25 I would have thought (?) (anything between 6 and 6.6 in Thailand is great). Above 7ph cobs are slow to mature and will lack sweetness. Below 5.5 the sweetness comes on well before the cob is of any marketable size.

crop cycle (how many days to "milk kernel")? How many crops do you get per season?

c) Do you retail or wholesale (i.e. does one want to wholesale or retail - if one retails' you'll get more money, but you need more time and therefore a larger cob* for/at the same moisture and sugar content) - see note at end.

Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit.

In short, SAP's experiance shows what is possible and what works for him. At the same time I hope it conveys to readers the importance of not just a set of figures - but the need to understand figures (any) in their real world practical context - and in raising the points I have above, I don't belive they are comprehensive. There are still some factors missing e.g.

a) how much irrigation do I use versus SAP?

how does SAP pump his water (i.e. what are his pumping costs)?

c) and if he doesn't irrigate - can he get 2 crops in each season - I can (I irrigate, but I know that because of this although my gross is higher, my margin is tighter than my neighbour who does not irrigate)

Yes SAP -, great input - lets keep this going: I hope folk get from it not only an insight into what is possible with Sweetcorn, but also what one needs to think through when evaluating the viability of any crop.

DaveD - I do not wholesale - all my cassava and corn production is used for silage and forage - so my experiance of dealing with wholesalers and factories is limited, but I do know that as far as corn goes, your main concern is moisture content - the less the better (this is for corn seed - not sweetcorn - sweetcorn is a different matter, and if you are selling to a factory, the couple hours between picking, packing and cooling (which should be done) and delivery can swing sweetcorn moisture content 3% - 5%) - and that you can measure yourself accurately before sale.

Factory gate prices for corn should be given against moisture content - it's up to you to challenge it if you feel you are being shafted. Get used to it, shafting farmers in Thailand is as old as farming its self.

Corn seed is best kept for as long as you can before selling - ideally to the dry season when the price is usauly up a bit in any case. Take it off the cob, spread it out to dry a few drys, bag it up and put it somewhere dry and cool for a few months - then sell.

* a larger cob will retain its sweetness and mositure longer than a smaller cob - allowing one more time to retail their crop.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Maizefarmer

[SAP]

I'll try to reply to all in one reply....

SAP - double-ears are partly genetics as well as cultivation (conditions) - assuming the gentics are favourable, and all the prep work (good soil prep, good irrigation, good fertiliser regime - and weather), 45% is possible. BUT, there is a risk: deliberately cultivating to get double ears can result in smaller ears - with the nett result that total yield can be down. Personaly I care little for 2 ears as the cobs are almost always smaller with the resulting less moisture and consequently less shelf time. Cob/ear size is important for me because I retail - do not wholesale (see end of next paragraph)

What do I target? - my aim is a cob size 8" x 2" (immaterial if its one or two cobs) - but not at the expense of moisture content i.e. if moisture content reaches 74% - 76% before this size is achieved I harvest in any event (if you are wanting a Class A "super sweet" cob that can be plunge-cooled and kept for a good few days while the crop is sold, with min loss of sugar/sweetness). I get on average 4 days to off-load my crop at retail/market prices with little loss in quality or taste. Some folk around me (those who have tight cash flows and need access to cash quickly), get much the same sweetness, but from a smaller ear/cob. Thats fine, but they wholesale the crop in one go - and they need to because the ears don't have the milk volume to sustain them much more than 2, or 3 days at max, and many of them don't plunge cool.

What about yourself - do you retail or wholesale?

Do you plunge cool?

What is your average cob/ear size, and mass?

For all readers of these notes: SAP makes a good case for 75cm x 20cm spacings, and provides relivant data - which makes some good points, but what is an ideal regime for one cultivater is not neccessarily good for another.

A complete understanding why 75cm x 20cm is ideal for SAP needs some additional points to be clarified to be understood in its real world context e.g:

a) soil ph - a big factor in sweetcorn production (mine is by and large crap) - yours (SAP) is pretty close to 6.25 I would have thought (?) (anything between 6 and 6.6 in Thailand is great). Above 7ph cobs are slow to mature and will lack sweetness. Below 5.5 the sweetness comes on well before the cob is of any marketable size.

crop cycle (how many days to "milk kernel")? How many crops do you get per season?

c) Do you retail or wholesale (i.e. does one want to wholesale or retail - if one retails' you'll get more money, but you need more time and therefore a larger cob* for/at the same moisture and sugar content) - see note at end.

Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit.

In short, SAP's experiance shows what is possible and what works for him. At the same time I hope it conveys to readers the importance of not just a set of figures - but the need to understand figures (any) in their real world practical context - and in raising the points I have above, I don't belive they are comprehensive. There are still some factors missing e.g.

a) how much irrigation do I use versus SAP?

how does SAP pump his water (i.e. what are his pumping costs)?

c) and if he doesn't irrigate - can he get 2 crops in each season - I can (I irrigate, but I know that because of this although my gross is higher, my margin is tighter than my neighbour who does not irrigate)

Yes SAP -, great input - lets keep this going: I hope folk get from it not only an insight into what is possible with Sweetcorn, but also what one needs to think through when evaluating the viability of any crop.

MF your knowledge of corn and your obvious experience is second to none, and I alot more than mine. From what I can make out from your very comprehensive answer is;

Double ears should not be considered when planting sweetcorn......I agree they are a bonus that is if the ever achieve marketable size. And I never calculate for this too.

What do you target????? And this seems to be a key question, you are targeting market size and a sweetness level so that can receive a premium price at the market. My experience of growing sweet corn in Thailand has been for processors, these require different parameters, such as minimum cob size 15cm. Different factories had different brix ratings (sugar content) they required the corn at, we would loose weight and quality in delivery direct from the field to factory. But the key to our production was making sure we had a uniform crop, a non-uniform crop would result in the factory receiving too much old or too much young corn within their standard.

So to answer some questions

Supply factory

NO ICE=Only some bamboo outlets for the hot air to get out, and a contract with the trucking company that see's the truck arrive before a certain time

ABOUT soil pH, some interesting info I didn't know, but you are spot on anywhere between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine for me. Above 7.0 I would consider growing something like pineapples and below 5.5 applying dolomite or lime.

Do I retail or wholesale, as I said processors (which I guess is like wholesale).......MF is asking the right questions as I would target the optimum growing season for optimum yield and go for it...something like 1100 rai, starting planting as soon as I could after the wet season and finishing before Dec 1st (in Nongkhai). Hence this kind of tonnage for retail was too uch to retail yourself.

MF makes the most valid point with "Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit" And if someone or a company invests and develops a piece of land, and over capitalizes, this means you have to squeeze a larger crop off a smaller area to pay back investors!!! This has been a HUGE lesson to me!!! And I must admit; I pretty much lost my life savings in this project, but at the ripe old age of 31, I feel that if I think about what I have learnt, compared to the experience I have gained, this puts me in good stead for the future.

(BUT STILL, I have had my best successes with myself and other farms to reduce the area that they are trying to grow and concentrate only on what the irrigation can do and do it well)

BACK TO THE TOPIC

MF makes the point about gross margin, and this is the key, what do you need to breakeven. Above I point out overheads were an issue effecting the gross margin, but at the same time I learnt how to grow some pretty dam_n good yields.

How much irrigation do I use? I think this is an irrelavant as it more upto how much evaporation there is

How am I pumping and what are the overhead costs(or depreciation costs) this is what will drive the yield you require up!! But to answer this for MF, biggest problem 20m head of water. THE lesson.....find water that is above your head or not far below it

MF I still believe you can up your population and get higher yields and returns.

SAP

Edited July 21, 2008 by SAP

[slapout]

SAP; as a note to your question we used a 6/7 inch spacing between seeds as like you said keep the sunlight on the corn plants, not the ground. We also played around with row spacing and used 2 ft. most of the time. This was more a factor of the pipe we used for irrigration and tractor wheel setting. we tried some weird combos, 2 rows 1 ft apart skip 2 ft. and repeat. The family seemed to want to try new methods or maybe they just wanted to do it their way. Ha We fertralized pertty heavy and like I mentioned had access to water, which was diverted into plastic pipe (7 inch) with flapper set every 1 foot. No power required, just close flapper when row was finished and go to next row. We threw in about 3 lbs of sweet corn when we plant the field corn but the coons seemed to get most of that.

[Maizefarmer]

I'll try to reply to all in one reply....

SAP - double-ears are partly genetics as well as cultivation (conditions) - assuming the gentics are favourable, and all the prep work (good soil prep, good irrigation, good fertiliser regime - and weather), 45% is possible. BUT, there is a risk: deliberately cultivating to get double ears can result in smaller ears - with the nett result that total yield can be down. Personaly I care little for 2 ears as the cobs are almost always smaller with the resulting less moisture and consequently less shelf time. Cob/ear size is important for me because I retail - do not wholesale (see end of next paragraph)

What do I target? - my aim is a cob size 8" x 2" (immaterial if its one or two cobs) - but not at the expense of moisture content i.e. if moisture content reaches 74% - 76% before this size is achieved I harvest in any event (if you are wanting a Class A "super sweet" cob that can be plunge-cooled and kept for a good few days while the crop is sold, with min loss of sugar/sweetness). I get on average 4 days to off-load my crop at retail/market prices with little loss in quality or taste. Some folk around me (those who have tight cash flows and need access to cash quickly), get much the same sweetness, but from a smaller ear/cob. Thats fine, but they wholesale the crop in one go - and they need to because the ears don't have the milk volume to sustain them much more than 2, or 3 days at max, and many of them don't plunge cool.

What about yourself - do you retail or wholesale?

Do you plunge cool?

What is your average cob/ear size, and mass?

For all readers of these notes: SAP makes a good case for 75cm x 20cm spacings, and provides relivant data - which makes some good points, but what is an ideal regime for one cultivater is not neccessarily good for another.

A complete understanding why 75cm x 20cm is ideal for SAP needs some additional points to be clarified to be understood in its real world context e.g:

a) soil ph - a big factor in sweetcorn production (mine is by and large crap) - yours (SAP) is pretty close to 6.25 I would have thought (?) (anything between 6 and 6.6 in Thailand is great). Above 7ph cobs are slow to mature and will lack sweetness. Below 5.5 the sweetness comes on well before the cob is of any marketable size.

crop cycle (how many days to "milk kernel")? How many crops do you get per season?

c) Do you retail or wholesale (i.e. does one want to wholesale or retail - if one retails' you'll get more money, but you need more time and therefore a larger cob* for/at the same moisture and sugar content) - see note at end.

Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit.

In short, SAP's experiance shows what is possible and what works for him. At the same time I hope it conveys to readers the importance of not just a set of figures - but the need to understand figures (any) in their real world practical context - and in raising the points I have above, I don't belive they are comprehensive. There are still some factors missing e.g.

a) how much irrigation do I use versus SAP?

how does SAP pump his water (i.e. what are his pumping costs)?

c) and if he doesn't irrigate - can he get 2 crops in each season - I can (I irrigate, but I know that because of this although my gross is higher, my margin is tighter than my neighbour who does not irrigate)

Yes SAP -, great input - lets keep this going: I hope folk get from it not only an insight into what is possible with Sweetcorn, but also what one needs to think through when evaluating the viability of any crop.

MF your knowledge of corn and your obvious experience is second to none, and I alot more than mine. From what I can make out from your very comprehensive answer is;

Double ears should not be considered when planting sweetcorn......I agree they are a bonus that is if the ever achieve marketable size. And I never calculate for this too.

What do you target????? And this seems to be a key question, you are targeting market size and a sweetness level so that can receive a premium price at the market. My experience of growing sweet corn in Thailand has been for processors, these require different parameters, such as minimum cob size 15cm. Different factories had different brix ratings (sugar content) they required the corn at, we would loose weight and quality in delivery direct from the field to factory. But the key to our production was making sure we had a uniform crop, a non-uniform crop would result in the factory receiving too much old or too much young corn within their standard.

So to answer some questions

Supply factory

NO ICE=Only some bamboo outlets for the hot air to get out, and a contract with the trucking company that see's the truck arrive before a certain time

ABOUT soil pH, some interesting info I didn't know, but you are spot on anywhere between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine for me. Above 7.0 I would consider growing something like pineapples and below 5.5 applying dolomite or lime.

Do I retail or wholesale, as I said processors (which I guess is like wholesale).......MF is asking the right questions as I would target the optimum growing season for optimum yield and go for it...something like 1100 rai, starting planting as soon as I could after the wet season and finishing before Dec 1st (in Nongkhai). Hence this kind of tonnage for retail was too uch to retail yourself.

MF makes the most valid point with "Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit" And if someone or a company invests and develops a piece of land, and over capitalizes, this means you have to squeeze a larger crop off a smaller area to pay back investors!!! This has been a HUGE lesson to me!!! And I must admit; I pretty much lost my life savings in this project, but at the ripe old age of 31, I feel that if I think about what I have learnt, compared to the experience I have gained, this puts me in good stead for the future.

(BUT STILL, I have had my best successes with myself and other farms to reduce the area that they are trying to grow and concentrate only on what the irrigation can do and do it well)

BACK TO THE TOPIC

MF makes the point about gross margin, and this is the key, what do you need to breakeven. Above I point out overheads were an issue effecting the gross margin, but at the same time I learnt how to grow some pretty dam_n good yields.

How much irrigation do I use? I think this is an irrelavant as it more upto how much evaporation there is

How am I pumping and what are the overhead costs(or depreciation costs) this is what will drive the yield you require up!! But to answer this for MF, biggest problem 20m head of water. THE lesson.....find water that is above your head or not far below it

MF I still believe you can up your population and get higher yields and returns.

SAP

Okay .... I'll drill 5rai at 75/20 and see how it goes.

Care to share with me some notes regards your fertiliser regime - what/when and how much?

[SAP]

I'll try to reply to all in one reply....

SAP - double-ears are partly genetics as well as cultivation (conditions) - assuming the gentics are favourable, and all the prep work (good soil prep, good irrigation, good fertiliser regime - and weather), 45% is possible. BUT, there is a risk: deliberately cultivating to get double ears can result in smaller ears - with the nett result that total yield can be down. Personaly I care little for 2 ears as the cobs are almost always smaller with the resulting less moisture and consequently less shelf time. Cob/ear size is important for me because I retail - do not wholesale (see end of next paragraph)

What do I target? - my aim is a cob size 8" x 2" (immaterial if its one or two cobs) - but not at the expense of moisture content i.e. if moisture content reaches 74% - 76% before this size is achieved I harvest in any event (if you are wanting a Class A "super sweet" cob that can be plunge-cooled and kept for a good few days while the crop is sold, with min loss of sugar/sweetness). I get on average 4 days to off-load my crop at retail/market prices with little loss in quality or taste. Some folk around me (those who have tight cash flows and need access to cash quickly), get much the same sweetness, but from a smaller ear/cob. Thats fine, but they wholesale the crop in one go - and they need to because the ears don't have the milk volume to sustain them much more than 2, or 3 days at max, and many of them don't plunge cool.

What about yourself - do you retail or wholesale?

Do you plunge cool?

What is your average cob/ear size, and mass?

For all readers of these notes: SAP makes a good case for 75cm x 20cm spacings, and provides relivant data - which makes some good points, but what is an ideal regime for one cultivater is not neccessarily good for another.

A complete understanding why 75cm x 20cm is ideal for SAP needs some additional points to be clarified to be understood in its real world context e.g:

a) soil ph - a big factor in sweetcorn production (mine is by and large crap) - yours (SAP) is pretty close to 6.25 I would have thought (?) (anything between 6 and 6.6 in Thailand is great). Above 7ph cobs are slow to mature and will lack sweetness. Below 5.5 the sweetness comes on well before the cob is of any marketable size.

crop cycle (how many days to "milk kernel")? How many crops do you get per season?

c) Do you retail or wholesale (i.e. does one want to wholesale or retail - if one retails' you'll get more money, but you need more time and therefore a larger cob* for/at the same moisture and sugar content) - see note at end.

Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit.

In short, SAP's experiance shows what is possible and what works for him. At the same time I hope it conveys to readers the importance of not just a set of figures - but the need to understand figures (any) in their real world practical context - and in raising the points I have above, I don't belive they are comprehensive. There are still some factors missing e.g.

a) how much irrigation do I use versus SAP?

how does SAP pump his water (i.e. what are his pumping costs)?

c) and if he doesn't irrigate - can he get 2 crops in each season - I can (I irrigate, but I know that because of this although my gross is higher, my margin is tighter than my neighbour who does not irrigate)

Yes SAP -, great input - lets keep this going: I hope folk get from it not only an insight into what is possible with Sweetcorn, but also what one needs to think through when evaluating the viability of any crop.

MF your knowledge of corn and your obvious experience is second to none, and I alot more than mine. From what I can make out from your very comprehensive answer is;

Double ears should not be considered when planting sweetcorn......I agree they are a bonus that is if the ever achieve marketable size. And I never calculate for this too.

What do you target????? And this seems to be a key question, you are targeting market size and a sweetness level so that can receive a premium price at the market. My experience of growing sweet corn in Thailand has been for processors, these require different parameters, such as minimum cob size 15cm. Different factories had different brix ratings (sugar content) they required the corn at, we would loose weight and quality in delivery direct from the field to factory. But the key to our production was making sure we had a uniform crop, a non-uniform crop would result in the factory receiving too much old or too much young corn within their standard.

So to answer some questions

Supply factory

NO ICE=Only some bamboo outlets for the hot air to get out, and a contract with the trucking company that see's the truck arrive before a certain time

ABOUT soil pH, some interesting info I didn't know, but you are spot on anywhere between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine for me. Above 7.0 I would consider growing something like pineapples and below 5.5 applying dolomite or lime.

Do I retail or wholesale, as I said processors (which I guess is like wholesale).......MF is asking the right questions as I would target the optimum growing season for optimum yield and go for it...something like 1100 rai, starting planting as soon as I could after the wet season and finishing before Dec 1st (in Nongkhai). Hence this kind of tonnage for retail was too uch to retail yourself.

MF makes the most valid point with "Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit" And if someone or a company invests and develops a piece of land, and over capitalizes, this means you have to squeeze a larger crop off a smaller area to pay back investors!!! This has been a HUGE lesson to me!!! And I must admit; I pretty much lost my life savings in this project, but at the ripe old age of 31, I feel that if I think about what I have learnt, compared to the experience I have gained, this puts me in good stead for the future.

(BUT STILL, I have had my best successes with myself and other farms to reduce the area that they are trying to grow and concentrate only on what the irrigation can do and do it well)

BACK TO THE TOPIC

MF makes the point about gross margin, and this is the key, what do you need to breakeven. Above I point out overheads were an issue effecting the gross margin, but at the same time I learnt how to grow some pretty dam_n good yields.

How much irrigation do I use? I think this is an irrelavant as it more upto how much evaporation there is

How am I pumping and what are the overhead costs(or depreciation costs) this is what will drive the yield you require up!! But to answer this for MF, biggest problem 20m head of water. THE lesson.....find water that is above your head or not far below it

MF I still believe you can up your population and get higher yields and returns.

SAP

Okay .... I'll drill 5rai at 75/20 and see how it goes.

Care to share with me some notes regards your fertiliser regime - what/when and how much?

MF I have just been sitting at a restaurant, at this restaurant I can usually get some wireless connection. I had just enough connection to download the homepage of TV farming setcion any nothing else as the connection died, and I could see you had replied on this thread. BUT I had to know what you said and what kind of bollocking you were going to give me!! I have been pleasantly surprised!!

BUt let me check my notes from what I was doing before, I think it was about 200 80 220 NPK per ha. Do you have an air seeder or finger planter with good singulation, as I call the Thai planters In-Row spreaders?? For other readers to plant at these spacings accurately a Thai made planter or a worn out air seeder/finger planter will not do the job.

One special thing that works wonders in Thailand is being able to apply nitrogen through the irrigation up to about 75-80 days after planting in the dry season (YES Totally left field and not what any traditional grower would do!! BUT is required on low organic, low CEC high rainfall tropical soils). If that cannot be done then about 200-300 kg of chicken pallets or some organic of similar value that will help hold to any nitrogen applied. (If your OM is above 3% then don't worry about this) If the OM is lower than 1% then consider splitting the potassium 2/3 at planting and 1/3 about 25-30 days after planting.

Above you mentioned irrigation, you know your soil type and I believe it will not require much more. Maybe from 30 days through to flowering it may require a little more due to the mass but I doubt it.

Good Luck & and I look forward to hearing what the results are?!

SAP

[slapout]

Wife got back from Fang yesterday, new crop sweet corn being sold for 2.5 baht a kilo (yes she is sure) Seed suppliers (also fertilizerand chemical supplier) have farmers by short hairs. She looked a some newly planted corn, 1 1/2 foot tall, field full of grass and weeds as tall or taller than corn Gound worked once, seeded two days after worked. Just shows the difference from local farming methods and mazefarmers culivation program noted above. The last corn crop we planted (not in Thailand) we fertilized with 15 15 15 at seed plant, irrigated 3 times, first time to get seed to sprout and take off (very dry year) irrigated two more times prior to harvest. Took 3 days to irrigrate about 65 to 70 acres using method I mentioned above. First time irrigation took a little longer as cleaning furrow for water flow etc. Has anyone used or seen these pipes here in Thailand? They sure cut down on time, manpower, and no fuel costs. Most of the fields have about the right gradient for these pipes, if the water source is higher than the field.

[Maizefarmer]

I'll try to reply to all in one reply....

SAP - double-ears are partly genetics as well as cultivation (conditions) - assuming the gentics are favourable, and all the prep work (good soil prep, good irrigation, good fertiliser regime - and weather), 45% is possible. BUT, there is a risk: deliberately cultivating to get double ears can result in smaller ears - with the nett result that total yield can be down. Personaly I care little for 2 ears as the cobs are almost always smaller with the resulting less moisture and consequently less shelf time. Cob/ear size is important for me because I retail - do not wholesale (see end of next paragraph)

What do I target? - my aim is a cob size 8" x 2" (immaterial if its one or two cobs) - but not at the expense of moisture content i.e. if moisture content reaches 74% - 76% before this size is achieved I harvest in any event (if you are wanting a Class A "super sweet" cob that can be plunge-cooled and kept for a good few days while the crop is sold, with min loss of sugar/sweetness). I get on average 4 days to off-load my crop at retail/market prices with little loss in quality or taste. Some folk around me (those who have tight cash flows and need access to cash quickly), get much the same sweetness, but from a smaller ear/cob. Thats fine, but they wholesale the crop in one go - and they need to because the ears don't have the milk volume to sustain them much more than 2, or 3 days at max, and many of them don't plunge cool.

What about yourself - do you retail or wholesale?

Do you plunge cool?

What is your average cob/ear size, and mass?

For all readers of these notes: SAP makes a good case for 75cm x 20cm spacings, and provides relivant data - which makes some good points, but what is an ideal regime for one cultivater is not neccessarily good for another.

A complete understanding why 75cm x 20cm is ideal for SAP needs some additional points to be clarified to be understood in its real world context e.g:

a) soil ph - a big factor in sweetcorn production (mine is by and large crap) - yours (SAP) is pretty close to 6.25 I would have thought (?) (anything between 6 and 6.6 in Thailand is great). Above 7ph cobs are slow to mature and will lack sweetness. Below 5.5 the sweetness comes on well before the cob is of any marketable size.

crop cycle (how many days to "milk kernel")? How many crops do you get per season?

c) Do you retail or wholesale (i.e. does one want to wholesale or retail - if one retails' you'll get more money, but you need more time and therefore a larger cob* for/at the same moisture and sugar content) - see note at end.

Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit.

In short, SAP's experiance shows what is possible and what works for him. At the same time I hope it conveys to readers the importance of not just a set of figures - but the need to understand figures (any) in their real world practical context - and in raising the points I have above, I don't belive they are comprehensive. There are still some factors missing e.g.

a) how much irrigation do I use versus SAP?

how does SAP pump his water (i.e. what are his pumping costs)?

c) and if he doesn't irrigate - can he get 2 crops in each season - I can (I irrigate, but I know that because of this although my gross is higher, my margin is tighter than my neighbour who does not irrigate)

Yes SAP -, great input - lets keep this going: I hope folk get from it not only an insight into what is possible with Sweetcorn, but also what one needs to think through when evaluating the viability of any crop.

MF your knowledge of corn and your obvious experience is second to none, and I alot more than mine. From what I can make out from your very comprehensive answer is;

Double ears should not be considered when planting sweetcorn......I agree they are a bonus that is if the ever achieve marketable size. And I never calculate for this too.

What do you target????? And this seems to be a key question, you are targeting market size and a sweetness level so that can receive a premium price at the market. My experience of growing sweet corn in Thailand has been for processors, these require different parameters, such as minimum cob size 15cm. Different factories had different brix ratings (sugar content) they required the corn at, we would loose weight and quality in delivery direct from the field to factory. But the key to our production was making sure we had a uniform crop, a non-uniform crop would result in the factory receiving too much old or too much young corn within their standard.

So to answer some questions

Supply factory

NO ICE=Only some bamboo outlets for the hot air to get out, and a contract with the trucking company that see's the truck arrive before a certain time

ABOUT soil pH, some interesting info I didn't know, but you are spot on anywhere between 5.5 and 7.0 is fine for me. Above 7.0 I would consider growing something like pineapples and below 5.5 applying dolomite or lime.

Do I retail or wholesale, as I said processors (which I guess is like wholesale).......MF is asking the right questions as I would target the optimum growing season for optimum yield and go for it...something like 1100 rai, starting planting as soon as I could after the wet season and finishing before Dec 1st (in Nongkhai). Hence this kind of tonnage for retail was too uch to retail yourself.

MF makes the most valid point with "Because one can squeeze a larger crop off a given area of land does not nessaccerily mean a larger margin or bigger profit" And if someone or a company invests and develops a piece of land, and over capitalizes, this means you have to squeeze a larger crop off a smaller area to pay back investors!!! This has been a HUGE lesson to me!!! And I must admit; I pretty much lost my life savings in this project, but at the ripe old age of 31, I feel that if I think about what I have learnt, compared to the experience I have gained, this puts me in good stead for the future.

(BUT STILL, I have had my best successes with myself and other farms to reduce the area that they are trying to grow and concentrate only on what the irrigation can do and do it well)

BACK TO THE TOPIC

MF makes the point about gross margin, and this is the key, what do you need to breakeven. Above I point out overheads were an issue effecting the gross margin, but at the same time I learnt how to grow some pretty dam_n good yields.

How much irrigation do I use? I think this is an irrelavant as it more upto how much evaporation there is

How am I pumping and what are the overhead costs(or depreciation costs) this is what will drive the yield you require up!! But to answer this for MF, biggest problem 20m head of water. THE lesson.....find water that is above your head or not far below it

MF I still believe you can up your population and get higher yields and returns.

SAP

Okay .... I'll drill 5rai at 75/20 and see how it goes.

Care to share with me some notes regards your fertiliser regime - what/when and how much?

MF I have just been sitting at a restaurant, at this restaurant I can usually get some wireless connection. I had just enough connection to download the homepage of TV farming setcion any nothing else as the connection died, and I could see you had replied on this thread. BUT I had to know what you said and what kind of bollocking you were going to give me!! I have been pleasantly surprised!!

BUt let me check my notes from what I was doing before, I think it was about 200 80 220 NPK per ha. Do you have an air seeder or finger planter with good singulation, as I call the Thai planters In-Row spreaders?? For other readers to plant at these spacings accurately a Thai made planter or a worn out air seeder/finger planter will not do the job.

One special thing that works wonders in Thailand is being able to apply nitrogen through the irrigation up to about 75-80 days after planting in the dry season (YES Totally left field and not what any traditional grower would do!! BUT is required on low organic, low CEC high rainfall tropical soils). If that cannot be done then about 200-300 kg of chicken pallets or some organic of similar value that will help hold to any nitrogen applied. (If your OM is above 3% then don't worry about this) If the OM is lower than 1% then consider splitting the potassium 2/3 at planting and 1/3 about 25-30 days after planting.

Above you mentioned irrigation, you know your soil type and I believe it will not require much more. Maybe from 30 days through to flowering it may require a little more due to the mass but I doubt it.

Good Luck & and I look forward to hearing what the results are?!

SAP

Yes - I use a Kinze 3400 (on 10rows) - so precision planting is no problem.

..... thats the no 1 problem in corn fields in Thailand - not preping properly and keeping weeds low: weeds in a maturing corn field chew up to 50% of moisture and soil nutrients. The nett result: 30% 40% reduction in crop!

[JungleBiker]

For other readers to plant at these spacings accurately a Thai made planter or a worn out air seeder/finger planter will not do the job.

Hi SAP,

So what type/make/model of planter would you recommend? Price? Where to buy? Would the same planter work for soybeans?

Cheers,

JB.

[JungleBiker]

..... thats the no 1 problem in corn fields in Thailand - not preping properly and keeping weeds low: weeds in a maturing corn field chew up to 50% of moisture and soil nutrients. The nett result: 30% 40% reduction in crop!

Hi Maizefarmer,

So what's your secret to keeping weeds low? Inter-row cultivation and/or which herbicides do you use?

Cheers,

JB.

[Maizefarmer]

I've given up trying to erradicate weeds - its an impossible task, but they can be controlled to the extent that the impact they have on crop production is all but negligable. My methodology (starting from post harvest of previous crop:

a) plough in all trash and crop residue from previous harvest.

irrigate lighlty if no rain

let the field lie 7 - 10 day (to encoruage weed growth)

c) apply herbicide and wait 48 hrs (for the herbicide to be absorbed by the weeds)

c) cross cut (plough at 90degress to the first cut but at about half the depth of the first time - very important)

d) irrigate lightly again if no rain and let it lie for another 5 - 10 days to encourage weed germination.

e) apply herbicide to kill all the weeds that have grown.

f) leave 48hours and then plant the crop.

As most weeds are geneticaly programmed to germinate and grow pront pronto, so long as there has being rain or you have irrigated after the second ploughing, by the time you plant you will have irradicated a good 60% plus of the total weed growth that could have expected to take place between the time of crop planting & harvesting.

The keys to maximising the benefits are:

a) irrigation or rain to stimulate weed growth

applying the herbicide before the weeds flower and drop any seeds.

In the long run we should see Roundup Ready maize seed in Thailand - it accounts for just about all the corn grown in the USA. Corn seed that is resistant to the most commonly used herbicide in the world (Round Up - which is also the No 1 herbicide in Thailand). This will facilitate the spraying of fields of corn about 10 days after the corn seed has germinated - the best way to do it - but till then we have to bare the additional costs of the above....... Still, get it right and the extra crop production will more than off-set that additonal costs/time/labour - so it is defineately worth it.

Anyone know why the letter "b" on my keyboard always come up as a smiley face????

Edited July 25, 2008 by Maizefarmer

[Khonwan]

...

Anyone know why the letter "b" on my keyboard always come up as a smiley face????

Your combination of "b" followed by ")" is the code for that particular smiley. Whilst composing a post/reply, uncheck the "enable emoticons" post option.

Rgds

Khonwan

[Maizefarmer]

...

Anyone know why the letter "b" on my keyboard always come up as a smiley face????

Your combination of "b" followed by ")" is the code for that particular smiley. Whilst composing a post/reply, uncheck the "enable emoticons" post option.

Rgds

Khonwan

Thankyouuuuu......

[SAP]

MF what is your opinion on using alachlor, metachlor, and atrazine, or mixing them??

I am still toying and looking for the best approach, in the past coming out of the wet season I would round up (3 l/ha)the field before tillaging and then spray alachlor (4 l/ha) after planting before emergence and irrigate about 3-5mm after spraying. I found it even better to irrigate first and spray on top of the wet soil, but by the afternoon the top of the soil would start to be to dry, and the chemical would loose its efficacy.

I am not a fan of using atrazine, I read on the internet one time that it turns male frogs into lady boy frogs. And for anyone wanting to grow potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, makura or anything in that plant family should not use Atrazine as the residues can stay and damage these crops.

SAP

[SAP]

For other readers to plant at these spacings accurately a Thai made planter or a worn out air seeder/finger planter will not do the job.

Hi SAP,

So what type/make/model of planter would you recommend? Price? Where to buy? Would the same planter work for soybeans?

Cheers,

JB.

JB

Next week, I am putting together some 2 row JD finger planters for company use (can do soybeans aswell), if you are in the Nakon Sawan area come have a look. The row units are second hand from the US, and we are building the frames, fert boxes etc here in Thailand, we have a total of 16 row units so if you would like a 2 row of 4 machine we can build it for you. I do not know exact cost but I would expect about 120,000 bt. We have two demo models working already.

In Thailand you can buy a cheap plate planter for about 50,000 bt.

They did a trial at the research station, Thai planter vs JD Finger Planter.............It was astounding the yield increase was 30+% increase in Yield!!

MODERATORS-----This is not advertising, we really want to get some guys out there contracting with these machines as it will be the Thai Farmers that will benefit.

MF, Kinze-------They say its one of the best, I would love to see that in action sometime!

SAP

[Maizefarmer]

Thats another thing I gave up on years back - Thai made planters: they are indeed hopeless. They meter fertilser badly (one seed can get a tablespoon of fertiliser and then the next 3 or 4 may get nothing ...), they are all useless with depth control from seed to seed and row to row, many don't have press wheels on the back, and those that do seldom press the soil down with any consistancy - and none of them are any god at all if there is the slightest bit of trash on the surface ......... blah blah, blah blah - and I could go on

The problem is a complete 4 row Thai planter costs less than a Kinze row unit.

....using alachlor, metachlor, and atrazine, or mixing them?? - as in buying and mixing yourself: no thanks, to unpleasent to handle, unpleseant to mix, and unpleasent long terms effects for those who handle them. Logistically they add a nother layer of complication as in base form (in the quantities I'd have to purchase them in) they would have to be kept securely, audited and inspected on a seasonal basis - just to much extra hassle for little extra (if any) benefit...

..... importing used row units ... whatever brandname units is something I thought of a I few years back. So I purchased a whole bunch of used Kinze and JD row units myself, built up the tool bars and added chain/cogs ratio'd for Thai row/plant spacings. Still, I could not get the price much lower than a new Thai planter on a row by row basis. I built a 2 row, a 3 row, a 4 row and a 6 row. I struggeled to sell them.

Edited July 26, 2008 by Maizefarmer

[Maizefarmer]

For other readers to plant at these spacings accurately a Thai made planter or a worn out air seeder/finger planter will not do the job.

Hi SAP,

So what type/make/model of planter would you recommend? Price? Where to buy? Would the same planter work for soybeans?

Cheers,

JB.

JB

Next week, I am putting together some 2 row JD finger planters for company use (can do soybeans aswell), if you are in the Nakon Sawan area come have a look. The row units are second hand from the US, and we are building the frames, fert boxes etc here in Thailand, we have a total of 16 row units so if you would like a 2 row of 4 machine we can build it for you. I do not know exact cost but I would expect about 120,000 bt. We have two demo models working already.

In Thailand you can buy a cheap plate planter for about 50,000 bt.

They did a trial at the research station, Thai planter vs JD Finger Planter.............It was astounding the yield increase was 30+% increase in Yield!!

MODERATORS-----This is not advertising, we really want to get some guys out there contracting with these machines as it will be the Thai Farmers that will benefit.

MF, Kinze-------They say its one of the best, I would love to see that in action sometime!

SAP

This years first rainy season crop is just being planted. The 2nd one goes in October - youre welcome to come up and look.

[wdrk7]

So does anyone know what is the farm price for dried corn now in thailand ?

Edited July 31, 2008 by wdrk7

[Maizefarmer]

What moisture content(?) - that is the key.

[dougieboy]

WOW WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT PLANTING/SELLING CORN WAS SO SCIENTIFIC, THANKS FOR THE INFO GUYS