Planting corn with a planter.

[Dave H (MI)]

Ignorance is NOT bliss. So I can pretty much hold my own with anything that has to do with hay. But this year I am going to take some of my older equipment and plant some corn...something I have not done before. I am planning on using the IH 1586 for power and I have an IH Cyclo 800, 8 row planter that I picked up middle of last year with working dry fertilizer. I worked on the planter and everything seems to be functioning well. The seller did use it. I have the manual and am going thru it again this week. I was just wondering about the best approach to planting?

The field is not huge. I am starting small so I can get my legs under me before I plant the rest of the place probably next year. The field is roughly square. On the north end there is a strip that goes off the center of it about 100 feet wide. The strip goes about 50 feet north before turning east and then ends after about 200 feet. So we have a square with a chubby "L" on the center of one end. I know how to use the planter (sort of), markers, etc. I was just curious as to how to start and end? I know I need a head land on both ends to turn around in and not sure how the "L" will affect this. The manual says something about putting both markers down and going up the center to "open the field". Once I get going I don't think I will have much trouble. Just wondering how the more experienced here would recommend I start (down the middle, on a side)? AND how much headland? One planter width or maybe two? Appreciate any advice.

 

[JMS/.MN]

I"ve never heard of starting in the middle of a field. And it"s in the op manual? For what purpose? I had an 830 7000 for years, just made two passes around the ENTIRE field, one marker down, then started planting back and forth on the longest side. With a 4rw or 6rn I make 3 passes around the field. Each gives 30-40 feet of headland. One pass with any planter does not give enough room to turn a cultivator, combine, etc.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Does that mean the headland is planted along with the sides of the field before you plant the center portion of the field. It is OK to drive and turn the tractor on the headland after it is planted? This is one of the things I have wondered about.

I was wrong. The manual does not say anything about the center. It just says "For opening a field both markers can be lowered to provide marks to be followed on succeeding passes of the planter". I guess the center part was an assumption on my part...but a sort of logical one if you think on it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The only reason for starting in the middle is if you do not have a straight side. I have started in the middle, but the field was so out of shape on a hilltop, and there was not even a close to straight field edge.

 

[Larry NEIL]

Yes, it won't hurt a thing to turn around on the headlands. Just like raking hay, always think about harvesting the crop when you plant. Give yourself plenty of room to maneuver on the headlands and generally start planting along the longest straight side of the field.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Draw a sketch of the field on a piece of paper. Figure out where you can get the longest row and plant in that direction. If the field is roughly square, it should work out just fine. It may help to think of the field being multiple small fields in one large field. I have fields like that.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Well that makes the whole concept a lot simpler. You will laugh at me I know, but you have no idea how much stress that takes off! Can I ask, just so I get the general theory, what is the reason for starting at the longest side of the field? That is actually the easiest place to start on this field so I would do that naturally, but what's the theory?

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Just running it thru my head but I don't have any fields like that. They all have at least one straight edge. I'm guessing that wasn't an accident but I wouldn't know. The place were laid out in the 1830's. I didn't come along for a few years after that.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Yeah, I was wondering about doing it that way. So I am guessing it is normal (because how could it happen any other way) to have an overlap here and there where you double plant a strip or two? Like on the last row...you have an 8 row planter but the last strip is only about 120 inches, so if you have 30 inch rows you will be overlapping four rows from the previous strip. I don't know how you could help it so guessing that is just part of the plan.

I'll take pictures so you all can see how I do.

 

[paul]

You want at least 12 rows or 2 planter widths for headlands. Need room for the combine to turn around, the F size will work in 12, an L size you'll want 16.... The planter itself often turns around in 2 widths of itself. And here it is normal to plant the headlands, then use them to turn around on with the planter. It should be dry enough so as to not cause any problems with this.

In a relatively squarish field, I try to do the 2-3 times around it, tho you pick up the planter at the corners and turn 90 degrees back up carefully with the planter up, make sure the proper marker comes down if you have alternating marker drop. you don't make sharp corners with a planter in the ground. Oh, and combine corn heads don't follow curves well at all beyond a few degrees so don't be planting figure eights....

When you finish up the field you will have some overlap the last round. Leaving a wider gap invites weeds, so you over plant rows as you say, but they are hard to harvest and are too crowded don't yield well, so try to keep it to 1-2 rows of overlap. My planter you can shut off rows by getting off the tractor, I do so every time a second row is overlapping, shut 2 down and keep going. If you are organic and not spraying there is some skill in planting odd rows so they match up for a cultivator, but I don't think you need to start with the advance course.

As to your rectangular field with an L shape off one side, I would plant it as 3 fields.

The squarish big area, the bottom, and the top of the L. The L sounds more like it would be headlands in size and would just be planting those on their own I guess.

Very long rows in corn can become a problem, as good yielding corn can fill a combine hopper, and you need to follow rows.... As a smaller operator by yourself it is much nicer to be able to fit a full round in the hopper and unload on one end of the field.

In soybeans it doesn't matter how you plant, the combine can make a different path if need be.

I don't think you can go wrong tho, enjoy the planting and you will learn in a year or 2 what fits your land and your machine sizes as to how to plant odd shapes. It comes down to longer rows within reason, gentle curves if any, and some but smaller amounts of overlap

Paul

 

[Tom from IL]

It's much easier to make your turn and get back on line when going from longer rows to shorter rows, than it is going from shorter rows to longer rows. Hope that makes sense to you. I'm sure it will once you get started and get the feel of it. Good luck.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

You guys make it sound easy! I think it may be true. I will have to look at the planter when I get it pulled out to put the chains on the fertilizer drive. There may be a way to plug the holes the seed goes thru to keep the rows cleaner and not overlap. Not gonna be worth the trouble if I have to remove the drum. I'll look at the manual too. I am really starting to look forward to this now. I put a LOT of time into pre-maintenance on the equipment and I bought good used stuff to boot so not anticipating any major problems there. Times is coming up fast...just needs to warm up a bit.

 

[Cliff Nelson]

If you start with longer rows and work toward shorter the long rows will be straight with the edge of the field. If you start short and work toward longer, the ends of the rows where the mark from the previous pass stopped may not end up straight as you eyeball where you think you should end up. The only place I plant down the center is a large bottom field with a creek on one side and a crooked ditch on the other. I plant 12 rows all the way around then start back along one side but where it gets wider and crooked, I go straight rather than follow the contour of the ditch. This makes short rows on both sides but keeps the long rows straighter and easier to harvest.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Thanks guys. That makes a lot of sense. Barring equipment issues this could be a whole lot easier than I thought.

 

[Leroy]

Never heard of starting in center and on my planter could not get both markers down to have a guide on both sides.

 

[Mac AR]

Planted corn all my life, with everything from a 1 row Cole to a 4 row IH clutch-lift, and today is the first time I've ever heard of some of the things ya'll are talking about and doing. I can't really see how you can start in the middle of a field and go out. I have started at one side and went across, and went from one side to the other, but only because I was using a one-row and planting on listed beds. I have never, ever heard of planting headlands. I cultivate still, one or two rows at a time. Seems like a planted headland wouldn't be conducive to a good job of cultivating. Maybe I'm just a dumb hillbilly, but this is all new stuff to me.

When I plant corn, or any other big patch crop, I start on the one (straightest, as the others said) side of a patch and go to the other. Depending on what I plant, especially shell beans and cowpeas, I use a 2 - row lister and throw up beds and then use a 1-row Cole planter to plant them. Like I said, maybe I'm a dummy, but that's how I do it.

Mac

 

[paul]

Different regions have different needs, if I came to your neck of
the woods I would go broke in a year, do everything wrong.
For what you have to work with.

Make beds? Never done that outside the house around here,
would make problems in these fields. But your area, that is
what is needed to get a crop. Just different.

I have 2 fields where I will start planting in the middle. Well,
one and a half. It just works better that way. Since my corn
planter only drops one marker at a time, I just have to guess
coming back the other side.

Headlands, or end rows, what do you do then? Where do you
turn around? Here we plant up to the neighbors field, my rows
are 30 inches away from my neighbors rows, there is no
wasted land. Works well, keeps the weeds down. Do you guys
waste that much crop land and not plant the full field, leave
grass or bare land at each end of the field?

Paul

 

[Mac AR]

Paul -
I see where my post could be an ace misleading, and must agree with your opening statement. If was where you are and farmed my way, I'd probably starve the first year. So here's how I do it: For corn, in my part of the Ozark foothills at least, We have to plant in small fields where we can find ground that is less rocky and more level than the rest. Usually when I start planting, around the middle of April after I fit my ground, I start on the straight side of the field with a 4-row clutch lift IH planter, and go across the field using the markers. I have wide headlands, but I don't plant them, for no other reason than I don't know anyone else here who does, and I'd be afraid of breaking down and plowing up too much when I run the middles out with a cultivator. (which, up until about 2 years ago was a horse-drawn 2-row pulled with 3 horses) And, when I get thru with the cultivating I run 2 or 3 passes across each headland to clear them out. When I was talking about bedding, I don't plant corn on ridges (beds). Those are for the couple acres of edible beans I plant each year for the local truck market. I use a Cub Farmall or a 2-row Dearborn lister to throw the ridges up and then a 1 row planter behind a 9n Ford. Again, no planting the headlands. Did a 3 acre cotton patch for several years for the local living history museum and did it the exact same way as the beans. Farming around this area, in my county especially, is not that far removed from the 1 row horse drawn days. As a matter of fact, I do quite a bit of field work with a team in spite of having 3 tractors. I guess it all goes back to how you're raised. I cut my hay with the tractor and rake with the team and bale with a different tractor. Like I told my wife, I wouldn't have them if they couldn't earn their keep. But, on my small place (80 acres, with 20 +/- under the plow, balance to woods and pasture), this way is what works. I suppose I could go to easier practices, but like I say, this works for me. And for the record, I am the last row-crop farmer in my county. Sorry for the long-winded ramble, but you seemed genuinely interested so I thought I'd go into a little more detail.

Take care,

Mac

 

[Mark in Upstate]

Plant the same way you harvest. Simple.