The Official Maize and Rotational Crops Thread

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

Water.........

 

 

A very valid point ,we had an area around here a few years ago farmers growing  Sesame seed on Kee-Pet land very -Pattaya- beach-light,before planting rice, some crops did well a lot did not ,investment was cost of seed and a tractor discing the seed in, the crops that did not do so  well where  ploughed  in ,do that for two ? years, you should get your cost back with better soil fertility .

Somewhere on here they is a post of a local guy to me harvesting a not so good crop of mung beans sown after a crop of rice ,I was talking to him as he was ploughing in the plants after harvesting he said it will help with soil fertility,so it can be done. what crop yield he did get probably  only  covered his costs, but it could have given a higher yield on his following rice crop 

[CLW]

Seen the Claas Crop Tiger 40 being advertised on a field day here in Thailand. Waiting for a reply, if and when it'll be available in Thailand for sale. Watched a few YT videos. Very versatile and small combine, that can thresh almost everything. Also available with wheels or tracks. Mid-may is the huge agricultural exhibition "Agritechnica Asia". Probably Claas also present there. 

[farmerjo]

We have seen fertilizer prices sky rocketing.

It seems chemical prices are following.

I stocked up when paraquat was banned not knowing if glyphosate was going to follow.

Finally ran out with one tank load required to complete the program so went to local shop this morning to get the last 12 litres required.

When i stocked up before the price was 450 baht for 4 litres,now they want 920 baht for the cheapest brand.

This year was the 1st time using ammonium sulphate in the mix with glyphosate,the results are showing it to be very effective when using bore water.

It will be something i continue with in to the future as prefer the cleaner bore water compared to water out of the lake which was always blocking filters and nozzles.

 

[farmerjo]

Planted 15 rai of kor kor 6 rice and 30 rai of sunn hemp on 21st april.

The rice is not showing much vigour and i would of expected to see the rows by now,will give it a couple of more days before deciding whether to reseed it or not.

The sunn hemp bounced out after 3 days,it's leaves are getting damaged by a moth but hoping it will push through as to wet to get on land to spray after 34mm of rain early this morning.

Can anyone identify this white moth with speckled colours.

 

 

[CLW]

On 4/29/2022 at 11:05 AM, farmerjo said:

Planted 15 rai of kor kor 6 rice and 30 rai of sunn hemp on 21st april.

The rice is not showing much vigour and i would of expected to see the rows by now,will give it a couple of more days before deciding whether to reseed it or not.

The sunn hemp bounced out after 3 days,it's leaves are getting damaged by a moth but hoping it will push through as to wet to get on land to spray after 34mm of rain early this morning.

Can anyone identify this white moth with speckled colours.

 

 

Probably diamond back moth. 

Can be reduced with BT in organic agriculture. 

Where did you get your sunn hemp seeds?

[kickstart]

Host plant learning and selection for egg laying[edit]

Host plants[edit]

Host plant selection is crucial because diamondbacks spend the majority of their life near their host plant.^[6] The diamondback moth lays its eggs only on plants in the family Brassicaceae.^[4] Nearly all cruciferous vegetable crops are attacked, but some are favored over others.

These include

• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Chinese cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Collard greens
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Mustard
• Radish
• Watercress

Several wild species in the family also act as hosts, especially early in the season when cultivated crops are unavailable.^[1] The egg-laying females have been reported to recognize chemicals in the host plants, glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, that are characteristic of the family Brassicaceae (but also occur in some related families). These chemicals were found to stimulate oviposition, even when applied to a piece of paper.^[8] One plant species that contains the egg-laying cues is wintercress, Barbarea vulgaris. Indeed, diamondback moth females lay eggs on this plant species, but the newly hatched larvae die due to the effects of additional natural plant chemicals called saponins.^[8][9]

 Sun hemp is a member of the pea family a legume ,this month seems to favor  brassicas.

[farmerjo]

3 hours ago, CLW said:

Where did you get your sunn hemp seeds?

I grow my own seed,It's graded, moisture and germination tested before storage.

I wish my crystal ball was working,i only kept enough seed for 30 rai this year so will bulk up again.

Last year i sold 5 ton thinking there wasn't much demand for it and cleaned the shed out.

Two months after i sold it i went to buy some back as fertilizer prices started to rise but he had sold all of it.

 

Did some checking on the moth and think it is the gypsy moth.

Sunn hemp is pretty resilient so should grow through it and the moth numbers are not high.

Aphids seem to do the most damage.

 

My rice is starting to appear so all is not lost,i doubt i would have reseed anyway as that's the piece the government gives 40,000 baht in subsidy.

 

Had a look at a corn crop down the road this morning,devastated by fall army worm.

Hope they stay there.

 

 

[kickstart]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:22 AM, farmerjo said:

I grow my own seed,It's graded, moisture and germination tested before storage.

I wish my crystal ball was working,i only kept enough seed for 30 rai this year so will bulk up again.

Last year i sold 5 ton thinking there wasn't much demand for it and cleaned the shed out.

Two months after i sold it i went to buy some back as fertilizer prices started to rise but he had sold all of it.

 

Did some checking on the moth and think it is the gypsy moth.

Sunn hemp is pretty resilient so should grow through it and the moth numbers are not high.

Aphids seem to do the most damage.

 

My rice is starting to appear so all is not lost,i doubt i would have reseed anyway as that's the piece the government gives 40,000 baht in subsidy.

 

Had a look at a corn crop down the road this morning,devastated by fall army worm.

Hope they stay there.

 

 

We have a lot of maize crops about ,some the worm has had, others not so ,most farmers have sprayed to control the worm ,and some to prevent ?it .

But now it is the 38-39c weather is the problem ,wife is saying rain is threatening but non so far ,had 3 mm  a few days ago,about enough to keep the dust down for a few hours ,

Some crops were grown for maize silage and were irrigated on a drip tape system,they are now being chopped for silage.

As FJ said a few weeks ago about planting early it has,or will  backfire ,with the cost of seed and now fertilizer,and worm attack, some vey empty pockets about. and some happy cattle as they will be feed the crop ,a change from rice straw,other crop's will be ploughed in. 

[farmerjo]

This Katydid turned up this morning.

Hope it's eating more insects than leaves.

Measured at 140mm long.

 

 

[farmerjo]

Sunn hemp seeded a month a go today.

Doing quite well,there's a few munchers in there so will keep an eye on them.

Have a contract drone coming in two weeks so will decide then if need to do anything.

The drone operators have jumped on the bandwagon raising prices to 120 baht/rai citing increase fuel costs,no problem he can use his generator to charge his batteries instead of my mains,

 

[farmerjo]

Since they declared the rainy season we haven't had a drop.

Back to making sesame cooking oil while waiting for the heavens to open.

 

 

 

[kickstart]

11 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Since they declared the rainy season we haven't had a drop.

Back to making sesame cooking oil while waiting for the heavens to open.

 

 

 

Say, you had 5 or 10 kg of seed how much oil will you get ,have you thought of growing some sunflowers for oil.

[farmerjo]

27 minutes ago, kickstart said:

Say, you had 5 or 10 kg of seed how much oil will you get ,have you thought of growing some sunflowers for oil.

Hi KS

With the old sesame seed from previous year,10 kilo's of seed is getting 3 kilo's of oil.

Had a crack at sunflowers a few years a go so not going down that path again.

 

After saying no rain we picked up a 8mm sun shower this afternoon which freshened things up.

Hope a bit more to come as temps  pretty high still at this time of year.

 

[farmerjo]

Anyone who thinks farming is easy,think again.

Had a drone out today,weather forecast was for little or no rain.

It arrived at 9.30am did 4 rai and we had a heavy shower out of nowhere,only 2mm but in a very short space of time.

The guys went for an early lunch,sun shining back into it.

Did another 20 rai but the power had been out for 2 hours so had to stop again as the gps signal through the phone had gone out,the battery backup to the phone towers here is not good not even allowing emergency calls in this situation.

Two hours later a storm comes through with 25mm of rain.

End result we will see in a a few days but pretty sure 12,000 baht down the drain.

Will be back in the morning to finish the rest,weather permitting.

 

 

 

[kickstart]

22 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Anyone who thinks farming is easy,think again.

Had a drone out today,weather forecast was for little or no rain.

It arrived at 9.30am did 4 rai and we had a heavy shower out of nowhere,only 2mm but in a very short space of time.

The guys went for an early lunch,sun shining back into it.

Did another 20 rai but the power had been out for 2 hours so had to stop again as the gps signal through the phone had gone out,the battery backup to the phone towers here is not good not even allowing emergency calls in this situation.

Two hours later a storm comes through with 25mm of rain.

End result we will see in a a few days but pretty sure 12,000 baht down the drain.

Will be back in the morning to finish the rest,weather permitting.

 

 

 

Khee certainly happens????.

[farmerjo]

1 hour ago, kickstart said:

Khee certainly happens????.

Worked out a bit better today,

Can see results from yesterday but can be deceiving as the 2.4d nails the broad leaf's quickly but the grasses will take longer with the chemicals used for them.

In the end it was 400 baht/rai for hire of drone and chemicals.

With that done i expect with fertilizer and harvest costs to come it will roughly cost 2200 baht/rai to produce but as i only plant at just under 3 kilo/rai yields won't be great.

 

[kickstart]

Just near me this morning ,harvesting Mung Beans ,a popular crop in this area this year,more drought resistant than maize,  lack of rain for maize crops has been a big problem over the past few years ,and no problem with Fall Army Worm .

The numbers ,the guy was getting 21 baht /kg  ,mung bean seeds do not ripen evenly ,seeds on top of the plant well dry ,a lot near the ground still soft ,the surprising  thing was the cost of harvest 550bhat/rie, maize/rice is or was 600 baht/rie .

Mung beans are made in to bean sprouts or glass noddles

He has got a 40 drive to take it to a  buyer using a pick-up ,he said this buyer pays a better price than very local buyers.

What bit of maize we have in the area is selling for 9.50baht/kg ,a good price ,but moisture will be high .  

[farmerjo]

11 days without rain seems an eternity at the moment with the hot weather.

Sunn hemp could do with a good drink.

Rice is looking very sad,it's pretty hardy stuff so hoping it will bounce back.

Most around here are just preparing their rice fields now,bit of a risk if we don't get a wet october.

 

 

[farmerjo]

Sunn hemp 8 weeks old and now near full flower.

Had 283 mm(11 inches) for this growing period.

 

 

[kickstart]

Only in LOS? this is a cross road   just a few hundred yards from our place ,noticed it last week ,now this, it  is almost a demonstration plot ,for this weed killer,they are another one another 1 Km  up the road

It is 2 4 X,the chemical is Glufosinate  Ammonium,a look at Google ,a little riskier than Glyphosate   to use ,but certainly makes a good job ,manufactured by BASF

[farmerjo]

On 7/13/2022 at 5:05 PM, kickstart said:

Only in LOS? this is a cross road   just a few hundred yards from our place ,noticed it last week ,now this, it  is almost a demonstration plot ,for this weed killer,they are another one another 1 Km  up the road

It is 2 4 X,the chemical is Glufosinate  Ammonium,a look at Google ,a little riskier than Glyphosate   to use ,but certainly makes a good job ,manufactured by BASF

I would like to see paraquat back till the prices come down.

https://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---41077.htm

[farmerjo]

On 7/13/2022 at 5:05 PM, kickstart said:

Only in LOS? this is a cross road   just a few hundred yards from our place ,noticed it last week ,now this, it  is almost a demonstration plot ,for this weed killer,they are another one another 1 Km  up the road

It is 2 4 X,the chemical is Glufosinate  Ammonium,a look at Google ,a little riskier than Glyphosate   to use ,but certainly makes a good job ,manufactured by BASF

Hi KS

It's been a couple of weeks since your post.

Can you keep an eye on that plot and let us know if the weeds have started to green up again.

My sunn hemp is nearing harvest and thinking about using that chemical as a dessicate to even the harvesting time up with what looks like another wet month ahead on the long range forecast.

We just had our wettest july since i've been keeping records back to 2004.

 

[kickstart]

9 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Hi KS

It's been a couple of weeks since your post.

Can you keep an eye on that plot and let us know if the weeds have started to green up again.

My sunn hemp is nearing harvest and thinking about using that chemical as a dessicate to even the harvesting time up with what looks like another wet month ahead on the long range forecast.

We just had our wettest july since i've been keeping records back to 2004.

 

Hi FJ

        I drive past that spot most days ,no weeds have started to grow back,I have now seen 3 plots like this one, none of them have any grow back.

When I was on the farm in the UK we used Glyphosate to dessicate Oil Seed Rape, ,Canolar to you,that was a long time ago ,things might have changed since then.

We have had 77 mm of rain so this month ,that is about aveage for us ,but last year we had 224 mm for July .

I think this year will be a good year for farmers ,with the world problems crop  prices are well up ,a lot of corn crops are  being harvested  the price is 8.50-8.90 baht/kg,and no penalties for high moisture ,I would say most crops are being harvested at least 30 % moisture ,which makes me think they must be a shortage of corn for livestock feed ,which I would say, is because of no or few imports of wheat and barley for livestock feed ,but it seems that malting barley for brewing beer is not in short supply .

They still are a few crops of cassava being harvested ,that is 2.90 baht/kg a good price' .

The next crop of corn is being drilled nearly all is being direct drilled ,but one guy did say he was worried  that the soil would be too compact for direct drilling,I said wait for some rain then it will be all right.

We are trying to make some grass silage ,with the showers not easy ,now the thrust bearing in the tractor clutch has gone,I took it to our local guy ,and he had a Ford 6600 transmission in bits ,he's taken  the housing off not a gear or anything in it, total strip down,looks if a bearing on the  gearbox main shaft went big time ,the main shat had just come back from the lathe man,next door to him,  looks if he re-built the shaft  by welding   ,then turned it down, so a new bearing would fit ,a good guy ,he has done a few jobs for me over the years ,Thai's are good at keeping these old tractors going .   

[farmerjo]

On 7/28/2022 at 8:59 PM, kickstart said:

Hi FJ

        I drive past that spot most days ,no weeds have started to grow back,I have now seen 3 plots like this one, none of them have any grow back.

When I was on the farm in the UK we used Glyphosate to dessicate Oil Seed Rape, ,Canolar to you,that was a long time ago ,things might have changed since then.

We have had 77 mm of rain so this month ,that is about aveage for us ,but last year we had 224 mm for July .

I think this year will be a good year for farmers ,with the world problems crop  prices are well up ,a lot of corn crops are  being harvested  the price is 8.50-8.90 baht/kg,and no penalties for high moisture ,I would say most crops are being harvested at least 30 % moisture ,which makes me think they must be a shortage of corn for livestock feed ,which I would say, is because of no or few imports of wheat and barley for livestock feed ,but it seems that malting barley for brewing beer is not in short supply .

They still are a few crops of cassava being harvested ,that is 2.90 baht/kg a good price' .

The next crop of corn is being drilled nearly all is being direct drilled ,but one guy did say he was worried  that the soil would be too compact for direct drilling,I said wait for some rain then it will be all right.

We are trying to make some grass silage ,with the showers not easy ,now the thrust bearing in the tractor clutch has gone,I took it to our local guy ,and he had a Ford 6600 transmission in bits ,he's taken  the housing off not a gear or anything in it, total strip down,looks if a bearing on the  gearbox main shaft went big time ,the main shat had just come back from the lathe man,next door to him,  looks if he re-built the shaft  by welding   ,then turned it down, so a new bearing would fit ,a good guy ,he has done a few jobs for me over the years ,Thai's are good at keeping these old tractors going .   

Hi KS

We ended up with 277mm rain for july and had 19mm to start this month.

Got the harvester out the other day and cut through about 150 metres of sunn hemp to get a sample.

Has dried down to 11.5% according to my new moisture meter in a day of sun and ran it through the cleaner.

Using bigger aperture screens looks like i will do 2 x grades of seed,one for seed planting and the other for green manuring.

Now looking for a window to get the drone in and desicate it to harvest the lot.

There is no way i will get through it otherwise as had two blockages in that sample run.

 

Did you get your tractor back together?

 

Picture of the sample,bigger area is the seed size and smaller the 2nd's.

 

 

 

[farmerjo]

The window came quick and had a drone out this morning.

My normal guy has sold his drone so put us onto someone he knows.

He must be trying to be seen to drum up business in the area as he turned up with two utes completely decked out with equipment and a drone on each.

The older T-20 6 blade machine he used and a T-20P 4 blade which looks like a later model.

Amazing Thailand,after delving deep at a few chemical suppliers i managed to get hold of certain chemical which has been rebranded.(a few will know what i mean)

Anyway a job well done and should be harvesting in 3 or 4 days.

 

 

 

[IsaanAussie]

19 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Amazing Thailand,after delving deep at a few chemical suppliers i managed to get hold of certain chemical which has been rebranded.(a few will know what i mean)

Seems vaguely familiar label....... ???

 

[kickstart]

On 8/3/2022 at 3:03 PM, farmerjo said:

Did you get your tractor back together?

 

Hi FJ

         The guy finished my tractor this afternoon ,what took the time was the Ford he was doing ,he had to send one of the shafts away ,sounds if the splines on the shaft had gone, and he had to get them redone ,that took 4-5 days to come back. 

He is a one-man band ,as you might know Thai's do not use splitting jigs to split a tractor .or railway lines as a friend of mine use to call them ,they use the over head gantry and a chain hoist as he only has one set, I was in a queue ,

He replaced the clutch cover pressure plate and diaphragm spring ,all one unit ,the clutch plate was still in good condition ,not bad for a 45-year-old tractor ,and he replaced the trust bearing ,that lot was 2600 baht ,I know because I went and brought them ,not to bad as the tractor place is 10 km away ,he charged 1000 baht for labour ,so in all a job well done ,will go and pick it up tomorrow morning.

And sods law ,with no tractor we could not make any silage ,this past week very little rain, could have got the job finished, tractor now done talk of 80 -90% rain for the next 2 days .

Note ,a drone spraying maize near me ,for Fall Army Worm ,charging 80 baht/rie.

[farmerjo]

20 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

Seems vaguely familiar label....... ???

 

Hi IA

Don't know what the label says but the liquid inside is blue and has done a good job..

About to go a get a box full of seed before the rain comes to hedge my bet on using a desicate.

[IsaanAussie]

43 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Hi IA

Don't know what the label says but the liquid inside is blue and has done a good job..

About to go a get a box full of seed before the rain comes to hedge my bet on using a desicate.

We got great weed treatment this year, no idea what it was, but still no weeds in the rice and no pre-emergent spray used. 

Could have had something to do with me telling the BIL I would not be paying for urea this year at these prices to grow weeds before we started. 

Also could be him realising how many weed seeds we have in last years crop when he got left to mill a few bags for the family.

[kickstart]

On 8/5/2022 at 8:08 PM, kickstart said:

Note ,a drone spraying maize near me ,for Fall Army Worm ,charging 80 baht/rie.

Was out today about 20 km from home saw a drone spraying a very poor crop of maize ,about 8 inches high ,a lot of weed .looks if the army worm is having a go.

This guy was charging 70baht/rie ,must be about the only thing about that is going down in price .

Brewers grain, one of my cattle feeds has just gone up 6 baht,40 kg bag ,can not complain fist price increase in at least 6 years .