[Market-farming] Bed Shaper

TxBeeFarmer txbeefarmer at hotpop.com
Mon Dec 12 10:48:10 EST 2005


Morning Willie and All,

For small seeds I don't use real beds or a planter - here's how.

Tandem disk the soil.  The soil needs to be pretty dry to avoid clods and 
seed germination. Get as deep as you can the first pass or two, then go over 
it lightly to even it out with the last pass.

Broadcast the seeds with a broadcaster - mix the seeds with some DRY potting 
"mix" or sand if need be, my broadcaster can handle tiny seeds like turnips 
without mixing.  How fast you run through the field has a lot to do with it 
too.

Run the tandem over it VERY lightly again to bury the seeds.  Again, the 
soil needs to be dry.  The seeds will sit there until it rains.  You don't 
want the seeds to germinate from the moisture in the soil at this point. 
I've also heard of farmers dragging some chain link fence to bury the 
seeds - mainly wild flower growers.

When the plants are a few inches tall, run your sweeps through to form the 
furrows.  If you want a little bit of a bed with a low center where the 
plants are, use the busters lightly to push up dirt on each side of the 
"bed" from the furrows - just enough so the bed will have sides to hold 
water when it rains or hold irrigation water.  If this is done, the sweeps 
will still need to be used prior since the busters won't be set deep enough 
to kill all the plants in the furrows.

For crops that need to be buried more as the plants grow, use the busters to 
push more dirt out of the furrows onto the beds as the season progresses.

Happy Farming,

TxBeeFarmer
Mark (West Texas - Zone 7b)


On 12/12/2005 8:17:08 AM, Willie McKemie (mf at austinfarm.org) wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 07:39:31AM -0600, TxBeeFarmer wrote:
> > I
> can't quite understand all this bed shaping business.  However, it does
>
> You don't
> say what kind of planter your are using.  In the past, I
> think you have said it is a cotton/corn/grain tractor mounted planter?
> Something suitable for planting many acres of large seed?
>
> I believe most folks here are using Earthway or Glazer hand
> pushed/pulled planters that are suitable for planting relatively small
> areas with small seed.  These planters need smooth and level beds.
>
> How do you plant lettuce, carrot, broccoli, mustard, onion, etc?
>
> --
> Willie, ONWARD!  Through the fog!
> http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995
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