New Farm

[Betterwhale]

Hope I m doing this right, lol. Bought a new home that has a 4 acre field. Field has been working every year, and this year I m hoping to grow pumpkins in it(central IL). Within my knowledge the land is okay but gets a little rocky. Previous crop was corn. I ve got a ford 9N to work with, only tools are a front end loader and a rear blade. New to the farming and I need to know what I need in order to perform this task. The 9N is currently down waiting on pertronix. What type of attachments will I need? Should I need a disc plow or can I just till? I know the 9N can handle a 2-14 plow, but it s never done AG work while in my family. We used it for the loader and to level gravel.

 

[HCooke]

Should I need a disc plow or can I just till?

9N won't handle a rotarty tiller very well. A disc would work better. I have never attempted 4 acres of pumkins.

 

[JMOR]

moldboard plow to open the ground and a disc to break it up.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

By worked do you mean plowed, disced and dragged before planting the corn?

My guess it was worked by burning off the weeds w/ an herbicide, then drilling the seed & injecting nitrogen.

First off, you need to get a soil test no matter how the ground was worked because corn sucks up the nutrients and the injected nitrogen will change the
pH.

I'm not sure on the wait period in your state before planting food crops. Especially if bio-solids were used as fertilizer.

But to answer your questions..........use a turn plow, followed by a disc. If you are putting those pumpkins in rows, you will seed to level it w/ a drag
or your seeder will never work right. And you will need a cultivator for the weeds. Unless you have at least one kid per row!
75 Tips

 

[cleddy]

We have a large garden and a terrible grass problem. I don't know what kind it is but it gets a healthy two plus feet tall with wide blades and bushy heads(sticker grass or fox tail) It so aggressive that pumpkins & other plants don't have a chance to grow above it and is progressively worse each year. Is there a herbicide that would control the grass but let other stuff grow. Spot treating with round up will kill it but I don't think that should be used around food items?? Hoping you know since you mentioned it?Cleddy

 

[Bruce (VA)]

Getting in an herbicide debate with farmers is like tractor owners debating which oil to use. Few facts, lots of opinions.

Fact is the makers of Roundup will begin restricting residential sales this year and it is already banned for use in many countries.

I do not use it.

First, ID the weed. Maybe something selective will kill it.

Propane torches work well too.

Buy some cheap clear plastic paint drop cloths. Till/disc the ground to bare dirt in early summer and put the drop cloths down w/ boards, rocks, etc for weight. The heat under the plastic will kill the weeds as they sprout.

Or plant it in Sudan grass. It's a cover crop and grows quicker than the weeds.
75 Tips

 

[Betterwhale]

Currently the field has the roots of the corn crop still, just as the neighboring fields do. In this area it s 2yr corn 1yr soy bean, I do not know it this was the first or second year of corn. So I need to plow it to turn the soil, then flatten, sow, then maintain? Again, I m very green about this, my family raised a couple thousand partridge but never any crops at all. 0 grain, 0 legumes, nothing. I believe I d prefer to plant in rows, not hills. Should I attempt to get a cover of Sudan grass in?

 

[Colin King]

Bruce gives you excellent advice. Like him, we also use our Fords to grow commercial fruits and vegetables. On our deep sandy loam, I find that a disk is all I need. I do use a plow to turn over sod. In nearly 20 years of farming with an 8N, I've used our plow 3 times. That has cost me $125 per use!

Follow Bruce's advice using tarps or clear plastic. This is called solarizing. There is lots of info on this on the web. In IL you should have access to plenty of used silage tarps. Use them.

You will not want to put all 4 acres into pumpkins year after year. If you do, you will create disease problems. We like to go on a 3-4 year rotation. That means we would raise pumpkins only 1 year out of 3 on a particular patch of ground. If you want to grow pumpkins year after year, divide your acreage into 3 or 4 parcels. Plant pumpkins in one, and grow other crops in the others. You can grow cover crops, such as oats, clovers, buckwheat, etc, in fallow ground and then disk them in to build fertility. Cover crops will also help control weeds, especially oats and buckwheat.

I suspect you are growing pumpkins for Jack-o-lanterns? Do you have a market? Find your market before you plant.

Have fun farming.

Colin, MN

 

[Betterwhale]

I so plan on doing different crops in later years but just starting with pumpkins. This is 100% a hobby farm, it s either this or spend (more) money messing with old trucks lol. I plan on growing for Halloween and having a donation box. If I get a little money back, sweet. If not, oh well. The previous farmer did not plow yearly, but he has modern equipment. If anyone has links to implements so I can have an idea also that would be sweet. I plan on doing most of everything with the 9N

 

[Ed S.]

We lived in Central IL for 18 years on a small hobby farm (15 acres), and I farmed with an 8N, then eventually added an AC 190 loader tractor and replaced that with a NH Boomer 8N when the AC's engine seized.

I had about 11 acres in alfalfa hay, which had to be 'rebooted' every 5 years or so when the weed content got too high. Alfalfa is autotoxic, meaning you can't sow alfalfa right back after plowing, as it won't grow. So I would have one of my "real" farming friends plant corn or beans for a year before going back to alfalfa.

I plowed the field down twice with the 8N and a 2-14 plow, both times after a corn crop. Had to stop often to clear trash out of the plows - the corn stubble plugs it up pretty bad.

The discing pic is after a bean crop - no plowing needed, just discing to break up the surface before drilling.

It's best to plow in the late Autumn/early Winter, then disc in the Spring after the ground has thawed. If you're new to plowing, search the forum for instructions on setting up a moldboard plow - you have to set it up one way for the first row, then angle it for subsequent rows as your right wheels will be down in the furrow. Note - no stabilizer bars when plowing or discing, too.

Also, learn to pick a visual point at the end of the field and drive to it - don't watch the plow or disc, as you'll leave a furrow so crooked a drunken snake couldn't follow it!

I used an old Van Brundt/John Deere drill to seed the alfalfa and oats (for a nurse crop) - I presume you'll use some other means for planting pumpkins.

If you can lay hands on a culti-packer (fluted roller), that's a great tool for improving soil contact with the seeds and knocking down high spots. Otherwise, a drag harrow can work well, too, although you probably don't want to use that on pumpkin seeds.

The area where we lived had a lot of pumpkins grown as there was a processing plant in the area.

So at minimum, you'll want a 2-14 plow and a disc. Search the forum here for "Zane Thing" for a modification to your 9N to add draft control (if I remember right - my 8N already had it ex-factory). That helps a lot when plowing as it automagically keeps the plow depth fairly consistent. Zane passed some years back, but there may be others on the board who can help.

Hope that helps!

es