Maize and Rotational Crops

[farmerjo]

Hi Wayned,

Good luck with your new venture,you must enjoy keeping busy.

I have 2 seeders,a tyne model on 24" spacings and 30" disc model.

I prefer the 24" spacing for here but tried years ago to direct drill with the tyne seeder with no luck,any hint of trash and it makes a mess and no depth control.

The disc seeder is much better as mine has depth gauge on the disc's for a even seed placement.

Just finished putting in another 7 rai of sunn hemp,direct drilled straight over where some land was subsoiled,the land is rough but the disc's have individual spring pressure

to ride up and down the terrain.Not sure how it will come up but i figure the seeds better in the ground than in the shed.Have had 30mm of rain so should get it germinated.

[wayned]

The cane cutting is still going slow due to the shortage of migrant workers.

Not much burning this year but there's still a lot of dust in the air.

The new beast (JD6620 Combine) and it's sidekick (JD643 Corn Head) are on the way.

It's currently in Charleston Ill. awaiting disassembly and packing into a 40' container which will happen

next week and then its by train to LA and ship to Bangkok via China.

It's due to arrive in Bangkok on 28 March and will be here most likely on 1 April. April Fools day, so appropriate.

Then the real work begins putting together a 10000+ kilogram jig saw puzzle.

[BSJ]

Windy last night. Had nightmares we would get out to the farm and find everything flattened.....but our luck held and the lose was minimal.

After this watering will need one more watering if it rains sometime and 2 if it don't! Not holding out for any rain anytime soon.

The dam is holding enough water for now but the water hole in the klong is not refilling quickly. I can see the little bubbles of water coming up from down below but the bay, from where the pictures are taken, needed more than what's available so will have another go tomorrow to finish off that bay.

The dogs are worn out by 10am after running around like maniacs for 2 hours!

[farmerjo]

Sixty days after sunn hemp was planted,have learnt a lot from this exercise.

1 -to be more proactive with the moths,caterpillars mites and leaf minors at an early stage,

2 -cut row spacing down to 15" rows instead of 30"

3 -be more careful irrigating as the super wet areas didn't reach potential.

4 - add some nitrogen and potash with the phosphate on less fertile soil.

Will keep it through to seed stage and see how it goes.

The ordinary,

And the better

[Allgeier]

So. Here my corn "field"

I put now everywhere a dropping line. And the cuted gras what the cow's left over i will use for mulching.

Last week i put here the sunn hemp and i use for irregation this 'rain sprayer" 3/4 Inch

[farmerjo]

Are you putting in a sweet or feed corn Allgeier.

Is it to sell or feed the cows.

[Allgeier]

Are you putting in a sweet or feed corn Allgeier.

Is it to sell or feed the cows.

The cheapest corn i could get was 150 Bath/bag. Its sweet but not so big. I think i can not sell because it's to small. If not, the cow will get it.

I have problem with my self to buy a bag of seed for 600 and more Bath. One Time i see for 900 Bath.Is this normal?

But i hope to get my own seed and i can replant it.

[farmerjo]

Are you putting in a sweet or feed corn Allgeier.

Is it to sell or feed the cows.

The cheapest corn i could get was 150 Bath/bag. Its sweet but not so big. I think i can not sell because it's to small. If not, the cow will get it.

I have problem with my self to buy a bag of seed for 600 and more Bath. One Time i see for 900 Bath.Is this normal?

k-DSCN7731.JPG

But i hope to get my own seed and i can replant it.

Hi Allgeier,

I normally pay 175/kilo at most for feed corn seed,that is hybrid and you could use for seed again but yield will be reduced.Saying that i get nowhere near what i pay for seed in terms of yield suggested by the seed company..

A lot of homework to still be done there.I don't know about sweetcorn.

[kickstart]

Are you putting in a sweet or feed corn Allgeier.

Is it to sell or feed the cows.

The cheapest corn i could get was 150 Bath/bag. Its sweet but not so big. I think i can not sell because it's to small. If not, the cow will get it.

I have problem with my self to buy a bag of seed for 600 and more Bath. One Time i see for 900 Bath.Is this normal?

k-DSCN7731.JPG

But i hope to get my own seed and i can replant it.

That corn you got at 150 Bart /bag is "supper sweet" .we have grown it ,last time we brought it .it was 90 bag / kg ,from a shop at our local market , a few years ago ,we sold the corn ,then made the rest of the plant in to maize silage ,and feed it to the breeding heifers ,for the price, big cobs and sweet .

The corn at 600-900 ,900 Bart that is dear ,is the corn that the canners use ,we had a company that was a factory canning sweet corn ,they used the expensive hybrid F1 verities

[farmerjo]

Not much happening at the moment.

Sunn hemp starting to pod.

I see the sugar price has gone up to 900 baht/ton at the local weigh stations.

One thing i wanted to discuss was with the season coming up,Planting in a east/west or north/south formation.

I've always planted in a east/west direction but only through laziness as it's where the the rows are longest so less turning on the tractor.

Would it help with weed control to try north/south planting or would that slow the growth of the corn to much.

Which direction do they plant in your area.(in the tropics)

[kickstart]

Not much happening at the moment.

Sunn hemp starting to pod.

C360_2016-02-18-10-41-39-162.jpg

I see the sugar price has gone up to 900 baht/ton at the local weigh stations.

One thing i wanted to discuss was with the season coming up,Planting in a east/west or north/south formation.

I've always planted in a east/west direction but only through laziness as it's where the the rows are longest so less turning on the tractor.

Would it help with weed control to try north/south planting or would that slow the growth of the corn to much.

Which direction do they plant in your area.(in the tropics)

Hi FJ

Can not see it making any difference which way you drill the corn North- South or East- West ,I would think like you longest rows less turning on the headlands ,less soil compactions.

A story , this area was a lowland jungle 60 plus years ago ,the government of the time gave all the Samlor drivers ,the 3 wheeled push bikes guys in Bangkok, 25 rie each in this area ,they cleared the land and farmed it , the government gave them a charnort to make it legal ,each block is about 80 meters wide and 500 meters long ,a lot of the land over the years has been split up ,in the family .or sold they are a lot of 12 rie blocks around ,but a lot of the 25 rie blocks still remain, nearly all are North - south facing our small block is ,so round here farmers do not have a lot of choice in which way they work the land.

Sun hemp looks well ,when will you combine it .

Sugar at 900 Bart/ton ,a good price ,I think they are finding out how little there is this year ,push the price up still think it about 800 Bart/ton round here, for the small growers still a long queue for the cutters or machine to come and cut their cain ,one guy has been saying for almost 3 weeks ,"they will cut my cain in the next few days"

[wayned]

It's done both ways here and really depends on the layout of the road system. The roads here run North - South with cross roads East -West.

Al of mine is planted north - South since the access road is East -West and it is planted in the longest rows as that the way the land plots are,

narrow on road entrance and very long plots.

The beast missed it rail cut of last week by 4 hours because of an ice storm in St. Louis so we'll try again on Monday. It will only delay delivery by

1 week, now arriving Bangkok 2 April and here just in time for Songkran.

[farmerjo]

Hi KS,

Would think at least another 4-5 weeks before harvest.The flowers are still coming out in full bloom for about 5 hours a day.

This year i will change and plant the corn north/south to see if there's any benefits.As you say may be not a lot in it but wont hurt to try it.

[BSJ]

Starting to feel the pinch with the water now. The water hole in the klong is not giving much. The big dam is still refilling up to a certain point.....but only got 5 hours pumping today!

Would be good to see the rain-maker planes flying over!

[farmerjo]

Starting to feel the pinch with the water now. The water hole in the klong is not giving much. The big dam is still refilling up to a certain point.....but only got 5 hours pumping today!

Would be good to see the rain-maker planes flying over!

Hi BSJ,

While not much is happening here,i'm still toying will the sprinkler idea.

Did a test today to see if i get a decent result out of a pump i have and my sprinkler straight from the water supply.

It was encouraging as i achieved nearly 5 bar and a spray diameter of 72 metres.

So i know i can use that as a booster pump now.Trials will now go to a 2 hp electric pump i have to see if it can supply enough water

to the booster pump.

I've got plenty of water here but a bit far to pump over them hills to ya.Hope you get a bit of rain to finish your crop off.

Price should be pretty good this time of year.

Here's a picture of the sprinkler coming straight off the pump for trial.

[BSJ]

Starting to feel the pinch with the water now. The water hole in the klong is not giving much. The big dam is still refilling up to a certain point.....but only got 5 hours pumping today!

Would be good to see the rain-maker planes flying over!

Hi BSJ,

While not much is happening here,i'm still toying will the sprinkler idea.

Did a test today to see if i get a decent result out of a pump i have and my sprinkler straight from the water supply.

It was encouraging as i achieved nearly 5 bar and a spray diameter of 72 metres.

So i know i can use that as a booster pump now.Trials will now go to a 2 hp electric pump i have to see if it can supply enough water

to the booster pump.

I've got plenty of water here but a bit far to pump over them hills to ya.Hope you get a bit of rain to finish your crop off.

Price should be pretty good this time of year.

Here's a picture of the sprinkler coming straight off the pump for trial.

C360_2016-02-25-10-39-31-521.jpg

Hi FJ, good to get a progress report. There is no way we could use a rig like that here....unless we left a path open in the middle of a bay. And all the bays are square or rectangle!

I have been looking on Alibaba for a factory in China that makes cheap cam lock fittings. Some are into container loads at moderate prices but few are into a pallet load at moderate prices! Funny that! I'll keep checking as I think for us the way forward is using the plastic pipe but joining it better.

We have developing corn......a hopefully enough water left for one more drink!

[kickstart]

Hi FJ

An assister/ booster pump ,is a good idea, a lot of years ago I worked on a farm that grew a lot of potatoes, on light land and the crops where irrigated where possible ,water coming from a local river ,and being pumped a long way ,a booster pump in the middle of line was looked into ,the water pump was pto driven, by a tractor .

But the problem was getting the gearing/ratio on the 2 pumps right ,mainly the booster pump ,running to slow ,not enough water pressure at the sprinkler ,running to fast staving the main pump of water causing an air lock? also the guy running the job said about logistics ,1 guy running around looking after 2 pumps ,both pto driven ,1 breaks down ,what will happen to the other pump .The pipes where 4 inch ,pumping a long way .In the end the farm went and brought a bigger trailer mounted engine and pump unit .

My electric pump runs at 2500 rpm ,probably the same as yours, you can not change the gearing ,will the booster pump be able to keep up , I have visions of the electric pump working to hard burning the motor out , are the flow rate on the two pumps ,the same .

@BSJ.

Our irrigation system we use the 3 inch plastic pipes ,I would liked to have used the thick walled 3 inch pipes ,but at the time short of money ,so we used the thinner pipes ,no problem with the pipe under pressure, but like you we had problems with joints ,we try the plastic treaded joints, but pump pressure kept bursting the joints ,so we joined 3 pipes together with the glue joints giving us a 12 meter length of pipe ,then we brought some metal threaded couplings ,Thai's call them unions ,made some spanners to tighten ,and undo them , to join all the 12 meter lengths together it works well,

One short run, we had no metal couplings ,just the blue plastic treaded couplings, we drilled a hole though the couplings and locked it with a 4 inch nail , a bit rough and it leaked a bit ,but for a temporary run it worked ok ,we could have done it the Thai way and used motorcycle inner tube rapped around the joint , made it water tight .

I asked the misses what is the price of maize at the moment ,she some how knows these things , she said is any one buying maize now ,they is none in our area ,a bit of sweet corn and the white corn ,which is sold on local markets , it is the hot season ,would a buyer, buy only a few ton of corn ,one buyer I drove past the other week had one of his combine in bits ,annual service.

Just a thought.

[farmerjo]

Hi FJ

An assister/ booster pump ,is a good idea, a lot of years ago I worked on a farm that grew a lot of potatoes, on light land and the crops where irrigated where possible ,water coming from a local river ,and being pumped a long way ,a booster pump in the middle of line was looked into ,the water pump was pto driven, by a tractor .

But the problem was getting the gearing/ratio on the 2 pumps right ,mainly the booster pump ,running to slow ,not enough water pressure at the sprinkler ,running to fast staving the main pump of water causing an air lock? also the guy running the job said about logistics ,1 guy running around looking after 2 pumps ,both pto driven ,1 breaks down ,what will happen to the other pump .The pipes where 4 inch ,pumping a long way .In the end the farm went and brought a bigger trailer mounted engine and pump unit .

My electric pump runs at 2500 rpm ,probably the same as yours, you can not change the gearing ,will the booster pump be able to keep up , I have visions of the electric pump working to hard burning the motor out , are the flow rate on the two pumps ,the same .

@BSJ.

Our irrigation system we use the 3 inch plastic pipes ,I would liked to have used the thick walled 3 inch pipes ,but at the time short of money ,so we used the thinner pipes ,no problem with the pipe under pressure, but like you we had problems with joints ,we try the plastic treaded joints, but pump pressure kept bursting the joints ,so we joined 3 pipes together with the glue joints giving us a 12 meter length of pipe ,then we brought some metal threaded couplings ,Thai's call them unions ,made some spanners to tighten ,and undo them , to join all the 12 meter lengths together it works well,

One short run, we had no metal couplings ,just the blue plastic treaded couplings, we drilled a hole though the couplings and locked it with a 4 inch nail , a bit rough and it leaked a bit ,but for a temporary run it worked ok ,we could have done it the Thai way and used motorcycle inner tube rapped around the joint , made it water tight .

I asked the misses what is the price of maize at the moment ,she some how knows these things , she said is any one buying maize now ,they is none in our area ,a bit of sweet corn and the white corn ,which is sold on local markets , it is the hot season ,would a buyer, buy only a few ton of corn ,one buyer I drove past the other week had one of his combine in bits ,annual service.

Just a thought.

Hi KS,

Still in the trial stage at the moment..The booster pump will run slower than the feed pump and i can adjust output of electric pump thru head.

The reason is to try and save on what i already have.The difference between pvc5 and pvc8 pipe is roughly 300 baht a lenght for 4" pipe(never lone what 13.5 pipe is worth and a pump and engine to power it),It would enable a low pressure main line to hook into the lateral line via a pump.

The other advantage of this is you can run your main line and do your laterals at your own pace(if buried underground) as you expand as their not connected(pump from main line to lateral)

It's not an ideal setup but one that can save a few dollars till your absolutely serious about spending big bucks on a user friendly system,saying that

i would work the system as it would be hard to trust others to do it at the start.

@ BSJ,i'm interested in 50 or so varible cam loc fittings(mainly 3") if you need to fill a pallet.

[wayned]

Things have been slow here, The sugar cane is still being harvested very slowly, all by hand. The migrant workers from Cambodia didn't show again this year so most of it is being cut by locals and migrants from Issan. Most is being harvested without burning. I have no idea what the current price is as I have been busy arranging the transport of my next JD6620 Combine and corn head which is currently enjoying a cruise across the Pacific. It's due to arrive in Bangkok on 1 April, an appropriate day, and then the real fun begins!

CLAAS came with their roadshow yesterday and set it up on the new corn drying area at the coop. They let the locals play with the tractors and some implements that thy brought all afternoon in a just harvested corn field. They then followed it up with a Thai style dinner which was very good. It was the first time that I have seen any CLAAS tractors. They are really good quality. They only brought one small combine, actually made in Bangalore India, a CROP TIGER 30 TERRA TRAC. They said that they would be coming to Issan somewhere in the September - October time-frame. All in all, it was a quality afternoon and evening spent. They put on a good presentation and IMHO they produce quality equipment. CLAAS put on a CLASS act! Some pictures are attached.

[green thumb]

Farmerjo,

Hows the Sunn Hemp doing? Did you get any bennefit from it in nitrogen nodulation? Maybe some pics as well if possable.

[farmerjo]

Farmerjo,

Hows the Sunn Hemp doing? Did you get any bennefit from it in nitrogen nodulation? Maybe some pics as well if possable.

Hi green thumb,

It's about 94 days old now,just tried digging a plant out with a shovel but the ground was that hard i ended up ripping it out so probably lost

a few roots.I can't see any nodulation on this plant and i did not innoculate the seed.

Will harvest at end of the month what's left after the pod borers have eaten their share.

A few pictures

3 pods worth

[green thumb]

Well to bad that you had to pull on the roots. So hard to say if there was any nodulation. But you would have hoped to see some signs. Well if nothing else you will have some organics. Hard ground from lack of water? Guess most are starting to feel the pinch now.

[farmerjo]

Well to bad that you had to pull on the roots. So hard to say if there was any nodulation. But you would have hoped to see some signs. Well if nothing else you will have some organics. Hard ground from lack of water? Guess most are starting to feel the pinch now.

From what i've read about it,the best nitrogen fixation is just before flowering.

When growing for seed the plant will then take that nitrogen to fill out the seed.

What i don't know is if it had nodules at flowering stage,would they still be visible or disappear as the plant matures.

I have water to put on but felt no need as what pods are there are filling nicely and will get enough seed for next planting.

I'll be more careful tomorrow and see what i can find.

[Michael Hare]

During flowering Crotalaria juncea can shed its nodules to turn its attention to pod and seed development. Another useful green manure is Cavalcade. A prostrate but dense trailing legume. Seed is available from DLD in Khon Kaen (Tha Phra).

http://www.tropicalforages.info/key/Forages/Media/Html/Centrosema_pascuorum.htm

[farmerjo]

During flowering Crotalaria juncea can shed its nodules to turn its attention to pod and seed development. Another useful green manure is Cavalcade. A prostrate but dense trailing legume. Seed is available from DLD in Khon Kaen (Tha Phra).

http://www.tropicalforages.info/key/Forages/Media/Html/Centrosema_pascuorum.htm

Hi Michael,

Thanks for that explanation.This is my 1st attempt at growing sunn hemp but so far very impressed with the plants ability to suppress weeds.

Will get enough seed to plant all my land at the end of april.This will be followed by a maize or sunflower crop depending on market prices.

Following that i will have gained enough knowledge to know whether i can grow it as a commercial crop.

One thing that has caught me out is pest management(moths,caterpillars and leaf minors)but i know what i'm looking for now and will have better

control over them.Also hope to improve my water applications.

Will post some pictures when i get my harvester on it.My harvester is a DC-70G set up for harvesting maize so am looking at changing back to original rotor spikes which give less clearance for thrashing and installing a green bean concave screen that has a 7mm aperture and see how that goes.I know you can buy a pulley kit to change rotor speed from 560 rpm to 395 rpm but will leave that for now.

[kickstart]

HI FJ.

Cavalcade or also known as Centrosema Pascurum, would do the job not a dense a crop as Sun Hemp .

A lot of information on the net ,especially the Australian web sites .

[3ThaiKids]

Good growers need buyers. I need steady source of high quality, high starch dent corn for making tortillas. Need several large bags now shipped to Phuket to perfect the nixtalmalization process can purchase pick-up truck loads if steady source can be found. Contact for details

[kickstart]

Good growers need buyers. I need steady source of high quality, high starch dent corn for making tortillas. Need several large bags now shipped to Phuket to perfect the nixtalmalization process can purchase pick-up truck loads if steady source can be found. Contact for details

Just been looking at the internet ,as you say you need high starch dent corn .

I am certain Thai maize verities will not do ,not high enough starch ,most Thai maize is used for livestock feed, sweet corn is grown again not suitable ,the only one that might do is the Thai white glutinous corn ,but that is harvested like sweet corn , and is boiled/steamed/grilled ,like sweet corn and sold on local markets , never seen white corn with the corn removed from the cobs .

You could import some seed and try growing it yourself, or better contract it out , it should grow in Thailand , but cross pollination could be a problem, it would amount to a lot of hassle.

I think the only way is find a Thai importer and buy some from him ,or import it yourself (big hassle ) .

You are not on your own, all bread in Thailand is made from imported wheat ,Thailand can not grow the high protein verities needed for bread making .( and all the barley for brewing beer as well).

[vivasamui]

Could any sugar cane farmers please tell me how the drought is affecting your crop this year?

Has this year's (2015/16) main harvest and crush started? I heard the total tonnage is down? What about the sugar content?

Thank you!

[kickstart]

Things have been slow here, The sugar cane is still being harvested very slowly, all by hand. The migrant workers from Cambodia didn't show again this year so most of it is being cut by locals and migrants from Issan. Most is being harvested without burning. I have no idea what the current price is as I have been busy arranging the transport of my next JD6620 Combine and corn head which is currently enjoying a cruise across the Pacific. It's due to arrive in Bangkok on 1 April, an appropriate day, and then the real fun begins!

CLAAS came with their roadshow yesterday and set it up on the new corn drying area at the coop. They let the locals play with the tractors and some implements that thy brought all afternoon in a just harvested corn field. They then followed it up with a Thai style dinner which was very good. It was the first time that I have seen any CLAAS tractors. They are really good quality. They only brought one small combine, actually made in Bangalore India, a CROP TIGER 30 TERRA TRAC. They said that they would be coming to Issan somewhere in the September - October time-frame. All in all, it was a quality afternoon and evening spent. They put on a good presentation and IMHO they produce quality equipment. CLAAS put on a CLASS act! Some pictures are attached.

DSC01167.JPG

DSC01168.JPG

DSC01169.JPG

DSC01170.JPG

DSC01173.JPG

Hi wayned.

Class had some of they tractors at the annual Thai dairy show last year I will agree they look a very good tractor ,one I looked at a 57 HP 4 cylinder turbo engine and was fitted with hydraulic spool valves as standerd , not that Thailand uses hydraulics like the Europeans ,but still a good ider .

The guy selling the tractors told me the price ,which I can not remember ,but at the time they were more expencive than the equialant Kubota tractors ,more's the pity .

Class brought Renault Agriculture to expand its product range with tractors .mainly then 90HP + tractors, which Renault then manufactured ,I would say the smaller range of tractors built now would be they own design ,(not like the Yanmar/ JD partnership of small JD tractors).where they are made I do not know ,I thought Europe ,but on what you wrote about combines who knows .

I think in Thailand they are based in Ayutthaya Provence .