Cropping Corn On The Cob

[egg6447]

hi peeps, thanks for poss info. any idea , can you crop corn with a combine?. if yes how much per rye. if not how do you crop your corn?. thanks again.

[Maizefarmer]

Yes and no.

If you want just the corn seed, then let the whole plant dry out to whatever moisture percentage you want it at, and then run the combine through the field to harvest the seed.

if you want sweetcorn to sell (like they do in Thai fresh food markets) - then no, you can get mechnical pickers, but by and large in Thailand the cobs are picked by hand.

How much per rai? Do you mean by weight or by volume (i.e. the drier it is the smaller it will be but the more the value will be), but in any event depends on planting density (row and plant spacing), type planted and how well it grew - but anything between 500kg - 600kg per rai is possible

[egg6447]

thanks for reply mf . cost per rye was cost of combine. you mention mecanical picker, what would this be and what form would it take. at the mo we,re picking by hand but too many rye not enough labour hence to slow. i think we stand to lose the lot at this rate. thanks again for info, mf on the ball as usual. cheers. ps its corn for powder, my ko chai. thanks

[Maizefarmer]

Combines are not used for picking sweetcorn - mehcanical pickers are: they are expensive - $20k upwards. Simply isn;t worth buying one unless you are having to harvest huge quantities within limited timeframes. ..... and you need a tractor as well (another baht 500 - 600K plus).

Its a big investment.

There are a couple in Thailand - 2nd hand units imported from Australia.

Cost per rai? - depends how many rai you have, but I can;t see the figures adding up unless you had something like 300 - 400 rai plus to harvest - and remember, the half of the equation: the need to harvest all that sweetcorn at mehcanical speeds. To the best of my knowledge no-one is growing sweetcorn on that scale in Thailand, with a harvest/sales plan which requires them to harvest and sell that amount in the time frame that only a mechanical picker can handle. The risk is just to great to have so much crop exposed to such a small time frame.