Planting ideas

Don27

Member
Hi I have a 5 acre field of grass and brush with clay soil .I would like to plant something in the field possible next year. But I'm not sure what to plant or how to go about it. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated thanks.
 
Well that is certainly an open question. :) you could plant cranberries, or mushrooms, or corn, or alfalfa, or tulips, or....

Might help if you fill us in a little more.

Where are you located, so we know your climate and what grows there.

Then, what is your goal? Feed something, make money, enjoy keeping busy, grow food for you or neighbors?

Then, how much time do you have, little bit, lots to tend to a high dollar veggie crop?

Then, what tools, tractor, planter, do you have access to? A hoe and a shovel, or a full line of plow disk spreader planter.....

Paul
 
I'm located in Ohio and I have a MF tractor with 79 hoarse power
. I have an old disc but I can get a different implements if needed.
 
I got my inspiration off of all the wheat and corn fields around here. I really enjoy the feeling of old family farms and there simplicity. I have been spending the last few weeks clearing brush and restoring the land. Sometimes I have been cutting a tree down and didn't realize there was a metal post inside. Almost destroyed my chainsaw.
 
Yes, kind of the pioneer feel and exploring the new frontier all thrown together!

If you figure out harvesting, that might be where you want a neighbor to help?

Working the ground and planting can be fun.

Controlling weeds can be fun or a nightmare, depending on how you presume it......

Harvest can cost a lot for the machines or do so on just a handful of acres.

Soybeans are relatively cheap to plant. You can plant with a drill or planter.

Small grains like oats or wheat are pretty cheap as well to work with. You plant with a drill.

Corn to do right you need to fertilize well, and you need to match the row spacing to the harvest equipment. Modern farms run 30 inches or even less, while,older cheap farm equipment is often 38 inch stuff on your budget. Something to sort out if you go the corn route. If you want to buy an old cheap planter and old cheap corn picker and both are 38 inch rows, then you need some place to store the ears. If you want the neighbor to harvest for you with a combine, you need to match his row width.

Kinda just depends on what direction your interest leads you.

Paul
 
Ok thanks I think I got a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do. I'm good at fixing old equipment and could buy the broken stuff. I'm going to try and make the first Crop simple and slowly progress.
 
Also I would really like to try doing organic. Because I don't like polluting the land and we have animals that are used for meat.
 
If you are inexperienced at crop farming DO NOT GO ORGANIC. It will be a total disaster. You will not be polluting the land with proper use of herbicides. Don't believe everything you read.
 
I figured that was the direction this would take.

When I was a kid dad was basically organic because he was too cheap to buy herbicides, I was the weed control with a hoe or sickle or leather gloves. Those were long miserable days I almost gave up farming..... and that was with very timely harrowing and cultivation. Work it up before you really see the weeds, or they gat ahead of you and no getting back on top of things. With no experience he will have 5 acres of weeds come fall.

What is sad is he doesn?t realize he basically insulted most of us, inferring that we are all a bunch of dirty polluters, that we don?t care about our farms or family?s or customers.

Social media is a dangerous thing to a society, it doesn?t expand our horizons; it helps a herd mentality rapidly expand ignorance.

And if we say anything we will be the ?dumb ones? because it says so on the internet.......

Paul
 
Oo sorry it's not the environment that I'm worried about. I just didn't want to have my animals or kids living near pesticides or herbicides. I wasn't sure how harmful they rely are I just don't like to take chances. Sorry I won't talk about it any more. I don't believe any one here is a dirty polluter. It's your preference if you want to spray or not. I do not think bad of that person at all . I just care about me and my family living a healthy life. I did not get it from the internet I have other resources. My uncle has a large scale farm that uses all kinds of sprays and I love his place.
 
If I thought you were dumb I would not have signed up to this forum in the first place. You should be allowed to do what you want with your field without someone thinking you are stupid . I'm sorry if anyone thought that about you.
 
I understand where you're coming from with the fear of pesticides and herbicides, but always wear you're tin foil hat when you read or watch the news (especially about Roundup). I was a 'hobby farmer' and enjoyed it very much, especially the smell of the earth when plowing. I'd suggest you check with your local ag extension office to start with or find what local coffee shop the local framers frequent, then find out if your state has a "Pesticide Safety Education Program". You also analyse your soil to find out nutrient levels. With out seeing or knowing your local conditions I'd thing about starting with winter wheat (there should be time to get it established). I use to plow, disk, harrow to prepare the seed bed, a broadcast seeder ( drill would have been preferable), then follow up with the harrow. Also you're going to need to find somebody to custom harvest for you. You're going to have weed problems for quit a while, but you mentioned children, they should have FUN walking the soybean rows. Good luck with your endeavor
 
If you've got livestock I'd put in Alfalfa or a mix and either graze it or hay it. First year you could seed it with barley or oats and cut and bale for green feed. Gearing up for grain or corn on 5 acres would be hard to justify and trying organically would be a lot of hard work for little return! I guess you could maybe break it down into 1 acre strips and summer fallow some of it and try to get rid of the grass by continually working it.
 
If you have critters I would certainly grow forages for them on 5 aces, grains on such small acres are a big investment in harvest equipment and timing. Much more suited for alfalfa or grass hay or pasture on a 5 acre plot. Don?t need to plant every year, and if you miss the harvest time you end up with a grassy field, not a pile of weeds and totally lost crop.


90% of farm pesticides are way, way less hazardous than gasoline, which your kids probably walk by that little spot in the garage you spill when you fill the lawnmower every week?

You only get to actual hazardous stuff when controlling insects in a bin or some such, which isnt all that common down on the farm. Very few herbicides are that level of hasordous and typically only used in rare crops.

Most farm chemicals are a ?caution? product and a person should respect and follow the label on how to handle them, but once you mix that gallon jug of product that is far safer than a gallon of gasoline with 50-500 gallons of water it is diluted down to not being much of a worry compared to what you have sitting under your kitchen sink or in your garage shelves.

Again it doesn?t mean we can ignore safety, but your choice of wording just hits me rough on a bad day.

Your 5 acres would be well suited for near organic type growing, having a sprayer and buying the right amounts of spray would be difficult as would be hiring someone to come spray such a small spot. Organic means no actual fertilizer tho, that opens another can of worms as to how will you feed your crop, or just raise a poor underfed crop, or will you have manure and apply way too much P in order to get enough N on the crop and create excess runoff that way?

The balance of organic vs conventional farming is interesting, if you really study up on it. On my farm I take soil samples every 2.5 acres every 5 years and then have fertilizer spread with gps equipment to make every 2.5 acres get exactly the amount of P and K needed to balance up the different acres to make the best crop I can, while not putting too much fertilizer on the acres already high in those nutrients. The high tech spreader I hire has 4 compartments and can spread each product at different rates as it travels across the field.

For air pollution new tractors come with tier 4 emissions which cost $15,000 a machine and that much in repairs every few years very fussy parts.

But none of that matters, Farmers are evil any more, some pot smoking hippie can slop on manure in any amount, not worry about controlling weeds at all, drive his old smoker tractor around, and hey they are cool saving the world by growing all the organic natural food anyone needs..... not like those evil commercial farmers....

Yea your choice of wording just hit a nerve with me. On a bad day of struggling with other farm issues. Sorry.

Paul
 
thanks I was looking into winter wheat too. Also what do you think about a cover crop? Supposedly it's good for the soil.
 
I'm sorry I didn't think it through all that much be for I posted. I have a old tractor from the 50s I believe, and I drive that tractor all over the place. It isn't exactly a clean engine either which I prefer. I really dislike the emissions control on machines. I cant tell you how many times my truck has reduced the engien power because of unclean burning . One of my family members I forget how he's related. But he has a comical farm and has about 100 acres of fields . He only does organic and I'm going to ask him how he keeps the weeds under control just to see what he recommends. He may recommend i start off spraying, and what equipment is the most bang for your buck . I Will tell you what his advice is just to let you know if you think i should try it out.
 
thanks I just read all that vary interesting. I need to look into how t to plant harvest wheat .
 
See, we have some stuff in common too. :) I just bought my first tractor made in this century, so a 19 year old machine..... been farming all my life.

Paul
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top