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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: robert schuler <sunnfarm AT bellatlantic.net>
- To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
- Subject: Re: Sweet corn pickin was Re: website
- Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2001 12:22:33 -0500
Hello Jeffery, at my peak I used to hand pick up to 40 acres by myself
starting at
3am and deliver it to market by 10am, I have tried every imaginable method
short of a
machine picker which is probably the best only because its fast.
For 20 years I picked into burlap potato bags using an 8" stick 1.5" thick as
a handle
around the top edge of the bag, it held the bag open, I carried it along a
double row
picking with one hand 54 ears per bag, they were easy to water down to keep
cool
Later I joined a corn coop and had to pick into crates, for hydro cooling , I
took a
wheelbarrow removed the pan and build a wood frame to support a crate at
waist height
that was easy to push down the row and fill with two hands.
Today I have two roadside stands and I use the same wheelbarrow frame to
carry those
new type orange plastic bushel baskets, each holds 36 large ears 48 small
ears this is
by far the easiest way I have found to pick by myself.
I plant 40" rows ,6 rows then a sprayer alley that is also used for moving
corn and
laying irrigation pipe, rows generally are 800 ft long some 1000 ft some 600
ft, a
high yield is very important as well as planting varieties that grow tall and
ears
that snap easy will make your jobs alot easier...
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.
Jeffery Blake wrote:
> This is a topic that interests me as well. There are some Amish that grow
> for my wholesaler. They use a sled that fits between the rows and one mule.
> They dump the sled at the end of the row and have the kids load it on a
> wagon.
>
> For a one man operation I don't use any thing to carry it in. Keep your
> rows farily short. I carry it in my left arm and pick with my right. I
> pick 25 ears at once and carry it back to the wagon. I think it is much
> more work wrestling around baskes etc.
>
> For those bigger jobs,I think I will rig up a picking cart this year. I
> have an old manure
> spreader (well cleaned of course), that I will pull behind the tractor. I'm
> going to weld a bar with a seat on it on each side of the spreader so two
> or three people can sit, pick and toss it in the spreader. The rows between
> the tires concern me. I haven't decided if I can extend the spreader
> tounge, so the corn pops back up from under the tractor before it goes under
> the spreader. It will take some fiddlin'. I might be able to use a forecart
> on the spreader and an extension off the lift arms of the tractor. I'm not
> sure. Using a 3point hitch means using the big tractor and I would rather
> use my old Farmall, it has higher clearance. Another alternative would be
> to weld a seat to the front end loader for the middle rows, that might work
> well. I plant Ambrosia which is short enough to drive over all season long
> with out hurting anything. I doubt if tractor picking would work with some
> of the taller varieties. I'd sure love to see other peoples suggestions
> too. Getting that corn picked is a chore.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Meyer" <rhmeyer1 AT facstaff.wisc.edu>
> To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 4:24 PM
> Subject: Re: website
>
> > Anyone wanting really, specific information, just drop me a line. I've
> > worked with the project from the start. Our funding all comes from non-ag
> > sources at the moment (the CDC's National Institute for Occupational
>
> Safety
> > and Health). We should be adding additional tip sheets later this spring
> > to both the vegetable growers and berry growers pages.
> >
> > One question that came to me from a small-scale sweet corn grower the
> other
> > day relates to any decent tool, or technique for harvesting (one-person
> > crew) and carrying sweet corn. Does anyone have a tool or technique to
> > share? Mostly it seems folks are carrying bags or bushels into the field
> > and filling and carrying them as they go.
> >
> >
>
> ---
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-
Sweet corn pickin was Re: website,
Jeffery Blake, 02/09/2001
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: Sweet corn pickin was Re: website, robert schuler, 02/09/2001
- Re: Sweet corn pickin was Re: website, Jeffery Blake, 02/09/2001
- Re: Sweet corn pickin was Re: website, Jeffery Blake, 02/09/2001
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