Maize and Rotational Crops

[kickstart]

Well been away for two weeks and will post some photos tomorrow(computer playing up)

Hope everyone is getting plenty of rain.

All the maize in the the area which was planted mid-end of may looks a treat.

All I can say is, about 60% of the maize crop has gone under the plough round here, with a lot more to follow,only things that are happy are the cows as they are eating a lot of the plants,

I was hoping you might bring back some rain with you ............ .

[farmerjo]

Picture of neighbours maize over 4 weeks old.

 

And a picture of mine just over 7 weeks old and tasseling,you can nearly draw a line for what cropped last year and has grown more consistant.

 

I'd say 40-50 percent of mine will get slashed not harvested,certainly not a train smash as will recover costs and make a little while trying to built a bit of soil structure.So looking forward to this crop maturing and planting another.

 

On the rain,we've had 9" since we planted so not huge but thankfull enough to grow something.

 

 

 

 

[wayned]

We planted our corn as did most others around us on the 28th and 29th of April after two nights of soaking rain and should be halfway through it's growth cycle ready to be harvested in late August. Since then we have had 2 hours of rain and the fields look like pictures 1 and 2, all ploughed under. Our small COOP is currently working on finishing a drying station and we are installing the scales, but it looks like we could weigh the crop on bathroom scales.  The only corn being grown is small fields of sweet corn that is being irrigated but even those are hurting since the shallow wells are running dry.  No telling when or if we will replant. Many of the farmers don't have the cash to replant and most are maxed out on their BAAC loans.

 

 

 

The sugar cane that was harvested in November is really hurting also.

 

 

The little rain that did come seems to have missed us as the corn fields about 10 kilometers away are in much netter shape but are still suffering from the drought.

[farmerjo]

I'm sure the coop will benefit it the long run Wanyed,but maybe not this year.

Reminds me of back home,farmers trying to grow cereal crops on marginal 12" rainfall,relying on one good year every five.Its amazing what farming technology can produce now.

I suppose thats why i'm trying to push on with the no-till practices here,conserving as much moisture as i can.An old farmer used to tell me everytime you work your land it would lose 10 points of moisture(rainfall),think would be a lot more here with a plough.

Even in my area i dont think i've experienced the consistent hot days we've had this year.

Still,unfortunately that wont help if you have no rain at all.

Hope you get some rain soon.

That sugar will be throwing good money after bad,a trick i used to do was spray it out with gramoxone,when the rains come it will come back with more chutes and increase the yeild.

Edited June 21, 2015 by farmerjo

[wayned]

The shed and drying area are just about finished and the scales and building are coming along nicely.  The sweet corn is doing good with it's daily dose of artificial rain!

 

[loong]

This is an interesting thread. Thankyou

I just grow small blocks of sweetcorn for family consumption

The most recent harvest, although they look good, have obviously not pollinated well as I high % of the seeds on most cobs have not swelled. Also, those with double cobs, the 2nd cobs, mostly have not swelled at all.

Any suggestions from the experts why this may be? Could it be something to do with the heat? I am sure that the sun has been more intense this year and the really hot period started earlier and is continuing longer than is usual.

I notice a lot of ant activity. They bite as the cobs are picked. Can this affect the growth?

Many thanks for any advice.

[farmerjo]

This is an interesting thread. Thankyou

I just grow small blocks of sweetcorn for family consumption

The most recent harvest, although they look good, have obviously not pollinated well as I high % of the seeds on most cobs have not swelled. Also, those with double cobs, the 2nd cobs, mostly have not swelled at all.

Any suggestions from the experts why this may be? Could it be something to do with the heat? I am sure that the sun has been more intense this year and the really hot period started earlier and is continuing longer than is usual.

I notice a lot of ant activity. They bite as the cobs are picked. Can this affect the growth?

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi Loong,

So the kernals were there and did not swell or no kernals at all a certain way up the cob.

At that time its when the plant intakes the most amount of nutrients(your organic?) and water.(experts suggest approx 16mm water a day)

Did you have a thin bunch of silks at the end of the cob?

What plant spacings did you have and what variety?

The ant activity one is interesting,having seen more ants in the field compared to previous years but haven't been able to coralate any stress to the plants from them at this stage.

Hopefully others maybe able to put their views in as well.

Edited June 23, 2015 by farmerjo

[loong]

Hello FarmerJoe,

I believe that the kernels are there. The areas where they have not swelled look the same as baby sweetcorn does.

Yes, they are grown organically.

Silks look normal, although on some they have disappeared altogether as if they have been eaten. This was when they were still the creamy yellow colour. Those cobs didn't develop at all.

The seed brand is Seedline (Super Gold) F1 hybrid.

Plants are about 2 feet apart.

Another thing that I had noticed with this lot is that there were a lot of bees on the tassels. I don't usually see that. The bees usually collect from my sun hemp plants.

[farmerjo]

Hi Loong,

Dont think the bees had a part in it as its a hybrid.

Earwigs and a few beetles can chew the silks if around.

Maybe just the conditions for the growing season if the plants were healthy..

I know with my crop i expect a lot of immature cobs buts thats cause its run out of mainly nitrogen as with a dry start i refused to spend more on it after i saw its potential when the post emergence spray failed.Still being for animal consumption,maize is maize and they eat all sizes.

Problem only occurs if you have to pay people to pick it.

[kickstart]

Loong

The missus said short of water, and nutrients,difficult one being organic, is the land light or heavy, this year light land is suffering bad. .

As for ants ,again being so dry the ants are looking for water,for them the cobs smell nice,so they climb the plants ,more moisture in the cobs,than in the plant lower down. .

Bees,on silk ,would they be looking for pollen,again being so dry ,not a lot of pollen about ,last month I had some bamboo in flower, full of bees.

We cut Gratin ,now every day,and we often find wild bee colonies ,but not seen any for some weeks now, the missus found 1 colony ,near a stream.

[farmerjo]

Been doing a bit of googling and found an agricultural business that does consultantcy and soil sampling as well being dealers for certain brands of equipment and supplies.

Has anyone had any dealings with Crop Tech Asia.

I've sent them an email and waiting reply.

[farmerjo]

Well the crop is deteriating quickly,have some rain forecast next week but wont hold my breath.

Will be interesting to see just how hardy maize is.

I see in the news section the government wanting different crops grown instead of rice.

This may put a big squeeze on profits for the next planting.

Trying to stay positive.

[kickstart]

If you can hang on ,and keep it going the price this year should be good,with the drought,even cobs only half full you could make something.

I keep going on about our area, we are up to 80% falier now with maize , one guy drilled a borehole ,been pumping water, using a small tractor,7 am-7 pm,7 days a week ,for almost 2 moths now, bar a 5 day break, when we had some rain, for his sugar cane,cane looks well ,but at what cost,he stopped 2 days ago probably thinking like you, spent enough now,crop must look after itself.

Any idea how much you will get for your crop? round here ,farmers are harvesting the crop and do not know how much they will get for the crop,asked one big buyer last year how much he was paying,farmers,at harvest time ,did not know ,or more likely not saying until he l found out what other buyers where paying ,of which we have a lot round here.

[farmerjo]

Haven't checked the price locally yet,but a mate in udon got 9 baht a kilo about 3 weeks ago so would say thats about right.

I must say KS that the decision to buy a harvester last year will pay dividends on a crop like this(big and small cobs)as the locals hand picking only look for the big cobs to bag.

[kickstart]

FJ

3 weeks ago middle of June,must have been planted ,1st week in March ,he would need 9bart/kg to pay for irrigation costs,I take it that would be for grain ,and not picked cobs.

On a normal year the early crops get the best price ,price comes down as harvest progresses ,9 bart last month ,will drop to 7 bart ,when the maine crops come in,

that would be about 5 - 5.50 bart/ kg picked cobs, not a lot of profit in that

Your combine was a good idea any thoughts about doing any contracting? but without a truck or a trailer hauling the grain,will not be easy.

I am no Maw-Doo, fortune teller, I hope I am wrong,and the prices are higher,this year being such a difficult year , who can tell.

Our wayned at his co-op ,has anyone said anything about prices this year,too early yet , or are they waiting for crops ,then decide.

[wayned]

The price around here last year was the same, started out at 9 and dropped to 7 later. We've had no discussions this year regarding price as there is nothing to harvest. All that was planted in late April/early May has been ploughed under and we have had no rain since then.

We have two JD combines and two tandem trucks and will be contracting out our services this year the same as last. The crops about 12 kilometers are at least going to bear this year but will be down do to the drought. The weigh station is almost complete and we will be trying to buy the harvests direct. Last year we charged 600baht/rai for harvest but haven't discussed what we will charge this year. The farthest we went last year was about 125 kilometers away but it was a chore keeping the beasts going and harvesting "unknown" fields, some reclaimed rice land littered with stumps that you didn't see until it was to late. Cracked a final drive housing and trashed a number of gatherers.

MN has been fooling with us lately with intermittent 20-30 minute showers, but nobody has any plans to replant until the skies open up. Even the small irrigated sweet corn fields are in trouble as the shallow wells are drying up and the small reservoirs that would normally be full this time of year from run off are dust bowls. My wife's 100 day is today. An outdoor party would be the normal invitation for rain, but the stars are out and not a cloud in the sky.

[farmerjo]

FJ

3 weeks ago middle of June,must have been planted ,1st week in March ,he would need 9bart/kg to pay for irrigation costs,I take it that would be for grain ,and not picked cobs.

On a normal year the early crops get the best price ,price comes down as harvest progresses ,9 bart last month ,will drop to 7 bart ,when the maine crops come in,

that would be about 5 - 5.50 bart/ kg picked cobs, not a lot of profit in that

Your combine was a good idea any thoughts about doing any contracting? but without a truck or a trailer hauling the grain,will not be easy.

I am no Maw-Doo, fortune teller, I hope I am wrong,and the prices are higher,this year being such a difficult year , who can tell.

Our wayned at his co-op ,has anyone said anything about prices this year,too early yet , or are they waiting for crops ,then decide.

Yes his crop was grown in the dry season with irrigation as it was only about 3 rai.

He also had to buy a small shelling machine to make it into kernals to get that price.

He made 1500baht/rai,not alot but may pick up work with his machine in the future with locals showing interest in it.

The missus tells me the last lot we sold which i dryed and stored on farm,the price was 8.8 baht and we sold that at start of april 2015.

This crop will all be dried and stored till correct moisture to sell as i cant afford to lose the premium price for moisture deductions

It will be dried then placed in ibc containers ready for sale.

The biggest problem i have at the moment is keeping people off the land,they turn up in droves wanting to cut the grass for their cows and buffalos.

Wont pay a baht for it and dont understand that its an integeral part of my cover crop for the next planting.

I consider this to be part of the crops PESTS problems although no pesticided needed.

The other pest problem will be between harvest and planting when they turn up looking for unharvested cobs on the ground for their chickens.

The harvester loses about 5 percent due to a number of feeding issues into broad elevator so normally the FIL does a sweep around and collects which is a bonus for him.

On the contracting side i'm still working my machine out so happy just to do my own as also my land is stumps and rocks free.

Without looking at someones land prior to planting you would be asking for trouble.Would take alot of rai at 600 baht to pay to fix a knifedrive or bent front.Also these kubota's dont have a stone trap so extra caution is required with what goes through the threshing system.

Edited July 5, 2015 by farmerjo

[wayned]

Yep! A rebuilt final drive assy. from the US cost me about 82000 baht after shipping, duty and VAT, about 137 rai of harvest $. Unfortunately it's not too easy to look at the land prior to harvesting when the opportunities turn up.

[kickstart]

It would allmost pay to employ a lad or two, to walk the fields to check for tree stumps ect,300 bart day + a bottal of Lao Khow thay would be happy.

Rememer in the uk some years ago, the combine picked up a gate post ,about wrote off the feeder auger ,the manager was not happy ,the combin driver lived to tell the tale ....just.

[farmerjo]

Yes you certainly need someone with a deal of experience to operate the harvester,(i've seen mallee roots go thru a tr98 and snap gearbox drives and allsorts)

When i got mine i got a young bloke from the village whom had experience driving bigger machines to train up if i was not avalible to do the job.

I got him to harvest 2 rai of rice then clean the machine,all he was worried about was being itchy from the chaff blown out by the air compressor.

He paid no attention to detail after i explained the internal workings of the machine and where grain,dust and chaff would be and hard to remove.

Sad really,as he had an oppurtunity to do contract work for me if we decded to chase it,now he's back making money boxes out of bamboo.

Being alot of sugar around i had it before where i went away to work and my Fil used my ford and did not clean it and came home to all the wiring chewed out by rats nesting in it.I dont want this with my harvester.

Haven't had any rain since 18th june,maybe get a spit this arvo,just maybe.

Edited July 5, 2015 by farmerjo

[farmerjo]

Been doing a bit of googling and found an agricultural business that does consultantcy and soil sampling as well being dealers for certain brands of equipment and supplies.

Has anyone had any dealings with Crop Tech Asia.

I've sent them an email and waiting reply.

Have been in touch with one of their reps and they've been quite helpful.

3000 baht per soil sample and an extra 500 baht for recommendations on the outcome of the sample.

Easy as go take a half kilo sample,package it up and send to their lab.He has sent an instruction sheet of how to take the sample,pretty basic but saying make sure the soil is dry,no granular fertilizer in it and your soil removal tool is free of rust,contamination.

[BSJ]

The wife bought some chemmie for the orchard of a local distributor who offered to soil sample for free. Not good results!

We put water on each mango tree twice 40 - 60 litres in all per tree and the next day we had a down pour for 30 minutes that really helped

With the bit of rain we are getting I am about ready to put a few rows of corn in. Sweet purple for sale in the market.

Not enough rain in the paddie yet...and their only 2 km from the orchard as the crow flies.

20 rai of rice which will be gone if we don't get heavy rain. That will be our only income for the second half of the year if it survives....well if there is some water in the dams there will be corn around January, but I want to see those dams filled to pussies bow before we commit to 20 rai of corn.

My wife is working on a swap of land with one of her brothers so her blocks will be side by side. That will give her 37 rai of paddie for rice and corn. The BIL gets 20 rai so it's a good swap for him.

The wife benefits by getting a big dam for her to use that's shared at the mo.

The way she is farming, to make good money, we need 60 or 70 rai if the price of rice remains depressed for the next several years.

Ain't farming fun!

[kickstart]

Been doing a bit of googling and found an agricultural business that does consultantcy and soil sampling as well being dealers for certain brands of equipment and supplies.

Has anyone had any dealings with Crop Tech Asia.

I've sent them an email and waiting reply.

Have been in touch with one of their reps and they've been quite helpful.

3000 baht per soil sample and an extra 500 baht for recommendations on the outcome of the sample.

Easy as go take a half kilo sample,package it up and send to their lab.He has sent an instruction sheet of how to take the sample,pretty basic but saying make sure the soil is dry,no granular fertilizer in it and your soil removal tool is free of rust,contamination.

3000 bart per sample ,to me that is expensive,I suppose if the samples show something a miss,and it can be cured,and it increases yields money well spent.

At a guess I would say organic matter low, PH a bit on the acid side ,trace elements,that would be the interesting one,that photo you posted of that patch in the field almost bear ,including no weeds something amiss there.

Some years ago the DPO ,the Dairy Promotion Organization of Thailand,the milk producing arm of the Thai /Denmark milk group,did a soil sampling survey around Thailand testing trace elements ,most of the soil was found to be short,of most trace elements, plus calcium and phosphorus,essential for cattle,and crops.

As I said could prove interesting.

[farmerjo]

Will probably be another month away but will post the results when i get them.(soil samples)

Expensive?i think to know exactly whats required will be worth it as a one off to get a clearer idea, that crap land has produced nothing for a long time.

Well with all hopes built up with the weather forecast for last 4 days to finish off what good maize is left came and went.

Ended up with 6mm of rain then yesterday afternoon had the worst gale force wind gusts for about 7 hours that i've seen in eleven years.

Quite thankful its still standing.

My new moisture meter should arrive today and next week start looking at getting the harvester ready.

[slapout]

this soil problem ,analysis sounds like what we call alkalai ground. nothing grows on it except a sprig or 2 of salt grass. we cleaned the chicken houses yearly and spread it on, then plow as deep as the plow would go in the ground every 2 or 3 years to break hard pan beneath. added just abount any organic trash that we ncould collet, gyp board wood scrapes etc. it took several years but6 we finllaly started getting produce from it, not like the good samdyloam but something at least . i thought the givtt did free soil analysis with people assigned ,paid in each provience. sorry for off topic but just some comments that may be helpful to someone

[farmerjo]

The neighbours plot,he has had sprinklers on it occasionally to keep it going.

[farmerjo]

My place some that got wind damaged yesterday and another bit that was sheltered and ok.

 

And a pic of the moisture meter just arrived.

[farmerjo]

Called into the local granery yesterday and there offering 9.5 baht a kilo.for maize.

Missus said that was shelled kernals at 27percent or less moisture.

The moisture side however i'm not convinced about will have to research further.

[slapout]

is anyone buying the cob from the facility where the grain is taken off the cob, is there a market for bulk cob that anyone is aware of?

[farmerjo]

is anyone buying the cob from the facility where the grain is taken off the cob, is there a market for bulk cob that anyone is aware of?

Someone is taking it from the local granery as i see it piled up then gone.Not sure if their selling it.