I'm planning my farming adventure now. Im planted 3 acres this past spring and I'm going to do some fall farming too. I'm trying to game plan, and I'm not 100% sure I'm on the right path. Ill add ~7 more acres next year to the mix maybe. All of this will be Bee Forage. I have honey bees and i'm growing the number of hives
This past spring, I mowed 3 acres very short then disc'ed it. I have a Ferg TO20 and that didn't do very good. I then drop seeded / fertilized and tried to roll it. My seeder is a 48" gandy drop seeder and the roller was just a lawn roller. Both of those were done with my quad. mostly because that metal seat. I bought a Oliver 1650 diesel recently to have something actually enjoyable to be on.
I planted:
buckewheat
Hairy Vetch
Hubam Clover
Sunflower
Phacelia
Rapeseed
Sunflower
I planted everything on the whole plot. fertilized once when I planted. I spilled a bunch of fertilizer at one point and that area grew great, so I think I didnt use enough. I also had my soil tested.
I think I'm going to change my mix and not mix everything. I think I will plant 3 x 1 acre strips.
1 will be Hubam clover
1 will be sunflower
1 will be buckwheat
I may add camelina and Mustard to the sunflower patch tho since it blooms early. I choose those because they are great nectar sources and the sunflower / buckwheat is cheap also. The hubam is kinda pricey, but it has been in bloom since July 2nd and its still going strong. The phacelia and rapeseed never did much and the vetch was kind of underwhelming, esp for the cost of those.
So my game plan is this:
Bush hog early NOV
followed by plowing
followed by discing
followed by cultipacker
then seed Hubam, buckwheat, and camelina/ mustard.
and cultipack again.
early february I will reseed the hubam and the buckwheat again
fertilize, possibly more mustard
cultipack
early march I will reseed the buckwheat
early april i will reseed the buckwheat and seed the sunflower and fertilize again
In June I will seed more clover and more buckwheat and fertilize again.
The idea is to have the field bloom with desirable nectar sources as much as possible. does this sound like a solid plan? too much? not enough?
The sunflower will be in the middle because I cant drive over the stalks like the rest of the stuff and to my understanding, I can drive over the rest and it will just stand back up. so i will have to broadcast fertilize from the edges of the sunflower.
I still need a plow. Im looking at a 3 bottom semi mount. are they all the same for the most part? did the become much more user friendly with newer models? I see an oliver 4240 but I want something relevant too... will plowing kill everything growing now? will it prevent seeds from growing that dropped?
I want reseeding of everything I grow.
I have a 5' 3pt disc, but I'm looking for at least an 8' wheel disc, but hats not dire as I can make due.
I may still seed with the ATV and the gandy 48" drop seeder and look at getting a broadcast spreader early next year. The gandy did great i think, plus I have my settings
and I need a cultipacker. The roller was just not enough to do any good.
So whats my path forward guys?
Thanks,
Phil
sorry for the book....
This past spring, I mowed 3 acres very short then disc'ed it. I have a Ferg TO20 and that didn't do very good. I then drop seeded / fertilized and tried to roll it. My seeder is a 48" gandy drop seeder and the roller was just a lawn roller. Both of those were done with my quad. mostly because that metal seat. I bought a Oliver 1650 diesel recently to have something actually enjoyable to be on.
I planted:
buckewheat
Hairy Vetch
Hubam Clover
Sunflower
Phacelia
Rapeseed
Sunflower
I planted everything on the whole plot. fertilized once when I planted. I spilled a bunch of fertilizer at one point and that area grew great, so I think I didnt use enough. I also had my soil tested.
I think I'm going to change my mix and not mix everything. I think I will plant 3 x 1 acre strips.
1 will be Hubam clover
1 will be sunflower
1 will be buckwheat
I may add camelina and Mustard to the sunflower patch tho since it blooms early. I choose those because they are great nectar sources and the sunflower / buckwheat is cheap also. The hubam is kinda pricey, but it has been in bloom since July 2nd and its still going strong. The phacelia and rapeseed never did much and the vetch was kind of underwhelming, esp for the cost of those.
So my game plan is this:
Bush hog early NOV
followed by plowing
followed by discing
followed by cultipacker
then seed Hubam, buckwheat, and camelina/ mustard.
and cultipack again.
early february I will reseed the hubam and the buckwheat again
fertilize, possibly more mustard
cultipack
early march I will reseed the buckwheat
early april i will reseed the buckwheat and seed the sunflower and fertilize again
In June I will seed more clover and more buckwheat and fertilize again.
The idea is to have the field bloom with desirable nectar sources as much as possible. does this sound like a solid plan? too much? not enough?
The sunflower will be in the middle because I cant drive over the stalks like the rest of the stuff and to my understanding, I can drive over the rest and it will just stand back up. so i will have to broadcast fertilize from the edges of the sunflower.
I still need a plow. Im looking at a 3 bottom semi mount. are they all the same for the most part? did the become much more user friendly with newer models? I see an oliver 4240 but I want something relevant too... will plowing kill everything growing now? will it prevent seeds from growing that dropped?
I want reseeding of everything I grow.
I have a 5' 3pt disc, but I'm looking for at least an 8' wheel disc, but hats not dire as I can make due.
I may still seed with the ATV and the gandy 48" drop seeder and look at getting a broadcast spreader early next year. The gandy did great i think, plus I have my settings
and I need a cultipacker. The roller was just not enough to do any good.
So whats my path forward guys?
Thanks,
Phil
sorry for the book....