The Official Maize and Rotational Crops Thread

[farmerjo]

17 minutes ago, kickstart said:

even then if the land is to hard it will not penetrate ,and rotate  just brake shear bolts or bounce over the hard lumps .

Hi KS,

That's the sort of info i'm interested in.

As far as a cultivator goes i've sort of started making one.

Basically have cut the front section out of the box scraper and going to weld some plates on either end to bolt it back in so it serves 2 purposes,one as cultivator and other as rippers on the box blade.

I asked around at the khon kaen fair about crumbler bars with no luck so will have to get one made locally,.

In design are you satisfied with the job yours does breaking down clods. 

[kickstart]

30 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Hi KS,

That's the sort of info i'm interested in.

As far as a cultivator goes i've sort of started making one.

Basically have cut the front section out of the box scraper and going to weld some plates on either end to bolt it back in so it serves 2 purposes,one as cultivator and other as rippers on the box blade.

I asked around at the khon kaen fair about crumbler bars with no luck so will have to get one made locally,.

In design are you satisfied with the job yours does breaking down clods. 

Hi FJ 

       A good question ,mine work ok ,in the right conditions ,my black land ,if it is to wet it clogs up ,if it is to dry it dose not brake down the clods ,but my  design was not that good ,the bars are to close together ,the wife's nephew made mine ,I had to tell him what to do ,as he had never seen one before .

My locale machinery dealer has a Thai make subsoiler/cultivator ,that has a crumbler bar one the back ,so they getting about .

The photo I took a few years ago at a machinery show in Bangkok, this one  a Lemkin, was make in India ,when we had the rented land ,this would have been near the top of my wish list,the tines would need some points on ,if I did have it  ( the top of my wish list is still a small muck spreader ,the shovel is getting hard work ).

[farmerjo]

Last years good rice paddy,rotovated straw in,spread sunn hemp by hand and flooded.

Went on at double the suggested amount so i won't get a job broadcasting rice,i could not do any lighter by hand for fear of missing an area.The plants popped up 3 days after watering. 

The interesting part is you can still see the gypsum i spread a couple of years back binding the clay particles together. 

 

[farmerjo]

Just put in 15 rai of sesame seed.

Not holding my breath as i rotovated to 2 inch depth after 71mm of rain and might have dried out the topsoil to much.

Time will tell.

Tried two rates,one at .3 kilo/rai and one at 1 kilo/rai.

 

[CLW]

3 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Just put in 15 rai of sesame seed.

Not holding my breath as i rotovated to 2 inch depth after 71mm of rain and might have dried out the topsoil to much.

Time will tell.

Tried two rates,one at .3 kilo/rai and one at 1 kilo/rai.

 

Where did you get that drilling machine? DIY?

[farmerjo]

30 minutes ago, CLW said:

Where did you get that drilling machine? DIY?

Homemade CLW to an extent

Started as 4 row double disc corn seeder

Bought another 6 disc's to make it 10 row and use a fertilizer box off original for seed calibration with different gearing(only good for small seeds)and added air to distribute the seed. 

[kickstart]

Like the chain and spikes ,something  I have not seen for a long time  you did not think about using ,small rake like tines ,in a fan patten ,if you can see what I mean .

After 71 mm of rain that looks dry ,I know it is not the UK ,but we would have gone over the field with a set of Cambridge/Ring rollers ,would help keeping the moisture in ,odds of finding a set here in LOS ,would be like looking for hens teeth .

Good luck . 

[farmerjo]

12 hours ago, kickstart said:

Like the chain and spikes ,something  I have not seen for a long time  you did not think about using ,small rake like tines ,in a fan patten ,if you can see what I mean .

After 71 mm of rain that looks dry ,I know it is not the UK ,but we would have gone over the field with a set of Cambridge/Ring rollers ,would help keeping the moisture in ,odds of finding a set here in LOS ,would be like looking for hens teeth .

Good luck . 

You use what you can get your hands on KS????

A roller would of been the go then a lick of roundup.

Was in a hurry as got to duck off for a week and wanted to try and utilize the moisture so all i had was the rotovater to level out some plough ruts from previous year and kill what weeds were there and get something in the ground as quick as possible.

There was a small area i didn't rotovate and it had nice moisture when direct drilled.

If it comes up it's a bonus,if not i will reseed at a later date now i can spray and seed.

 

Back on the power harrows,rang my local dealer and he has a 2.1 metre Fieldking in stock with crumbler bar fitted,price 160,000 baht.Think it will sit there for a few years to come.I have seen some that use the cambridge ringed roller design on the back rather than the crumbler bar but not here.

 

 

[khwaibah]

I shall add my bit. Little over 2 month and water is from a certain project. This section about 2 rai.

[farmerjo]

Sesame seed starting to come up.

Not to bad considering no rain since seeding.

Hope i get home for harvest.

Went to do a small alighnment job in the philippines last week and in 14 day isolation at site and all domestic travel locked down till least the middle of next month and then maybe problems to return to Thailand.Oh boy.

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Sesame seed starting to come up.

Not to bad considering no rain since seeding.

Hope i get home for harvest.

Went to do a small alighnment job in the philippines last week and in 14 day isolation at site and all domestic travel locked down till least the middle of next month and then maybe problems to return to Thailand.Oh boy.

Nice clean and even seed bed ,a bit more rain would be nice.

Near here on land known as Kee Pet very light soon drys out ,normally one rice crop a year they have sown Sesame seed before planting they rice crop ,some crops do well others not so good ,due lack of rain ,and more probably  the land is short of every thing .

Some crops look if they have been drilled ,field gate shut ,then opened at harvest time,with a bit of TLC  your crop should do ok .

[farmerjo]

Sesame seed,bit patchy but coming along.

[kickstart]

51 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Sesame seed,bit patchy but coming along.

That looks a good crop , better than some I have seen round here ,as you said a bit patchy, it will thicken up and fill the rows ,have you had any more rain since planting ?.

Have you put a topdressing on yet  P, K ,or is the gypsum providing enough. 

[farmerjo]

Hi KS,

Think we would have had 3 or more inches since sowing,not exactly sure as away.

When it got to about 2-3 weeks old the FIL went out with the backpack sprayer and spot sprayed the weeds with a glyphosate,2,4-d and sticky mix so lost a few plants with spray drift.

As soon as the spraying was done he put out about 30 kilo/rai of 16-16-8 i had in the shed.

Harvest is still a couple of months away so hoping it grows a lot more yet.   

 

[farmerjo]

Starting to pod up.

 

 

[kickstart]

Hi FJ how is the Sesame seed ,any problems with insects etc ,must have  seeds in the pods ,harvest end of the month ??.

[farmerjo]

On 6/5/2020 at 11:27 AM, kickstart said:

Hi FJ how is the Sesame seed ,any problems with insects etc ,must have  seeds in the pods ,harvest end of the month ??.

Hi KS

Still away working but mrs sends some pics.

Insects have been kind and minimal visual damage.

Some is ripening now but the majority still 2 weeks away i would think.

They have never done harvest before so will be interesting,best i could explain was do it how we used to do soya beans.

Not sure if labour will be available,father in law has the rice in but many others still going and then you get the one's who received the government money and will kick back and do nothing till it's gone.

No shortage of rain with 120mm last week.

 

 

[kickstart]

HI FJ

        If you are about ,how did the sesame seed do ,any problems harvesting. 

[farmerjo]

18 hours ago, kickstart said:

HI FJ

        If you are about ,how did the sesame seed do ,any problems harvesting. 

Hi KS

 

I'm stuck in the Philippines and sadly it was all to hard so it has been left in the field.

They managed to get some rice in which didn't seem to hard.

I guess it was a bit of an ask not being there but at least i know i can grow it and will do again when if i ever get back.

Would like to think if home by end of August i could put a sunn hemp crop in and a bit of sesame seed just to get a feel for harvesting it.

It's a pity really as it was quite a good crop.

 

[kickstart]

On 7/13/2020 at 2:20 PM, farmerjo said:

Hi KS

 

I'm stuck in the Philippines and sadly it was all to hard so it has been left in the field.

They managed to get some rice in which didn't seem to hard.

I guess it was a bit of an ask not being there but at least i know i can grow it and will do again when if i ever get back.

Would like to think if home by end of August i could put a sunn hemp crop in and a bit of sesame seed just to get a feel for harvesting it.

It's a pity really as it was quite a good crop.

 

They say sh.t happens, it  has for you, not a lot of luck ,as you said give it a go when you get back.

Maybe sowing some sesame seed end of September,near the end of the rainy season sesame seed dose not like getting its feet wet.

Hope you get back soon, stay safe.

KS

[IsaanAussie]

I was talking to a friend and he suggested sprouted barley seed as a fodder crop. So my questions, anybody tried it here?  Can you get barley here in Isaan? Are there any alternatives, for instance would rice provide similar fodder value?

[kickstart]

2 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

I was talking to a friend and he suggested sprouted barley seed as a fodder crop. So my questions, anybody tried it here?  Can you get barley here in Isaan? Are there any alternatives, for instance would rice provide similar fodder value?

Hi IA

       This has come up before on TV  a form of hydroponics ,it is in one of the cattle threads Speedo 1969 has posted some good posts on the subject .

It does work ,but one of Speedo's links said the feed value is not as good as you think all to do with DM dry matter ,of the feed ,or a lot of water in the feed and cattle can not get enough energy from the feed, too much water (that is putting it in a quick form).

But saying that if you where to use it on some Thai beef cattle I can not see why they should not do well on it ,got to be better than rough grass from the roadside and rice straw.

Problem in Thailand is finding the barley ,it has been grown in the north of Thailand,  your Beta grow and CP will import some, but they mainly import wheat for livestock feed ,the big beer brewers import all they barely for brewing,I have seen bags of ground barley used in cattle feeds ,where that come from I would not know. 

And somewhere they is  a post about someone wanting to buy some barley. 

As for using rice ,to my Surprise that dose not work , rice gives you a poor germination and the feed value is not that good.

It would work with maize but the cost of buying and storing maize ,rats would love it, would make it an expensive feed.   

      

[farmerjo]

Well finally made it back to the farm after a 6 month journey that was supposed to be 9 days!

Place looks like a jungle except for a couple of rai of rice which is doing well.

Everything is to high to spray so the slasher will be getting a good workout before the weeds start to set seeds.

It will be nice to smell wet grass and diesel fumes again.????

Look forward to hearing how SBF's roller crimper is working out as would have been ideal for this situation.

[kickstart]

12 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Well finally made it back to the farm after a 6 month journey that was supposed to be 9 days!

Place looks like a jungle except for a couple of rai of rice which is doing well.

Everything is to high to spray so the slasher will be getting a good workout before the weeds start to set seeds.

It will be nice to smell wet grass and diesel fumes again.????

Look forward to hearing how SBF's roller crimper is working out as would have been ideal for this situation.

Hi FJ

        I do not know about roller crimper ,as you said some of those weeds have been they since you left  and will have well established roots .

Just using a roller crimper some of those weed would get back up again and grow, especially the grass weeds ,use the slasher ,then Round-up if any green up again. 

[kickstart]

Ploughing in a crop of maize,a 25rie block, talking to the guy, he said no rain and the fall army worm has taken its toll .

With the cost of ploughing, seed, fertilizer and this year spraying 4-5 times against the worm ,a big  investment to plough in ,it was planted about 80 days ago some plants had cobs on ,a lot the worm had just eaten away .

He was also sowing a crop of Mung beans at the same time, seed hopper on top driven by a land wheel.

Farmers are going to have to think hard about growing corn, the second 2 year been almost a disaster, the Fall army worm and the cost of getting rid of it ,and no rain ,not a lot of money to be made again,

And 800 yards up the road is that crop of Millet, no problem about 7-10 days to harvest .

If we had any hedges I would say a lot of farmers will be looking over them at this millet crop    

[farmerjo]

Hi KS

No maize around here this year,rosella has been put in by a few neighbours and looking very good.Think harvest is going to be very labour intensive.

I've slashed my land and waiting to spray before putting sunn hemp in.

Had 2" of rain in last 3 days so to wet at the moment.

It will end up going in a month later than last year so hope the moisture will get it through.

All the news around here is a guy being attacked by a black bear out of the park,would be a nice change to see rather than the 14 snakes i saw when slashing.

It's amazing how the species of snakes change  over the years depending on climate conditions. 

[wayned]

No Corn here either except sweet corn in the vegetable market about 1 mile away.  I'm glad that FJ finally got home.  I'm in the Corvid capital of the world, Sarasota, Florida, USA, with a current count of 190,000 Corvid deaths and climbing,  expected to be over 400,00 by new year with 3999/day and the HNIC isn't doing anything to stop it due to upcoming elections in November and He is afraid that a federal mandate will kill his chances which I hope have already done down the tube.

 

I've moved from taking care of 63 Rai to this place which is a little smaller than 1/2 Rai and living in a house that was built in 1960 in the area of  the town that was inhabited by the Ringling Circus people.  It's the first time that I pushed a lawn mower since 1978, no reason for a riding mower or a tractor with a bush hog,  The house was originally built by the Wallenda family and Nik is still a friend of the family.  I'm staying busy fixing up this old place and staying away from any gatherings other than the grocery and home improvement stores. Some things are really cheaper here such as prime beef.  I bought a whole prime filet yesterday for about 820 baht/ kilo and I can go to the market about 1 mile away and get anything that I want. 

 

I, the bank, bought me a new Mitsubishi Outlander, I got a pit bull terrier from the rescue place and she has turned out to be a dream.  She's a real guard gog, she guards the front door to make sure e that I don't leave without her.  And, believe it or bot, my ex wife and I got re-married in June,  We decided that we were both old and too feeble to spat anymore but we still disagree on the same old things.

 

I kinda wish that I was still in Thailand but think that I made the right choice with my failing health, living ali=one and no insurance there,

 

Here are some pictures:

[farmerjo]

Nice to hear from you Wayned.

While away i saw you were trying to get rid of some tools and relocating.

Glad things are working out with the new lifestyle. 

Don't know how your going to be able to cope with all the common sense after being away for so long.

Don't be a stranger,a few farming updates from there whether it's cropping or machinery or day to day life will be appreciated.  

[kickstart]

22 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Hi KS

No maize around here this year,rosella has been put in by a few neighbours and looking very good.Think harvest is going to be very labour intensive.

I've slashed my land and waiting to spray before putting sunn hemp in.

Had 2" of rain in last 3 days so to wet at the moment.

It will end up going in a month later than last year so hope the moisture will get it through.

All the news around here is a guy being attacked by a black bear out of the park,would be a nice change to see rather than the 14 snakes i saw when slashing.

It's amazing how the species of snakes change  over the years depending on climate conditions. 

Roseella, do you mean this ?G-Je-Up in Thai a popular crop around here , as you say very labour-intensive .

It is what I would call a friendly crop, when the stalks are cut you get a group of normaly  women, sat in the shade taking the seed pods out all talking away all day, happy as a pig in the preverbal.

[wayned]

52 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Nice to hear from you Wayned.

While away i saw you were trying to get rid of some tools and relocating.

Glad things are working out with the new lifestyle. 

Don't know how your going to be able to cope with all the common sense after being away for so long.

Don't be a stranger,a few farming updates from there whether it's cropping or machinery or day to day life will be appreciated.  

Common Sense!!!  Remember we have Trump as President!

 

This old house was rewired in 2019 I think that they brought in a crew of Thai sparkys to go it.  What a mess.  I have switches and plugs that do nothing.   I traced one switch to where the wires came out of the wall above the drop ceiling and they were  cut off.  I managed to hook up to the existing wires to control some lights that were eliminated during the rewire.  I also installed a generator xfr switch that was eliminated during the rewire and bought a 20 kva generator as this is hurricane alley.