What am i doing wrong???

[Lanse]

With the damn corn??? This is the second year i've tried at it, and the second year its turned into a nightmare. I mowed over the waist high disaster after i got tired of looking at it. Its an interesting feeling knowing your pathetic 5 acers beat you (again).

So i plowed everything up, got rattled to death in the stupid yuppie tractor tilling it since i dont have a disk, then dumped ferdiliser on it and planted. I forget what we used, some field corn seed we got offline. I cultivated it, it got planty of rain except the 37 day drought and 23 day and counting drought we're in now. So what am i doing wrong here???

-what kind of sprayer is best for a 50 horse tractor?? B^stard down the road sold a planter out from under me, and this tractor is WAY too big for a 1 row cultivator. And that hasnt worked out the last two years, so im not to optimistic now.

-Herbicide. I dont have a clue here. Cultivating just hasnt worked out and im not going to bother next year. What would i use to keep the weeds down???

-Soil. My devoted mother hasnt in the last 3 years bothered to take a container of soil to the place 20 miles from here. Is there something i could get off the internet-some test kit that would work??? Has anyone here gotten any success from these kits?? What did you use???

-Seed. Do you buy this from the same place you'de get herbicide??? I have no clue here either. Where would you get either??

I know what a dumba$$ i sound like, and im more then a little steamed and discouraged right now, and for that i apoligize, but i really could use a hand right now.

 

[Ron/PA]

In answer to your post title, and at risk of sounding like a smartass I'll say you're doing a little bit of everything wrong.

"I forget what we used, some field corn seed we got offline" Get some decent seed and get a brand name from a reputable dealer.

It sounds like you can't put down fertilizer as you plant. Get someone to custom plant it for you. Get the food where it'll do the most good, by the plant. You don't say what fertilizer you're using. I guess that's because you don't have your soil test results back yet so you know what to use. Your Mother's not farming, so don't blame her. Get your butt and your sample down to be tested and then go over the results with the agent. He'll be able to make all kinds of recommendations as to what you need.

You will never be able to get rid of all the weeds by cultivating, but you can get a crop off if you really want to do it often enough. I've gone to Roundup Ready corn, since it's the easiest way of controlling all of the weeds I have to contend with. If you're going to go with herbicide, learn to identify your weeds, find out what is available for use both restricted and non restricted and then learn all you can about these products and what effect they'll have on your operation, for this crop and future crops on this ground.

Get your ground ready, line up a decent custom planter until you get ready to plant it right, then line up a custom sprayer that'll help you identify your needs and suggest remedies, until you're set up to spray your own.

Look in the yellow pages under seed dealers, any one of them will sell you seed and recommend a supplier of herbicide. Consider getting your private applicator license so you can spray your own corn no matter what chemical you use.

Are you prepared to harvest and store this crop when you get a good one?

Now, lest you think I'm just being a hard azz, I've been down every road you described and found the problem is always when I try to cut corners.

It's darned expensive to plant corn now, I just paid $156.00 per bag for next years seed, to avoid a hefty increase coming next year. It's even more expensive to do it half assed and lose every thing in a mowed down crop.

By the way, if you're fighting a pure drought year, your neighbors ought to be looking as poor as yours.

Good luck.

Ron

 

[Anonymous-0]

You could run a simple pH test on your soil. You're just wasting fertilizer if your soil is real acid. Should be able to find a kit at an ag supply store or online.
Aren't you in FFA? I thought you mentioned that in a post a while back. You're advisor could help you out or steer you in the right direction. Or maybe there is a active or retired farmer nearby. Someone close by would be more help than someone hundreds of miles away like me.
Good Luck, I know farming can be discouraging at times.

 

[paul]

Soil: Ph needs to be right or no amount of fertilizer will help.A $20 soil test from the lab will tell you what you need to add, much much much better that a do it yourself test which costs more & doesn't tell you much & is not accurate.

Corn needs about 150 lbs of N, 40-60 lbs of P, and 40-60 lbs of K per acre. ACTUAL lbs of those, if you use 10-10-10 fert you need a lot of lbs to get there..... If you buy 500 lbs of 10-10-10 for your acres, you are only getting 10 lbs of each per acre - way short. Fertilizer is expensive.....

Seed: poor seed will only yield 40 bu an acre, good seed will yield over 200 bu an acre. Good seed pays. Field corn sucks for seed, does not work. Field corn from hybred seed does notr produce grain, might only get 20 bu an acre - it doesn't breed right.

Herbicide: If you pay extra for Roundup Ready corn, you can spray Roundup anytime & control any weeds. Seed costs much more.

Regular corn, spray a broadleaf spray early, can put down a grass control before planting, or a more expensive grass control product after it's up. TIMING is very very critical with these sprays, be a couple days late or early & you won't get control, worse you could damage the corn if timing is off.

--->Paul

 

[Lanse]

Where would i get roundup ready corn anyways??? Cant see how anyone would take 5 acers very seriously....

 

[Ron/PA]

"Cant see how anyone would take 5 acers very seriously.... "

Using Paul's numbers and your 5 acres, figure 5 acres times 200 bushel per acre or 1000 bushel. Even at $5.00 per bushel you gross $5,000.00 Now that's pure gross and only best number projections but as for me, I'll take 5 grand serious even if I can't keep it all. Then again as you know by now, it's a gamble but doesn't have to be as much of a gamble as you're making it. Even if you cut that yield in half, you're looking at $2500.00.

As to where to get roundup ready seed corn? Any seed company I know of has it. I'm not sure what area of the country you're in, but if you're seeing corn fields, then look around as you pass them and sooner or later you'll see seed brand signs out along the road bragging up their projected yield in that field.

Yellow pages or Google should turn up around a bizillion dealers.

Ron

 

[paul]

Well, here in Minnesota Albert Lea Seed House (you can find them on the internet, alseeds.com I think....) will ship you UPSa few bags of seed.

They also have open pollinated seed, so you could get conventional hybred, open pollinated, or any of the traits shipped to your door.

Farmer-dealer seed men are about every 5 miles apart here in MN, if not closer. If you are in an ag area, you should be able to see dealer signs down just about any county road.

Most of the ag coops around here have started selling seed, can walk in and order a bag or 2 of seed over the counter.

So you have some options.

Five acres should be 2 bags of 80,000 seeds.

--->Paul

 

[JOE FARMER]

lanse;;REALISTICLY,, TAKE A SAMPLE FROM SEVERAL
AREAS OF YOUR POTENTIAL FIELD,, AND MIX TOGETHER TAKE A SAMPLE, ALOT OF TIMES THERE AREPLACES OFFERING FREE TEST FOR THE GARDENERS, WHOS TO KNOW, BUT IT SOUNDS TO ME YOU HAVE A WEED PROBLEM MOSTLY, THE WEEDS WILL CHOCK OUT EVERYTHING, 1 BAG OF CORN WILL COVER APPROX 3.3 ACRES, ANTI UP AND GET SOME GOOD RR CORN , THIS WILL SAVE YOU FROM HAVING TO GET A LICENSE TO BUY ANYTHING WITH AATRAZINE IN IT, IF U HAVE SOMEBODY ELSE DO YOUR SPRAY , I RECOMEND USING LEXAR PRE- EMERGANCE THEN FOLLOW UP ANY ESCAPES AFTER CORN IS A FOOT TALL BY THE TIME THE WEEDS ARE DIEING DOWN,IT SHOULD CANOPY PRETTY GOOD,
ALSO ID SAY U ARE LACKING NITROGEN IN YOUR FERTILIZER PROGRAM,, MAYBEY BUDDY UP WITH A FARMER WHO CAN DICK PLANT AND SPRAY 4 U IN EXCANGE FOR LABOR, TRY TO STICK WITH IT, SOMETIMES IT S HARD BUT U ARE BUILDING RESECT AND CHARACTER,, AT LEAST IN MY MIND, I RESPECT YOUR AMBITION, E- MAIL ME
KOBALT 20042003@ YAHOO .COM

 

[GordoSD]

Lanse. I's drive around and identify the best looking corn near you. Then ID that farmer and talk to him. Maybe he will swing over to your place when he is doing his ground next spring and do a little custom work for you.
Good farmesr like to help new and upcoming youngsters as there are way to few. Volunteer to help him out also.

Gordo

 

[Anonymous-0]

Lanse: I started out like you 55yrs. ago I think I've seen it all, but 4 dry yrs. in the last 12 just makes me want to stick around to see what can go wrong next! A few things I have learned; Nothing is more expensive than cheap seed, it takes just as long to do a good job as a halfa$$ one, and one hour of planning is worth more than a week doing something wrong. GOOD LUCK

 

[Jared M]

Like the other guys said get your pH back up with lime before fertilizer, don't buy cheap seed. Your local feed mill should have decent seed and be able to do a soil test too. Ask older farmers for advice you would be surprised how willing they are to help. There is what is called a critical weed free period that is from the time you plant to canopy generally 4-6 weeks. If it were me I would once again go to the older farmers to see if one of them would spray it for you rather than buy a sprayer and herbicide. One last thing I am curios about. Was the field in corn before you started corn 2 years ago. Continuos corn can cause a buildup of disease such as stalkrots and and other fungal infections. It may be a better idea to bury the stubble and try beans one year.