Midwest Farm tour

[Tractorsdontfloat]

It’s funny what kids remember.

When my youngest daughter was about 10, I mused one day in the middle of June when we were driving by a friends cornfield (about 5 miles away from tractorsdontfloat) if the corn was going to be “knee high by the 4th of July”. My daughter asked “What does that mean”, and I explained that my grandpa used to always say that, and I don’t ever remember it not being true other than really wet years when planting was late or didn’t get in at all due to flooding.

Well, corn grows really fast, especially with water and sun, so if you can imagine the corn had just popped out, probably 6”-8” high, and she says “No way, dad!”. So I bet her an ice cream that it would, and she would watch that corn every day we drove by, getting nervous that she was going to have to buy the old man an ice cream. July 4th came and it was well above my knee, and she couldn’t believe it. I let her slide and took her for ice cream anyway.

It’s funny, because she talks about it every year since, (she’s 16 now) and last year when she worked at the custard stand up the road, brought me a cone and said “this is for that bet I lost...”

So it’s been a really wet year here, and she said to me the other day “Dad, I don’t think the corn is going to be knee high by the 4th of July”. I told her “It’s going to be close”.

So @Tractorsdontfloat , will the corn indeed be knee high by the 4th of July? And how fast does corn grow? I’ve heard people joke that if you listen at night, you can hear it grow?

Also, you have to keep me informed when the Hancock Fire Department Jamboree is so I can head out there and contribute while eating some of your tasty pulled pork.

Cool memories with your daughter! Knee high by the 4th still is a saying, but normally I see corn near knee high by the 4th of June. Unfortunately, this year it’s gonna push closer to true than I like.

Most of my corn is at or slightly above knee high currently. And a few warm sunny days like today will get it growing well. As for how fast it grows...not sure I can give you a definitive answer on that, but with warm, humid weather you can almost hear it grow. I’ve never put a measuring stick out but I’d bet inches per day.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Oh and btw @HydroSkreamin, that would be Labor Day weekend. May need to do a practice run sometime soon and May need some taste testers.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

I


I just remembered one of my questions. After watching you show all of the different adjustments that you have to
do when getting ready to start planting or harvesting crops, I wondered how you check to see if they are correct?
IE: seed spacing, amount of fertilizer, depths etc. It looks like there dozens of different knobs, rods, discs, brushes and on and on????? It doesn’t look like you can just drive a 20-40 foot wide set up out of the barn, run it for 5 or 10 feet, then stop, climb down and measure everything, or do you??? Inquiring minds need to know

Steve

A lot of the adjustments are kinda a set and go, watch the monitor and readjust, but some are as simple as set in, run a hundred yards, stop and dig seed. I keep a very scientific tool in the cab with me at all times. Here I a pic of it leaned against the cab door.

Yup exactly what it looks like. A yard stick. Or as it is in this case, a stick of flat steel cut to 36 inches. I also stamped it with a center punch at every three inches to be able to use as a measurement tool. You can see the punching in this pic.

I know this seems foolish and simple, but checking depth, spacing, and seed count per yard can be imperative to getting it right the first time. I can also check the planter setting pass to pass to make sure it isn’t tracking improperly too with this tool.

Short answer, yes hit the field, run a short distance and get out and check is pretty much the procedure. But you also gotta know what to look for.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

A lot of the adjustments are kinda a set and go, watch the monitor and readjust, but some are as simple as set in, run a hundred yards, stop and dig seed. I keep a very scientific tool in the cab with me at all times. Here I a pic of it leaned against the cab door.
View attachment 767180

Yup exactly what it looks like. A yard stick. Or as it is in this case, a stick of flat steel cut to 36 inches. I also stamped it with a center punch at every three inches to be able to use as a measurement tool. You can see the punching in this pic.
View attachment 767183

I know this seems foolish and simple, but checking depth, spacing, and seed count per yard can be imperative to getting it right the first time. I can also check the planter setting pass to pass to make sure it isn’t tracking improperly too with this tool.

Short answer, yes hit the field, run a short distance and get out and check is pretty much the procedure. But you also gotta know what to look for.

I guess when ya know what the hell you're doing it isn’t quite as hard as it looks. Yeah sure lol
It would take me a two lifetimes to figure out half of what you have. So, the rest of my question that I forgot twice was: are most of these settings kept the same for the next season? I’m guessing now that they pretty much stay
about the same, especially if the soil stays about the same etc.
Thanks again for all the information and great reading

Steve

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

I guess when ya know what the hell you're doing it isn’t quite as hard as it looks. Yeah sure lol
It would take me a two lifetimes to figure out half of what you have. So, the rest of my question that I forgot twice was: are most of these settings kept the same for the next season? I’m guessing now that they pretty much stay
about the same, especially if the soil stays about the same etc.
Thanks again for all the information and great reading

Steve

Yeah, things remain similar year to year. That assumes the seed is similar to the previous year. Each year seems to bring its own challenges.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Oh and btw @HydroSkreamin, that would be Labor Day weekend. May need to do a practice run sometime soon and May need some taste testers.

Count me in!!!

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Hey @HydroSkreamin, is this good enough to count as knee high?

I’ll use this as a reference for growth over the next week or so too. Maybe we can see just how fast it can grow based on the temp forecast for the next week.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Perfect. I’m going to guess almost 1”/day.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Perfect. I’m going to guess almost 1”/day.

That’s low. I’m gonna guess near 6” a day on hot days.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Little fitting for this growing season.

 

[snowhammer]

Hey @HydroSkreamin, is this good enough to count as knee high?

View attachment 767832

I’ll use this as a reference for growth over the next week or so too. Maybe we can see just how fast it can grow based on the temp forecast for the next week.

That is great!! I could pinpoint you to the upper midwest by the fact you carry a pair of pliers.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

That is great!! I could pinpoint you to the upper midwest by the fact you carry a pair of pliers.

Hahaha! Yup, never leave home without them. Most days they’re the most used item in the toolbox.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Hey @HydroSkreamin, is this good enough to count as knee high?

View attachment 767832

I’ll use this as a reference for growth over the next week or so too. Maybe we can see just how fast it can grow based on the temp forecast for the next week.

Knee high you say? I haven’t been able to see my knees very often since my waistlines latest 30 lb growth
spurt

 

[buck35]

Well in the northwest cherry harvest is ramping up and we start this am.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Well in the northwest cherry harvest is ramping up and we start this am. View attachment 768019 View attachment 768019

Damn those look good!!!

Steve

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Well the weather sounds like it’s gonna be square for a few days. Let’s hope the crops can take a leap forward. Already looking at contracting extra LP for drying corn this fall.

Maybe I should take up cherry pickin! Those do look tasty.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Wow, those do look good, and what an early harvest.

We have a pretty good cherry production in Door County, or what would be the thumb on the mitten of Wisco. And I don’t wanna hear anything about the thumb from you Michigan peeps (see the hostility?!?). Their harvest is generally early to mid-August if I remember correctly.

 

[buck35]

Damn those look good!!!

Steve

Thank you, yesterday was a looong day and back at it at 5.

Wow, those do look good, and what an early harvest.

We have a pretty good cherry production in Door County, or what would be the thumb on the mitten of Wisco. And I don’t wanna hear anything about the thumb from you Michigan peeps (see the hostility?!?). Their harvest is generally early to mid-August if I remember correctly.

We are about average timing wise this year ,they started a couple weeks ago a bit to the South and will go late into August in the higher elevations.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Thank you, yesterday was a looong day and back at it at 5.

We are about average timing wise this year ,they started a couple weeks ago a bit to the South and will go late into August in the higher elevations.

5 AM, what happened, ya oversleep ???

 

[buck35]

First

5 AM, what happened, ya oversleep ???

First light they are at it, but not much for me for to do for a while. I was up at 4, as that's my normal. Suppossed to have tstorms overnight and tomorrow. May be done. Ripe cherries and rain is no bueno....
We did get a couple hundred bins off the last two days at least.Farming is Russian roulette with yer finances any more.

 

[SLT Kota]

@buck35, How exactly does one harvest cherry's? I can only imagine it is either very very labor intensive or there is some mind blowing machine that somehow does it.

 

[buck35]

@buck35, How exactly does one harvest cherry's? I can only imagine it is either very very labor intensive or there is some mind blowing machine that somehow does it.

Yes it is very labor intensive. It is all hand picked . They are working on automated machines but that requires very specialized planting.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

I think we’re going to have to change your screen name to “Buck Cherry”

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Update! Took a couple more pics of the corn today with a measuring stick. Here ya go @HydroSkreamin. Monday we were at 24 inches. Today, four days later? Same field similar spot just to keep consistency. Some of the corn is bigger in other fields though.

Looks like somewhere north of 44”.

Tape is at 42”, and leaves are reaching a couple inches past it.

Proof the zero was in fact at ground level.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

I’d say that puts growth for the week at or above 5” per day.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Wow! That’s awesome! And we just had all that rain and some sun. Just think what it’ll do with days of sunlight.

Thanks for doing the “study”

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

I’d say that puts growth for the week at or above 5” per day.

Geeeez, ya must be able to hear it grow along with watching it grow!

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

First

First light they are at it, but not much for me for to do for a while. I was up at 4, as that's my normal. Suppossed to have tstorms overnight and tomorrow. May be done. Ripe cherries and rain is no bueno....
We did get a couple hundred bins off the last two days at least.Farming is Russian roulette with yer finances any more.

Ok, I guess we’ll have to let you off the hook, for now

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Official measurement! Some 65-70 inches tall corn on the 4th of July! Monday a week and a half ago it was barely 24 inches tall, now after two weeks of hot (and rainy) weather, it’s some three to four foot taller! I’ll call it officially 68 inches tall!

Potato crop is blossoming and setting taters now too. Average size of the spuds is probably golf ball size with the occasional tennis ball size.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Damn that stuff is growin like crazy !!! Looks like you’re doing somthin’ right.
Good job.

Steve

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Strawberry season is in full swing around here right now too. Can not beat fresh picked berries.

Truly Gods country here, and I can name a thousand reasons why.

And to top my 4th off, I went and hung out with Hula on the water today.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Thought I’d update on the taters planted behind the house. I showed the planting stuff when they were in planting.

Here’s the plants today before I start to dig

This was a five stem plant, which tells me the tuber size wasn’t gonna be the biggest, but there is a decent number of them under the hill. Biggest is slightly larger than a golf ball.

Looks like the steak and baked tater I had for dinner tonight may be followed tomorrow by maybe fresh raised chicken with creamy potatoes and fresh peas.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Cultivating the beans today and dropping a little nitrogen down beside the rows. Dust is flying. Surprised how fast it’s dry.

 

[Headless hula]

Holy flowmeters batman!

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Holy flowmeters batman!

Not really the flow meters, but rather flow dividers. One per row. And the red lights are the blockage monitor indicators. If I’m not watching and one row gets blocked, the app beeps on my iPad and that row light blinks. Don’t really need it in this case, but some of the crap we pump is dark and you can’t see the floats so I rely on the monitor.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Holy hell! Summer is almost half over! Not really, but in Cheeseland vegetable farmer terms....picked some snap beans for supper tonight’s got and so a friend could can a bunch, and the harvesters will hit that field about Monday-Tuesday neighborhood. Always used seeing the first bean harvesters in the area as a reference to summer being half gone.

Oh yeah, even stopped by the neighbor farm that does blueberries and has a large truck farm (farm stand) operation and picked up a few quarts of fresh picked berries.

Did I mention that both the beans and berries are grown organic? Yup...

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Tassels are starting to appear! Silking in the current hot weather isn’t ideal, but keeping the irrigation running will help some.

 

[Carlson-jet]

First rain around here in weeks. Should help the crops.
Digging your thread.

 

[King295]

This thread fascinates the hell out of me. Really appreciate all the info and your time sharing this.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Thought I’d update on the taters planted behind the house. I showed the planting stuff when they were in planting.

Here’s the plants today before I start to dig
View attachment 773190

This was a five stem plant, which tells me the tuber size wasn’t gonna be the biggest, but there is a decent number of them under the hill. Biggest is slightly larger than a golf ball.
View attachment 773193

Looks like the steak and baked tater I had for dinner tonight may be followed tomorrow by maybe fresh raised chicken with creamy potatoes and fresh peas.

I was just looking at a few of your pictures and noticed that it looks like a few bugs have been
having a pretty good time feasting on those potato plant leaves. Do you use anything to
discourage their appetite ?

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

I was just looking at a few of your pictures and noticed that it looks like a few bugs have been
having a pretty good time feasting on those potato plant leaves. Do you use anything to
discourage their appetite ?

The interesting thing about potato production is, and I said this a lot when I was growing them, is they are the toughest weed to control, but most finicky crop to grow. They are very labor intensive, with lots of pests and diseases to control. As a general rule, taters get scouted for bugs and diseases on a weekly basis, with a regular disease control regimen of fungicides being sprayed weekly to as often as every five days depending on disease pressure. The holes in the leaves you're seeing in that picture are most likely from the Colorado potato beetle. That is extremely minor damage, so an insecticide treatment wouldn't be used for some time yet. Those little buggers can completely strip plants in a matter of hours. Usually you start seeing the damage around the edges and can spot treat, but full field applications usually happen at least once a season.

The biggest issues are early blight and late blight. The weekly fungicide sprays are to help control early blight and protect against late blight. Most fungicides used do not control late blight (eastern European potato famine of the 1840s). If late blight does appear, it usually is cause to kill the plants in and around that area, but there are a few strains of the disease that can be controlled. Still, its a very serious issue as it can affect storability of the potatoes too, and cause entire bins of potatoes to rot in the building. WORST SMELL EVERRRR!

 

[SLT Kota]

Do you grow the same crop around the edges of the irrigated fields where they aren't within the reach of the irrigation sprayer?

Thank you again for this thread, it is awesome to learn about life on the farm!

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Do you grow the same crop around the edges of the irrigated fields where they aren't within the reach of the irrigation sprayer?

Thank you again for this thread, it is awesome to learn about life on the farm!

Most of the irrigated ground around here with the center pivots are farmed just under what the water will reach. The dry corners are generally just left to grass in. This gives a place for equipment like tender trucks to be parked.

In some cases, guys plant larger dry areas outside the water to things like alfalfa to cut and bale for beef or horse feed. I personally have most all my fields with grassed in corners that I try to keep mowed down.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

The interesting thing about potato production is, and I said this a lot when I was growing them, is they are the toughest weed to control, but most finicky crop to grow. They are very labor intensive, with lots of pests and diseases to control. As a general rule, taters get scouted for bugs and diseases on a weekly basis, with a regular disease control regimen of fungicides being sprayed weekly to as often as every five days depending on disease pressure. The holes in the leaves you're seeing in that picture are most likely from the Colorado potato beetle. That is extremely minor damage, so an insecticide treatment wouldn't be used for some time yet. Those little buggers can completely strip plants in a matter of hours. Usually you start seeing the damage around the edges and can spot treat, but full field applications usually happen at least once a season.

The biggest issues are early blight and late blight. The weekly fungicide sprays are to help control early blight and protect against late blight. Most fungicides used do not control late blight (eastern European potato famine of the 1840s). If late blight does appear, it usually is cause to kill the plants in and around that area, but there are a few strains of the disease that can be controlled. Still, its a very serious issue as it can affect storability of the potatoes too, and cause entire bins of potatoes to rot in the building. WORST SMELL EVERRRR!

Damn, that has to suck big time. Not only the labor involved but the cost of the chemicals. Still a great
thread! Thanks again, Steve

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Not an update on the farm, but more of a home update.

Got a few free range escapees. They stay close to the coop, and always find their way back in, so it’s no big deal, but we won’t let them get far. Nine days till their date with a freezer

And the piggies are getting bigger. They also have a date with my freezer for late September. Roughly 140 pounds, shooting for the 275-300 range.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Got two different companies taking two different plantings of beans off today. And as luck would have it, they’re across the hedge row from one another.

Shot of the harvester. Notice the beans coming off the conveyor and falling into the hopper.

Just missed the dump cart loading this truck. Was gonna wait, but got called away before the cart got back into the field. Got a shot of a full truck ready to leave the field though.

 

[snowhammer]

Caught the beginning of the sunset tonight with a few midwest hallmarks, center pivot, church spire, and ballfields.

 

[Carlson-jet]

Just enough rain around these parts and the tassels are looking good.
Nice shot snowhammer.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Tassels are pretty much out across all our corn, with silks out and pollen shedding profusely. AC is on and windows closed for the duration due to allergies. Starting to see a few silks starting to brown, but not much in the way of drying yet. Ear formation looks decent, but early to tell full formation.

 

[Tractorsdontfloat]

Harvest season for cucumbers has been in full swing around here for a little while already, but today the farmer I trade land with moved into my field. I took a few shots of the equipment sitting on the end of the field this afternoon. Didn’t get any of them running as they had shut down for the day when I stopped by.

Three harvesters lined up

A couple closer shots of one of the harvesters. The pickup chains lift the vines and carry them to the top where the rolls pull the vines through snapping the cukes off the vine. They fall below into the conveyor, and the vines dump out the back of the rolls onto the ground. The cucumbers then travel to the back of the machine, being cleaned of vine pieces with a fan, then carried to the hopper on the carousel on the back.

The pickup head.

The snapping rolls

The carousel

Once the pickers hopper is full, the crop cart pulls under the picker to unload the picker and haul the cucumbers to the truck on the end of the field. Not a great pic, but here’s a shot of the cart.