Sitting here wondering.

I wonder how many trips you guys make or what the procedure you use to grow tobacco or other crops.

To grow corn I start by putting down 150 lbs.potassium and 100 of potash in the late fall followed by a chiesel plow or subsoiler to tear loose the soil.

Around May 1 I go over the ground with a field cultivator, plant the seed with an insecticide and 25 units of nitrogen applied with the planter.

I then spray with a herbicide before the corn emerges.

I may or may not spray again when the corn is 6 to 12 inches tall depending on the weed pressure.

When corn is around that 12" height I apply 75 to 100 units of nitrogen.

Now it is time for mother nature to take care of it till harvest. Some fly on a fungicide after tasseling but I have not yet.

How or what is the procedure for growing tobacco or other crops in your area?

Gary

There is at least 4 types of tobacco, I will give you the run down on what I know, dark air cured. Alot of this has changed some in the last 10 years, I think I am down to where I only handle each plant 13 times. Granddad would roll over in his grave at all my short cuts.

Lime in the fall to get ph to 6.6 or higher.

Early to mid march seed and float steamed trays in a green house.

Early April move to out door float beds covered with canvis. (some skip this step but I don't have enough to have a green house so I buy the plants started at this stage.)

March-April when ever it dries out enough, turn ground with a plow.

Work down ground when ever it is dry enough, most of the time something like 2 passes with a disk, 1 pass chisel, 1 more pass with a disk, 1 or 2 passes with a field cultivator, and a last pass with a cultimulcher. (some passes can be skiped if it was not sod to start with or if the ground is kinda sandy and it's dry)

Some where in there (hopefully before it's chiseled) you put fert down. You put p and k down acording to soil test now, used to say a maintance application was 200lbs p and 150 k but that was when they were cheap.

People who are set up for NH3 put down 300 units about the same time as P and K. People who use urea or Amonium Nitrate (yes some die hards think it's better and will jump the hoops) put it on just before the last pass with a disk, or they side dress at first cultivating (called plow'n here).

Apply Command and spartin just before you go over it with the cultimulcher. Be very carfull not work it in too deep!!

May 10-June 15 set the plants with a setter. Apply admire pro with the setter water for lice (aphids) and tobacco beatles

Walk over the ground and re set by hand after the first rain.

Cultivate at least 2 times before it gets knee high.

Spray with a rotation of orthene and dipel for worms as needed. (or every 10-14 days if you don't want to go look for'm)


When it starts to flower out (heres where I short cut big time!!) spray with a half rate of Butralin and 2 gallons of off shoot T. The next day walk thourgh and break out every top and break off any suckers that are more than 1" long. 3-4 days later spray half rate of Butralin again with half rate of MH30. Week later spray with another half rate of MH30. Anywhere in here if worms are presant mix in orthene or dipel.

If you have any funky fungal stuff show up use quadris rotated with some other stuff I can't recall the name of.

5-6 weeks after topp'n is done you start cutting. You cut every plant with little light weight hatchet type knife. Let it wilt for a few hours or over night. You can not cut too much at a time or it will "sun burn", get too hot and turn black. If you don't let it wilt you will break all the leaves off hand'l it. Once it is wilted you "spike" the plants on a tobacco stick (4' long 1"X1.5" hicery stick) and load them on the wagon. Leave them on the wagon long enough for it to start to yellow(makes'm alot lighter) and hang the skick with 5 plants on it in a barn that has tiers. This is where it cures.

End of October start striping.

Take the sticks out the barn, put them back on the wagon and take them to where ever you strip. Some have room built in the side of a barn, some use a big shop (BEST WAY IF YOU GOT ONE), some (me) use an old house. Take the sticks in the old house and lay them in a pile and cover with plactic so it don't dry out. Slide the stalks off the stick and put the stalks one a table. You have to sort the leave into at least 3 grades, Lug (ratty look'n stuff, bottom 2 leaves) Seconds (off color stuff, next 3 up) and leaf ( the good red stuff where the nicotine is). If you have any sun burnt or just cured up green stuff you have to make a fourth grade for it and sell it to forein buyers for $.50/lb.

Bale the leaves as you grade them. Make bales in wooden boxes. Bales are about 2.5' high, 3' wide, and 1.5' deep and will go 80-100lbs.

When you have enough for a load you place on a trailor, loose leaves on 4' round baskets, about 3' tall, 400lbs (my 16' trailor will haul 8 baskets, plus 3 on the flat bed. Has to be delivered by the end of January.

Did not mean to rite a book, belive it or not I left out some.

Dave

Do you really put on a 150 lbs. potassium then 100 lbs. potash?To me those are one and the same. We very seldom need potash in our fertilizer (they mine it 50 miles from here). Certainly don't lime our soils either.

Very, very interesting. I have always heard that tobacco was very labor tense. Some day we are going to make a trip South just to view the different crops. I just found out couple years ago that cotton was a wood plant, and that peanuts drop vines that grow into the ground and produce peanuts. Didnt know peanuts grow underground. Course Im not very smart on other crops or anything else as far as that is concerned. Corn is my specialty. Thanks for the education on tobacco, appreciate it.

I'm guessing he meant phosphate.

Last year for corn, I had some MAP spread.

I made pass with the sprayer for weed burn down.

I planted, putting 60# of N in 32% with the planter.

I sprayed for weeds.

I side dressed the rest of the N.

I had it combined,

This year for beans I had potash put down.

I sprayed burndown.

I had Prowl H2O applied.

I waited for the ground to warm and dry until mid June.

I planted beans.

I sprayed for weeds.

I had it sprayed for aphids adding fungicide at the same time.

I may walk it to kick down the volunteer corn.

Then someday frost permitting its time to harvest.

Only the harvest passes use a lot of fuel.

Gerald J.

For barley/oats we'll either fall plow or cultivate it first. If we plow we'll go over it with the disk once and the cultivator and harrows twice (or more if we are undersowing it with alfalfa)then we spread fertilizer, plant the seed and wait till it's up a bit and spray it with herbicide. For corn we'll plant after we prep the field the same as oats. We plant with dry fertilizer and a 4rn 7000 planter and spray with herbicide at the regular time. If the field is weedy we'll spray some round-up.

Yep mj is right I meant phosphate not potash.

Gary

Thanks plowboy. That told me enough about tobacco to know it spounds like a lot of work.

Always wonder what it took.

Are you allow so may acres by the government to plant to tobacco?

Gary

(quoted from post at 17:51:59 08/14/08) Thanks plowboy. That told me enough about tobacco to know it spounds like a lot of work.

Always wonder what it took.

Are you allow so may acres by the government to plant to tobacco?

Gary

Click to expand...

Not anymore. Now, you just contract with the buyers how much you will raise.

Gawd Gary, you and kyplowboy gave me nighmares remembering it. He must be west of me, where they raise dark air cured. East of I65 its all burley tobacco (light air cured). Procedure is similar. I got out with the buy-out and never looked back.

I always plowed on the first dry day after Valentines day. I only used float plants the last couple of years. We fixed a plant bed in March before then, 12 feet by 100 feet (makes 1-2 acres of plants), cover with plastic and release 6 pounds of methyl bromide gas under the plastic. Let fumigate for a week then pull the plastic and scatter the seed (2 teaspoons in 2 gallons of fine wood ashes). Then cover with straw and canvas.

Start discing the ground in April, turn it to a pulpy powder. Didnt much matter what the soil test said, it got 1000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and a ton of 5-10-15 per acre. We always got Prowl and Ridomil Gold added to the fetilizer. The morning before setting sit down on a bucket beside the plant bed and pull plants, roll up in a burlap feed sack, I still have my dads sacks from the 50's. 40 bags to the acre (7600 plants) Setting time (two people on the transplanter per row, place every plant by hand. Setter water got 8 gallons of 7-14-7 liquid and a pound of orthene per acre.

I used a 2 row setter so 4 people setting, one following on foot for resets, and one driving the tractor. 2 acres a day after pulling plants was a good day. Plow (cultivate) with a 1 or 2 row cultivator at least 4 times and chop out at least once with a hoe.

At the end of 4 weeks spray again with orthene. At 60-75 days spray again with MH 30 (growth regulator and orthene) and break the flowers out each and every plant, by hand). Drop sticks (48 inch long 1x1 red oak), every other row, every 3 plants, 1200 per acre. At 21-28 days after topping start walking with your tobacco knife. Cut two rows at a time and spear 3 plants from each row on a stick,using a steel srear end you carry in your other hand leave the stick standing up in the field. A good cutter cuts 1000 sticks a day for 12 cents a stick. In less than one or more than 3 days pick up the sticks and load onto a flat wagon (hayrack). Immediately hang in the barn. Takes one person standing on each rail and one pushing up off the wagon. 14 sticks per 12 feet of linear rail.

Manage barn ventilation to control curing. When cured, 6-8 weeks usually drop sticks out of the barn on a damp morning when the tobacco has taken up enough air moisture to not be brittle. Pile and pull the sticks covering in plastic. Most barns had a stripping room attached to strip or pull the leaves off the stalk, 3 grades, and press into a bale. 270-300 man hours per acre, and I dont miss a minute of it.

You raised tobacco the easy way. I have set many plants by hand. this wad not resetting either. Plowed it with a mule until it was too big. Oiled it with a squirt can. Pulled suckers for 3 or 4 weeks. Cut it, put it on scaffles to fall some more then took it to the barn on a wagon and put it up. Fired it with saw dust and wood cut with a crosscut saw and stripped it where you tied it in small bundles matching the length of the leaves in each bundle. Then booked the tied bundles in the barm before hauling it to market. Cut brush etc to pile p;ant beds for burning. Burning at night was the only fun part. Also used a small tin can with hokes punched in the bottom to walk down each rou and shake posion on the plant. Never was in the field with a Mexican. And I am only 60 years old. dark and Burley, Middle Tennessee.

Nope, took an act of congress about 4 years ago.
Now you can grow as much as you want like any thing else. You just need a place to sell it.

Mine is contracted to US Smokeless (cope and skoal).

Thats what I was say'n about granddad. I feel bad every time I write that check for the started plants and not make'n a bed in the fall. Yesterday when I sprayed 6 rows at time with mh for the last time I felt bad too. Gota say, you are not going to find many 30 year olds who have pegged a whole patch. All granddad used for years. Gotta say too that my grandmother loves ride'n the caresel,,,,,

Granddad made me split a few sticks every year so I could say I could do it.

Yes I have stayed up half the night stringing up loose leaves by truck head light.

I don't make 5 or 6 grades anymore.

I don't tie hands any more, I do tie a few twist for friends every year.

Granddad will be gone 10 years Dec 4, hope he would like the way things look around here but I know I would not be able to get away with slack'n so much.

Dave