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Cultivating Revisited

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Allan In NE

01-21-2008 21:31:25




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Not trying to beat a dead horse; just didn't want Bill's picture to get lost in traffic.

Man knows what he is doing. :>)

Allan

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Rolling cultivators

01-22-2008 10:01:08




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Did you use the rolling cultivators up there Allan? I think many here realized not cultivating in a wet summer or fall lets lots more runoff fields and then later when dry like now ground is hard like a rock but it's flatter here. Those worried about cultivation causing more runoff shouldn't be farming that kind of land to begin with and where are all those chemicals running off to anyway?

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Allan In NE

01-22-2008 11:17:51




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Rolling cultivators, 01-22-2008 10:01:08  
You bet!

Only way to fly. :>)

Allan



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Dairy Farmer in WI

01-22-2008 18:18:00




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-22-2008 11:17:51  
ya know i really didn't know that you cultivated! do you saddle tanks and spray at the same time too? you got a roling cultivator? is that simalar to a rotary hoe? have a good night
DF in WI



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kyhayman

01-22-2008 08:39:46




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
I'm glad you bumped that picture up, you are right, its a sight to behold. I always did enjoy cultivating tobacco. Its a little different operation. Since the rows are transplanted with a 1 or 2 row transplanter a Farmall 140 or Super A was the impliment of choice. I had 15 acres one year, but made more money with 5 due to the quota lease cost. Thing I always hated though was after cultivating had to walk it with a hoe, uncover any plants that got covered and catch any weeds that escaped. Wish I had some pictures but they are all on film and I dont have a scanner.

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Lee in Iowa

01-22-2008 07:03:36




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Still like to see a cultivator going down the rows , sounds like a good idea to clean up inside end rows and point rows. Don't understand why people have to knock the organic farmers, maybe they are just trying to make a living without farming half the country. I've seen organic fields as clean as the one in the picture, and I know a guy whose long term documented average organic yield for soybeans is 45-50 bushel. Lee

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MN Scott

01-22-2008 06:20:29




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
If he has already sprayed it he is wasteing fuel, soil and time. When corn is that tall it has roots across the rows already. If you make a pass with a cultivator running deep you prune those roots and your yeild. Plus if he gets a heavy rain on the slopes you will be able to see the sweep pattern in the hard pan as the top several inchs of soil will be gone. Weeds have changed in the last 20 years with more late emerging species that cultivation just can't handle. Weeds around here come up before the corn and never let up. Driving fast without shields on small plants will cover the corn as well as the weeds. If you wait untill the corn is 4 inches tall to go without sheilds the weeds will already be 10 inches tall. My neighbors organic fields are a prime example of how cultivation only does not work anymore. He spends nearlly two months in the tractor just rotery hoeing and cultivating with 5Bu beans to show for it.

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billonthefarm

01-22-2008 06:53:56




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to MN Scott, 01-22-2008 06:20:29  
Might be wasting time and fuel but it doesnt look like it hurt this field to bad.

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billonthefarm

01-22-2008 06:17:49




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Its not often I get accused of knowing what I am doing. Just to clarify, my cultivating is mostly endrows and point rows to clean things up for harvesting. Seems like if I dont do that the corn where it is to thick it wants to fall down late in the year. It is also a good way to do some scouting. I did cultivate forty acres other than what I would usually do and if anyone else had "floppy corn" last spring you know I was trying to push some dirt in around it to hold it up. I planted this particular field on may 2 2007, its Asgrow rx674rr2ygpl planted at 34,300 plants per acre. I sprayed it with 2.25 pints of generic guardsman max and 32oz. generic rouund up on may 18. The picture of the tractor and cultivator was taken on June 6. I sprayed it again with 32oz. of generic round up on June 11. That chemical program last year cost right at $11/acre. This year the same program is going to run about $17.50/acre. Obiously not organic farming. According the the Univesity of Illinois the cost of operating a tractor and row crop cultivator is $8.30/acre. They also list the cost of operating for a pulltype sprayer at $3.60/acre. Everyone has their reasons for farming the way they do and if it works for you then great. I dont mind spending $17.50/acre for weed control. That field doesnt have any weeds in it and that is the way I want it. bill

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ktheo1

01-22-2008 06:03:10




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
One thing about it ,you can try cultivating cheap .I have seen a lot of real nice ones cut up for scrap in the last few years.



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Dave from MN

01-22-2008 05:43:41




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
I cultivated my sweetcorn the last 2 years, no spray. Corn did better than the previous 2 years when I sprayed. I was able to water it. Seems the key is to have the correct speed and shovel spacing so you toss dirt to the rows to bury the weeds ya dont pull up. If I had heavier soils where my corn is going to go and we had rainy summers again I think I would cultivate half the feilds this coming year, but with my sandy soils and lack of rain the last 10 years I'll just do some good spring tillage and spray preemergent. Any one ever have luck seeding in rye in fall and planting directly into the rye, then spray the rye down before it'll hurt the corn. That rye sure seems to keep the weeds from coming up.May try it on 3 acres this spring.

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Tradititonal Farmer

01-22-2008 05:36:40




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
I use discs on the cultivator shanks nearest the row the first time to get close to the plants and throw the dirt away and keep from covering them up and the 2nd time turn the dics so they throw the dirt toward the row which covers the weeds in the row between the plants.The faster the ground speed the better.Nothing will kill a weed like a piece of steel



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JBMac

01-22-2008 05:26:38




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
We don't farm on the large scale that some of you do in other areas, so cultivation is not out of the question here. As someone else mentioned, some weeds do become Round Up tolerant over time. I buy, sell and use 250,000 gallons of Glyphosate (Round-Up) annually. Last year, I was paying $9.00 a gallon. This year, the manufacturer told me $14.00 a gallon now, then up to possibly $23-26 a gallon. This is due to lower overseas production and huge worldwide demand. I know diesel is up, but you would have to do the math to see if cultivation could be cheaper if it matched your farming system.

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LeRoy DeLong

01-22-2008 05:24:42




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Hey Allan,
I got a kick out reading the two section's on cultivating. I did not see where anyone talked about half shovel's and shield's, which play a big part in the first trip. Thinking back, I remember when we check planted corn and could cultivate both ways in the field, and when you say that, most people have no idea what your talking about.
I know, I'm showing my age.
LeRoy



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LA in Wi.

01-22-2008 06:57:48




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to LeRoy DeLong, 01-22-2008 05:24:42  
LeRoy,
I did a lot of cultivating in the 1950 era, that fist time was done very slowly to avoid covering the corn, if I did cover some up I had a long stick or tree branch across the tractor hood; just stop and use the stick to uncover the plants without getting off the tractor. When a poor job was done planting by wire, it made for hard quick turns when cross cultivating...I hated that 2nd pass. Then that 3rd pass, Oh Boy that was fun...take off the shields, move the shovels and sweeps away from the corn a little bit, put her in 4th, and open her up. Of course the front end bounced all day but as a kid that was ok by me. We were cultivating with an H Farmall so fuel costs were no big deal then.
LA

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Allan In NE

01-22-2008 06:02:33




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to LeRoy DeLong, 01-22-2008 05:24:42  
Amen to that!

Nothin' prettier than tuckin' that dirt up under that baby plant and doin' it at 5mph! :>)

Allan



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Large-scale Iowan

01-22-2008 05:08:47




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Was about the last to cultivate here--believed all the things about aeration, creating a dust mulch, growth spurt right after, etc. Finally gave it up do to inexperienced operators covering plants.Wasn't cultivating for weed control, as herb has them licked. We have done stand counts and standard deviation of spacing measurements for about a decade. When we stopped cultivating, our final stands improved, and our end rows began yielding nearly the same as the regular rows. With cultivation, the end rows always yielded at least 10% less. First pass in small corn was NEVER above 3 mph--took forever, caused soil erosion, cost thousands in labor, thousands in sweeps, plus combine and trucks had to bounce over ridges.
My herb bill is over $50,000. Row-crop cultivators are worth scrap price here. I have a perfect 16 row that I gave over $13,000 for in my shed that needs to be cut up for scrap--I just can't make myself do it.

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Howard H.

01-22-2008 05:21:56




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Large-scale Iowan, 01-22-2008 05:08:47  

I agree... By the time the corn is as tall as it is in the picture - each plant will have roots that run all the way across the row to the next row...

Cultivating rips those out. Out here where we'd have to run the sprinklers right behind to keep the corn from wilting, and any damage like that to the roots really hurts it.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad where it rains all the time...

Howard

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Michael Soldan

01-22-2008 04:44:52




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
I guess it depends where you were brought up but in Huron County in southern Ontario we called the pictured operation "Scuffling" the beans and the equipment was a "Scuffler" mounted on the tractor. Cultivating was field cultivation preparing the soil for planting, so I always have to think about"Cultivating" as to what is meant..hey, in one of Glen Campbells songs.."Looking back on the days when I was scuffling for a buck not overly concerned about life's ways"

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Allan In NE

01-22-2008 05:05:46




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Michael Soldan, 01-22-2008 04:44:52  
I keep wanting to ask Bill if he has a "set" of those cultivators.

A set would be what? 24 rows? :>)

Allan



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Jim Johnson

01-22-2008 03:26:55




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Just heard a story yesterday about ragweed and others becoming Roundup tolerate. Had a guy that runs a spray service near here tell me this would happen before too long.

Jim



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Oldoak22

01-22-2008 00:24:17




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Interesting, something like quarterbacking.
I will go back to the good old days
of cultivating when your wife goes
back to cooking on a wood stove
and uses a wringer wash machine. And take all
the cabs and air conditioners off.



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Allan In NE

01-22-2008 03:43:21




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Oldoak22, 01-22-2008 00:24:17  
No one is even remotely suggesting that you do.

I was merely countering the statement that a cultivator cannot "clean" in the row.

Allan



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paul

01-21-2008 21:58:29




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
But that has to be the 3rd or more trip through if you don't use any herbicide.

When I got my 15 row skip row 15" bean planter bar, there was also a matching 3pt cultivator with it - for $50. Works pretty well, used it one year when I let the coop spray my beans & I guess they just used water..... Big thing, but it is pretty gentle on the beans, even the point rows came through pretty good after cultivating.

--->Paul

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Allan In NE

01-21-2008 22:18:32




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to paul, 01-21-2008 21:58:29  
Dunno, it's Bill's story.

But would imagine that he knocks 'em back with the sprayer early on when the corn is at the 4-5 leaf stage, wouldn't ya think?

Hoe at 3" to break the crust, spray once when under 6 leaves and then cultivate two times starting at about 8"?

By that time, should be canopied over and off to the races.

Allan



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farmerweber in PA

01-21-2008 21:47:45




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 Re: Cultivating Revisited in reply to Allan In NE, 01-21-2008 21:31:25  
Beautiful job !If I can get mine to look half that good with the old 350D and Ford 2 rows I'm happy.



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