Got 'er done

[crsutton81]

The weather has been perfect this week and allowed us to get in the field and get some work done. We finished up today getting the tobacco land gassed and bedded up. Everything went very well doing so in the process, but as usual I'm glad to get this task behind me. Maybe now we can move onto getting the corn ground disked and bedded also. Corn plantin time sure is slipping up on us.

 

[waugh621]

What are the 2 tanks for in the first photo i assume the big one is anhydrous but what is in the smaller tank?
Nate

 

[da.bees]

I suspect as a % fewer people that have used tobacco know how it's grown than any other agriculture product. I wonder how many others would enjoy an overview of how plants are started, cultivated and other operations before it leaves the farm. I assumed production had moved off shore like cotton has. Cotton and peanut acres in N Texas has shrunk by 95% over my life time.

 

[randyrenfro7]

I away said it was a 13 month year of work. We were clearing and burning the next years bed before we sold this years crop. Burley

 

[crsutton81]

What are the 2 tanks for in the first photo i assume the big one is anhydrous but what is in the smaller tank?
Nate

The green tank is Chloropicrin ( methyl bromide and other rough stuff mixed together ) and the little red tank is compressed nitrogen which is used to pressurize the green tank to make it flow out at a metered pressure.

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

Would you explain this 'gassing' process please?

 

[Jim in NC]

The weather has been perfect this week and allowed us to get in the field and get some work done. We finished up today getting the tobacco land gassed and bedded up. Everything went very well doing so in the process, but as usual I'm glad to get this task behind me. Maybe now we can move onto getting the corn ground disked and bedded also. Corn plantin time sure is slipping up on us.View attachment 62573View attachment 62578View attachment 62579

It looks like we are gonna have some cool weather and a dry time next week. That should help you get a good start on your corn ground. Hope all your equipment continues to perform well.

 

[Richard G.]

Our son planted corn the last 2 days here in NW SC.
He is using a new to him 12 row planter that he got from eastern NC.

 

[crsutton81]

Would you explain this 'gassing' process please?

The Chloropic is injected as a liquid into the ground via the subsoiler shanks on the bedder, which are setup on the middle of the rows. Meanwhile the rows are ridged up to cover the product. Over the next 10 days depending on several different factors, it will turn from the liquid state to a gas, and therefore fumigate the land. The purpose of this is to kill any soil bourn diseases and insects that are detrimental to the crop.

 

[crsutton81]

It looks like we are gonna have some cool weather and a dry time next week. That should help you get a good start on your corn ground. Hope all your equipment continues to perform well.

It has kinda spoiled me with the Temps getting back into the mid 80's. Been nice not to have a need to lug a coat around.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I take it the fumigant can't be pumped through a nozzle at the shank to inject it using a pump rather than having the cost of using a nitrogen cylinder for the pressure.Or is this just the way it was always done so no need to change. Thought maybe it was a bit like anhydrous where it is a liquid till it is released into the air at which time it becomes a gas form. To which as long as it is below the ground surface as it is applied it ties up in the soil with the moisture in it. I'm guessing the tank on the truck is the fumigant supply truck for the applicator.

 

[Richard G.]

It looks like we are gonna have some cool weather and a dry time next week. That should help you get a good start on your corn ground. Hope all your equipment continues to perform well.

I agree.

 

[crsutton81]

I take it the fumigant can't be pumped through a nozzle at the shank to inject it using a pump rather than having the cost of using a nitrogen cylinder for the pressure.Or is this just the way it was always done so no need to change. Thought maybe it was a bit like anhydrous where it is a liquid till it is released into the air at which time it becomes a gas form. To which as long as it is below the ground surface as it is applied it ties up in the soil with the moisture in it. I'm guessing the tank on the truck is the fumigant supply truck for the applicator.

There is another brand of fumigant that is traditionally handled in a manner now via using a 12v electric motor tied to a roller pump to draw it out of these same style metal cylinders, then it's pumped into a applicator tank which is mounted onto your bedder or chisel plow to apply it. That product works good, but there's at least twice the handling involved and it's more expensive per acre than the Chloropic. Another factor is this chemical is really rough on a pump. It's not uncommon to go through a few pumps in 1 season. They have finally made this stuff to be used in a sealed handing manner as much as possible to limit exposure. One of the ingredients in it is tear gas. Used to as a kid it all was shipped in metal 55 gallon drums and the only manner of refilling when it came time was to insert a hand crank gasboy pump into the drum to transfer it from the stocks of drums on the trailer, to the empty tank on the applicator. It would usually take 4 people to get it done as you couldn't breath along with your eyes burning so terribly. No wonder the Ole folks died by 75 back then. I heard grandaddy talk of using an open 3 gallon hopper gravity orfice container on the Farmall 100 where the fertlizer stuff would mount at, and this was the applicator where they did it 1 row at a time every year. As to the truck tank and other tractor....the truck tank is the water tank to supply water for applying the herbicide via the field cultivator ahead of me gassing and ridging up the rows. There's more equipment that had already left the field that's not showing. It usually takes everything to get the job done except the kitchen sink.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

well I sure hope that's not the rootworm mitigation plan of the future on the corn side boy that sounds like some fun stuff to work with. I thought nh3 with n-serv was bad. Interesting info and photos!

 

[da.bees]

Is fumigant necessary if tobacco hasn't been planted in ground for a certain # of years? Lots of acres around here are in watermelons and can only be planted once in three years or risk disease.

 

[crsutton81]

Is fumigant necessary if tobacco hasn't been planted in ground for a certain # of years? Lots of acres around here are in watermelons and can only be planted once in three years or risk disease.

I live in an area where tobacco was the king crop to grow since at least the depression Era, therefore it too has been rotated in with other crops on every 2nd or 3rd crop depending on how much select ( more desirable) tobacco land was on each farm. It went a good while with the quota system where each farm was assigned a certain number of pounds to be grown every year and was not transferable to another farm unless the quota was sold. Having said all that, there's been so much baccer grown that there is a buildup of diseases in places that will never leave, and the only mitigation that can be done is treat the areas beforehand of planting and select stronger resistance varieties to the diseases. It's in the soil. The longer the gap between tobacco crops the better, but no one has 20 years or more to wait for replanting the same areas. We're on a 3 to 4 year rotation here between crops, and still on occasion still have trouble after the ground is treated.