To Matt Schwartz, I can't speak for the tiller, but a quack digger/cultivator works great, I hit mine once, then rolled it with a lawn roller. My beans are past my knees and my corn is about 7ft tall. I put it in the weekend after memorial day. This is a great trick! Kudos to the guys at Reed's for sharing.
Thank you for this, I have been prepping ground for corn and beans, and really sweating how to do this most efficiently on my budget, this is my blessing from you!
Just planted corn 2 weeks ago same method as this and its up an growing. Wish I could show you a pic of the field my average stalk height was 12,' averaged 2 ears to the stalk and some had 3 ears but the third dint amout to much. Average ear size was 10" to 13" long, second ear on stalk averaged 6" long.Showed this video to my boss at work an he planted an acre like this up at his hunting camp.@genesiscustomfoodplots
Matt Schwartz, yes a tiller works. The first year i did a plot I let the tiller run over the ground with out engaging the pto, just letting the tines "roll" over the dirt and it worked pretty good. The next year i turned the tiller on but at low RPM and again, it worked really good. My 3rd year I opened the rear gate of the tiller and turned it on and ran it 2300 rpm so it would throw the dirt out the back to help cover more seed and again the plot looked fantastic. There will be some seed on top but don't let it discourage you into thinking it wont grow, it will as long as you got a decent seed bed. I generally do this with beans every year and I did it with corn one year and everything turned out. Kinda off topic but this past year i tilled in my beans from last year around the end of March, at the end of April I had beans growing on their own and I never planted anything. the deer didn't eat all of the beans so they naturally grew just from tilling in the old beans from last year. Dirt quality may have different effects for everyone but where I'm located in northern Mo, the dirt is pretty good.
Well i hope it works like mine does. I know different parts of the country have different types of soil and moisture. We get dew in morning which also help get plants growing if the seed is left on top. This method has worked so well for me that i bought 2 more tillers for a couple Of tractors i used to pull disc with. The tillers just do the work easier and in one pass. Sometimes, ill broadcast the beans/corn into the grasses/weeds that are already coming up in spring and till the seed in all at the same time. Come back month or 2 later and spray herbicide as usual. I use to till first, then broadcast, then till Again. Once the dirt has been tilled really good the first time, its pretty loose still year after year to just do it all in one pass . Saves time,fuel and wear and tear. Hope it works out for you, Let us know!
How do you address weed competition in the plot? I assume the seeds are glyphosate tolerant but how do you apply glyphosate without damaging the young corn and bean plants if they aren’t in rows?
Simply drive thru the stand and spray. You will definitely run some over but our seed rates account for it. Don’t try to avoid plants, just try to keep your spacing consistent and make the least amount of passes to get complete coverage. Obviously the wider your boom, the fewer passes you will need. Thanks for watching!
I have no tractors, but I own a heavy equipment company. Excavators, dozers, skid steers. I plant my plots with a tiller attachment and a brillian seeder cultipakers etc. what could I use for the last step of the process if I don’t have a disc attachment? I have a Harley rake and a 6x8 harrow drag with the spikes on it that can be used 3 different ways. Would that work, or should I purchase a disc and modify it for use on my skid steer?
If you can get harrow to cover the seed at least 1-2" you can try that. It might work if the soil is loose enough and worked deep enough with the tiller. I wouldn't be afraid to try it. That said, I've seen some pretty nifty mods on disks for a skid steer too. Good luck!
Hi Sam - yes if you have your disk set up correctly to not leave too many clumps and ridges you can do that. Generally an initial tillage pass and a lighter finish pass will prep a seed bed well enough if you want to run a planter. Thanks for watching!
Hi John- we haven’t used a tiller but other guys commenting in this thread have and it seems to have worked for them. Take a look thru the comments and see if that helps you out. Good luck and thanks for watching!
So I only have a atv disc, it does decent, but I was thinking of renting a tractor with a rototiller spreading it, then running it over with a cultipacker instead of disking it back in, will this be ok? Also im doing it in about .50 of a acre instead of .25 so I should just double it all and be good to go? Excellent video by the way!
We generally don't run tillers, but see the comment from James below and his experience with the tiller. Seems like good advice to me and it is working for him. As far as the "recipe", yes just double it for 1/2 acre and you'll be good to go. Thanks for the support and thanks for watching!
Hi Martin - we get roughly 2 - 2.25 acres per bag but depends on the seed size in each bag which can vary from variety to variety and year to year. Last season, we had bag weights (80,000 seeds per bag) vary from the high 40#'s to low 50#'s so you can have some variation. You could certainly dial it in to a more planting exact rate per bag with a little math, but the ratio we use gets us pretty darn close to the same from year to year. Thanks for watching!
I love your content! Please tell me what brand broadcaster you use. It looks like the motor is on top vs on the bottom like all the others. That seem like a much better design.
Thanks Vince, appreciate the support! That spreader is one we have custom built on 3 different machines from a variety of part manufacturers but it's a pretty simple design. I've had a lot of questions about them over the years....Maybe we should start selling them :)? The motor itself is the most expensive part but they are readily available online in quite a few places and easy to mount on a piece of flat steel bolted to the top of the hopper.
Hi Matt- haven’t tried with a tiller but there is one way to find out! Give it a try and till like normal first, then broadcast materials. “Cover” it while using your 3pt to keep your tiller high and only a couple inches in the ground. Might take some experimenting but we were often told we couldn’t disk it in either. Good luck!
HI Michael - update video coming soon. Corn is all 8'+ tall and beans are waist high. Cob production is excellent. Look for the update shortly. Thanks for watching!
Hi Joseph. I wouldn't recommend planting cowpeas unless you can find a chemical that will be effective on corn and peas together without damaging either one. The nice part about soybeans and corn is there are lots of varieties of both that are glyphosate tolerant. If you can find the correct chemical, I would plant a 1/2 rate of peas with corn and broadcast accordingly. Hope that helps and good luck!
Thanks Ken- great question. I can’t say for sure that helps keeps coons out or not. We’ve seen a lot more corn damage than usual this year, mostly from deer but coons are always around. Might have to figure out a side by side test and see if there’s a difference. Thanks for the question!
Not sure how that would work. Corn likes to be around 2" deep. If it gets too shallow you'll get poor root structure and standability will suffer. Only sure way to find it is give it a try but make sure the soil is loose and worked as much you can to get that seed in the ground as best you can with the equipment you have. Good luck!
We do spray this mix as both the corn and beans are round up ready. You can also get corn/bean seed that is tolerant to other chemicals in areas where glyphosate resistance is present. Thanks for watching!
Hi David =. Thanks for watching, appreciate it! Unfortunately, we aren't experts in north Texas and I'd only be guessing. Best to talk with local farmers and follow their lead as I don't want to give you bad advice.
Hi Robert - corn was a 90 day corn from Pioneer seeds. We source all of our seed from our local dealer. You should be able to find a good quality seed at just about any farm supply or local cooperative. Good luck!
Hi Carson - it will work but our experience is that one application per season works best if its extended release nitrogen. If it’s not, then should split the nitrogen to 2 applications, 1/2 at planting and 1/2 about 6-8 weeks later, or about when you spray. Have fun planting!
So I can do the corn, bean, and 19-19-19 all the same as you guys did when you first plant but only put 1/2 a bag of nitrogen down per 1/4 acre and later come in with the other half per 1/4 acre?
Thanks Wayne...disc angles are important, no doubt. We have touched on disk angles in previous videos, but probably worth putting it on the list for future, more detailed coverage.
You’ve definitely gotta love it or none of it makes any sense. A lot like any other hobby…it’s the journey that counts, not always the destination. Thanks for watching!
