Maize and Rotational Crops

[wayned]

 

The corn that I didn't replant is really looking good.  Cultivated it yesterday and it rained again in the late afternoon/ early evening, slow and steady for about 1.5 hours.

 

Kickstart:  We'll take it on the cob.  We can just chuck it into the running header of on one of the combines.  Don't have a clue on how much we would pay.

[slapout]

Wayned, that is one good looking stand, just culivated, you got the weeds /grass knocked out and then a good slow rain.. I would doubt you will even have to invest any more labor before it matures unless the worms get bad. It makes farming enjoyable doesnt it?

[farmerjo]

Bought some paraquat today,will go spraying tomorrow and see what i can find in the paddock after it works.

Priced dropped 0.1 baht again today,with heavy rain forecast can see the price going rapidly south.

Wayned,did you put more fertilizer or just seed?

Dont worry about the batteries for the camera,a bit of zoom on the first pic will help.

[wayned]

No fertilizer since before the first planting which was truck loads of chicken house sweepings, just the ploughed in first planting.

 

Sorry about the pictures, I was multitasking at the time with a dog on a lease pulling me down the road with the other hand.  The camera wasn't even set to the right setting, it was set to ISO mode. But that probably wouldn't matter as I get along with cameras about as well as I get along with mobile phones and BIL.

 

I took some additional pictures of the small area where I was going to plant sweet corn, now planted with 777 thanks to BIL.  The thumbnails look perfect but when you go full size they look overexposed. 

 

We had a nice rain again late yesterday afternoon.

[farmerjo]

Well the harvester came in handy today,had to pull the sprayer out of the bog 4 times.

 

 

 

[farmerjo]

Wayned,

You must have lovely soil there if it only requires a bit of chicken poo a year.

Cuts the input costs massively.

Is that a Kodak brownie your shooting the pics with.

[kickstart]

Well the harvester came in handy today,had to pull the sprayer out of the bog 4 times.

 

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I would say that you are doing more harm than good  there  , spraying, can not see you direct  drilling  that field ,if you where ,that is ,it will need  ploughing and  working  down , before  drilling ,another   expense .

 

Or  your little  tractor and a small sprayer  with twin wheels ,if you can find them, light   on  your  feet.

[farmerjo]

Well the harvester came in handy today,had to pull the sprayer out of the bog 4 times.

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I would say that you are doing more harm than good there , spraying, can not see you direct drilling that field ,if you where ,that is ,it will need ploughing and working down , before drilling ,another expense .

Or your little tractor and a small sprayer with twin wheels ,if you can find them, light on your feet.

Hi mate,

Its in a section where the land v's out and slopes down towards the creek.

Really needs a couple of contours put in

If i put another crop in i'll leave that section out.

Didn't need to spray there but was spraying out the grass in what corn i haven't harvested and decided to keep going and do the whole lot.

Try and get harvest finished over next couple of days,weather pending then decide what to plant when soil samples arrive.

Have plenty of moisture so dont think planting again at end of august will be a problem.Even the the bare areas from previous pics has grass 2 foot tall on it and all covered.

How are things looking down your way?

Overkill i know but another reason for spraying was trying out a new trimble ez-guide 250 gps i purchased for the tractor,all i can say is amazing.

[kickstart]

FJ

That piece of land slopes down ,looking at the clay stuck to the wheels of the tractor ,and 2foot high in grass that sounds a bit wet ,normally slopes are drier than flat land ,water can get away, makes me wonder if a mole plough might be useful ,if the land is heavy it should take a mole without it collapsing ,the guy who make your box scraper could make one .,if it is wet this year ,what would it be like in a year. with a lot of rain

As for around here ,we could be wayned next door neighbour ,his photos of maize crops, are at the same stage as our crops ,even our bit in the garden is 18 inches high ,just enough rain ,with more to come ,for the past 3-4 years August has been a dry month ,it was August we lost 40 rie of maize ,no rain ,a right odd ball year .

Been out a lot ,and not seen one load of maize being hauled to a buyer normally at this time ,it is harvest time ,see loads every day ,not this year.

Our neighbour has put in 2 rie of white corn, he boils it and sells it at our local markets, I said to the misses in 90 days all our local markets will be full of people selling maize, a lot of farmers are having the same idea, all planted at the same time , price will drop ,I said he would be better selling it to us for maize silage .

[wayned]

The Thai way. If there is a noodle shop doing good on one corner of te intersection, in a month there will be noodle shops on all four corners. Many of the farmers around here have switched to small plots of veggies to sell at the market that are irrigated, sweet corn Khana, Pak Chee, etc. Normally August would be the start of corn harvesting season, but so far this year we have only harvested two small fields that were irrigated. Everything else was ploughed under and replanted a couple of weeks ago.

F.J. As far as the camera is concerned I wish I had a Kodak Brownie. I'm a point and shoot kinda guy and the Sony Cyber Shot has so many dials and buttons on it that I don't have a clue what I am doing. I guess that I could read the manual but that would be too easy. The snapshots are all crisp and clear but when they are printed large they all seem to be overexposed and out of focus. The least of my worries!

[farmerjo]

The Thai way. If there is a noodle shop doing good on one corner of te intersection, in a month there will be noodle shops on all four corners. Many of the farmers around here have switched to small plots of veggies to sell at the market that are irrigated, sweet corn Khana, Pak Chee, etc. Normally August would be the start of corn harvesting season, but so far this year we have only harvested two small fields that were irrigated. Everything else was ploughed under and replanted a couple of weeks ago.

F.J. As far as the camera is concerned I wish I had a Kodak Brownie. I'm a point and shoot kinda guy and the Sony Cyber Shot has so many dials and buttons on it that I don't have a clue what I am doing. I guess that I could read the manual but that would be too easy. The snapshots are all crisp and clear but when they are printed large they all seem to be overexposed and out of focus. The least of my worries!

Dont worry about the camera,were all happy here and your shots prove valuble to newbies to help understand maize.

Will be twidling thumbs here for a couple of days waiting for weeds to drop down below the maize,still have some strips i missed to tidy up but 17mm

rain yesterday has put pay to that.I hit it with 400mm/rai paraquat for a faster knockdown.

@KS when i got that land it was known as the wetland by locals,before if i got 6 inches of rainfall to may i couldn't even get the smaller tractor on there till november.I've slowly improved it down to that one strip now which is one of the reasons for going no-till and leaving the residue on top.

[farmerjo]

Gps fitted in tractor for the sprayer.

 

 

[wayned]

I'll look up the specs and read some more. Other than speed what does it give you? Like I said I'm a point and shoot guy. Or is your memory getting like mine and when you get up in the morning you can't remember where your fields are? I'd forget how to turn it on!

[farmerjo]

I'll look up the specs and read some more. Other than speed what does it give you? Like I said I'm a point and shoot guy. Or is your memory getting like mine and when you get up in the morning you can't remember where your fields are? I'd forget how to turn it on!

I'm not into all the field mapping etc.(yet)

I bought it for measuring width,basically doing the same job as a foamarker.

You set it up so say my sprayer is 8 metres wide,when you drive it should give you accuracy to 4 inches on a pass to pass.

In theory it should take out overlapping saving money on chemicals with exact rates being administered and decreases the risk of weed resistance

to the less harmfull and cheaper chemicals like glysophate.

It also has add-on features with abilities to shut on and off your boomspray on areas you have already passed over.

And if you want,ez-steer can be fitted so the tractor drives the correct lines on its own.

Its was about double the price of a foamarker without the hassel of trying to purchase the correct dyes to make the foam.(import)

Yeh so basically i drive and the screen colours in the area i have been and when i turn around it gives me a new line to follow and has lights to

tell me a little left or a little right.

I was trying to purchase one out of australia but stumbled on a dealer here in thailand(thai price was 15 percent cheaper).

They haven't taken off here as reliability in some areas for the satellites is still unproven.Mine was just the 13th sold in thailand and the

others sold have gone to sugar corporations and bigger businesses.

A 2o percent reduction of overlapping and its paid for itself in just over 2 years.

[farmerjo]

Well no rain today,so after plumbing the missus's new washing machine in(old one lasted 11 years ) i thought i'd go seeding.

Haven't finished harvest yet but have about 25 rai of land ready to go.

Got about 10 rai in and blew a radiator hose on the tractor.

At that stage i was thinking thankfully i have a cab on the tractor,if not sure i would of had 3rd degree burns when the top hose split.

Anyway up and running again.Doing this bit thai style only seed and no fertilizer just to see if the fertilizer i've been putting down with the seed in the past has caused damage to the growth of the seed.

Will get some pics tomorrow.

[kickstart]

Hi F J

It must be buying a new washing machine time last week , we sold one of our beef heifers ,was going to keep her for breeding, but she was a right head banger, we could not handle her ,so ,she got loaded up one morning ,and the new washing machine arrived in the afternoon ,like you, our old one was at least 10 year old . it is a all singing and dancing thing, does every thing but make tea .

I first thought the gps was a bit over the top ,but on what you were saying ,I can see where you are going, it certainly does a lot, I think it might take off in Thailand if the read outs where in Thai ,and now more tractors are fitted with cabs the unit can be mounted properly , but this being Thailand farmers would be worried about tea leaves, thieves.

Re your pieces of wet land ,my idea of a mole plough ,as my misses would say ,I -Mie -Dee , maybe not a not a good idea ,but a subsoiler used in say February time when everything is dry would work ,in dry land you would get the shattering effect ,it should open the land up ,still can not see why a piece of land with a slope on should be wet ,the top 6 inches may be ok ,but under that they must be a pan that needs breaking up.

[farmerjo]

Hi F J

It must be buying a new washing machine time last week , we sold one of our beef heifers ,was going to keep her for breeding, but she was a right head banger, we could not handle her ,so ,she got loaded up one morning ,and the new washing machine arrived in the afternoon ,like you, our old one was at least 10 year old . it is a all singing and dancing thing, does every thing but make tea .

I first thought the gps was a bit over the top ,but on what you were saying ,I can see where you are going, it certainly does a lot, I think it might take off in Thailand if the read outs where in Thai ,and now more tractors are fitted with cabs the unit can be mounted properly , but this being Thailand farmers would be worried about tea leaves, thieves.

Re your pieces of wet land ,my idea of a mole plough ,as my misses would say ,I -Mie -Dee , maybe not a not a good idea ,but a subsoiler used in say February time when everything is dry would work ,in dry land you would get the shattering effect ,it should open the land up ,still can not see why a piece of land with a slope on should be wet ,the top 6 inches may be ok ,but under that they must be a pan that needs breaking up.

You make me laugh KS,

We had an old twin tub and this is automatic.

My wife couldn't let it run its cycles thinking something was wrong and taking too long.

Finally she got a stool and watched a wash from start to finish to make sure it was working properly

[wayned]

When we had the business in Samui my wife spent a lot of time there with me here. Although we had a good twin tub, I bought a top loading automatic. All that changing tubs was BS for me. My wife wouldn't use it,. She said "no clean clothes good". After we sold the business in Samui and she moved here permanently I caught her using it one day. Her excuse was "I lazy"! When it finally crapped out, it was a maintenance nightmare and the local repair guy was lost, she demanded that it be replaced with another twin tub. I'm still using the twin tub but when it finally craps out I might go back to an automatic. I'll get the local guy to recommend one that way he will have no excuses when it goes tits up!

This is the maize thread, corn if you're American!

[farmerjo]

This what i've be recommended to use as a post emergence spray.

 

[farmerjo]

Got a bit over 20 rai in.

 

A picture of the sort of trash i'm seeding into.

 

Its a lot thicker down the other end of the paddock.

 

Will stop seeding now and go back to finish harvest.

 

[wayned]

You're working from an entirely different play book than I use. Ever heard of a disc?

[farmerjo]

You're working from an entirely different play book than I use. Ever heard of a disc?

This method of farming has been around about 35 years.(the seeder has discs)

Two main reasons,costs of ploughing and trying to keep moisture in the soil.

[wayned]

I understand the concept of zero till planting but I have never seen it done before. I always thought that the unploughed silage had to have some time to degrade before you planted again, not harvest one week and plant again the next. I understand your need for GPS now, by the time I turned the tractor around at the end of the row I would not be able to find the row that I just planted! Do the Thai's in your area plant the same way?

[farmerjo]

I understand the concept of zero till planting but I have never seen it done before. I always thought that the unploughed silage had to have some time to degrade before you planted again, not harvest one week and plant again the next. I understand your need for GPS now, by the time I turned the tractor around at the end of the row I would not be able to find the row that I just planted! Do the Thai's in your area plant the same way?

Dont worry i cant see were i'm going half the time seeding,working on the theory as long as x amount of seed is in the ground per rai i'm happy.

In other countries they install row cleaners on the seeder to remove the trash aside from the seed trench but i'm not that advanced.

No i'm the only one using this concept up my way,a good member on here put me onto the seeding unit from down your way.

I've had a lot of people looking over the fence and few wanting to try this way to save costs on using contractors.

This method is still unproven in los and will take me 4-5 years to get it right.

I look at it in the way we like to plant 2 crops per year,this year by the time i finish the 1st harvest,i will be at a loss of around 370baht/rai.(because

of the seasonal rainfall but particularly bad weed management)

For everyone who went the conventional plough up and work back before seeding and ploughed it in thru lack of moisture would have at least lost

1500baht/rai.

Ok i've won on making a loss,what needs to be determined is can i win on the yield/profit per rai for the crop this time of year.

I still believe the conventional way of ploughing is fine and proven when there's plenty of rain,on my place i'd have to sell the tractor and buy a small dozer to work it up in all conditions

.

[Allgeier]

Hello farmerjo

Maybe you like this video. Its a video about NON ploughing. But it is in German language.

I like the idea of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnUlPLi7Sf4

Its about to increase the life inside the soil.

So i fond the site:

http://www.siamimplement.co.th/pro2.php

Its look like in this youtube video. But the parts a seperate.

[kickstart]

This is a photo I posted last year, a field near me ,this is his second crop ,the first crop was combined ,then he topped the old stubble, then went in with his drill ,and direct drilled the crop what I can remember he put on a pre emergent spray ,probably atrazine and growmoxon ,from harvesting the first crop to drilling the second ,was no more than a week .

Last year was the first year maize crops were direct drilled round here ,as I have said before sunflowers where direct drilled for the first time the results where very promising .

So far no one has direct drilled their first crop ,still 3 and 7 disc ploughs, then drill ,this year with the drought 90% of maize crops ploughed in ,then re-drilled. I would think sunflowers will be direct drilled,

FJ, can you borrow tractor mounted topper and top a piece of land, before direct drilling ,I think it would make a difference , the discs on the drill should cut though the old stubble.

[farmerjo]

This is a photo I posted last year, a field near me ,this is his second crop ,the first crop was combined ,then he topped the old stubble, then went in with his drill ,and direct drilled the crop what I can remember he put on a pre emergent spray ,probably atrazine and growmoxon ,from harvesting the first crop to drilling the second ,was no more than a week .

Last year was the first year maize crops were direct drilled round here ,as I have said before sunflowers where direct drilled for the first time the results where very promising .

So far no one has direct drilled their first crop ,still 3 and 7 disc ploughs, then drill ,this year with the drought 90% of maize crops ploughed in ,then re-drilled. I would think sunflowers will be direct drilled,

FJ, can you borrow tractor mounted topper and top a piece of land, before direct drilling ,I think it would make a difference , the discs on the drill should cut though the old stubble.

Hi KS,

I have a slasher but dont feel the need to use,as long as the disc seeder can slice thru the trash.

I understand what your saying to cut the old corn stalks to break them down faster.

What i'm trying to do is seed between the old rows so they dont come into play and can break down naturally.

The two seeding technics are total opposite ends of the spectrum.

I would say the reason the farmers who have disc seeders your way still plough on their first planting is they are not set up, dont have a boomspray capable of knocking the weeds down prior to planting.

How do they spray?,motorised backpacks or 2oo metre hose back to tank and pump on iron buffalo.

Easier to spray once a row has been established for your markings.

Sort of defeats the purpose to plough then disc seed but hey,this is los.

In the pdf growing corn in cambodia on i think page 2 Junglebiker provided us with says if you have a good mulch between the rows,you could expect up to a 60 percent yield gain compared to the conventional cultivation way.

In saying all that and looking at Wayned's pictures,looks like his stand has every oppurtunity to reach its potential as long as there's enough goodness in the soil to see the cobs fill out so once again there's nothing wrong with these farming practises,they are proven and Thai's have been doing that way for centuries.

For the small Thai farmer to change his practises would require a lot of education and an expense to change the tillage equipment.

Wayned,does your Co-op provide seeding services as well as harvest services.

.

[wayned]

I guess that we would provide planting service. Almost everybody has a tractor and their own two row planter. I've never seen anything bigger. I can never tell who's on first and what's on second. Like all Thai's they're dressed in long sleeve shirts, hats and "T" shirts on their face. They wave to me and I wave back but I really don't have a clue who it is and I know that the tractor doesn't belong to the farmer that owns the field. My wife had a uncanny ability to recognize who they were no mater how they were dressed. I've actually had them come up and talk to me and I didn't have any idea who they were.

Corn's looking good. I just hope that the daily afternoon showers keep up.

[farmerjo]

So where are you at with the crop now Wayned,

Its looking good,are you prepared to spend another 2 x bags of fertilizer per rai to let it realise its potential of 1250 kilo's/rai or are you happy to just let it play out and see what you end up with.

One of the frustrations of farming,especially the way the weather pattern has been this year.

[wayned]

What you see is it! The year before last we got around 1150/ rai, last year due to the drought it was down to around 800 kilos/ rai. We've never planted this late so we'll just see what happens. Remember I had given up on the corn and was only going to plant sunflowers. This is BIL's doing, good or bad,. but, for the moment, it looks good.