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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Bed Shaper

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  • From: "Kelly Saxer" <kellysaxer AT hotmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bed Shaper
  • Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 08:24:01 -0700

Hi Mark,

Thanks for all your input...I really appreciate hearing how others work through their problems. If I've learned anything at all during the time I've been farming, it's that there's no ONE way to do anything! Folks have been farming since the beginning of time and certainly not with the kind of equipment many of us employ now.

Thanks again for all your ideas and input.

Kelly


From: "TxBeeFarmer" <txbeefarmer AT hotpop.com>
Reply-To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bed Shaper
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:39:31 -0600

I can't quite understand all this bed shaping business. However, it does
seem like a lot of you are using one though. I've run into the problem of
clods interfering with the planter too, but found virtually all it caused by
forming the beds when the soil is too moist. We do use clod crusher when
deep plowing, but that's every three years or so and only in the cotton
field. Here's how it goes in the garden. A tandem disk is run over it when
the soil is pretty dry - maybe more than once. Then chiseled where the beds
will be - as deep as possible. Then busters to make the beds. At this
point the beds are pretty dry and have few if any clods. After a good rain
let the field sit until the top soil is dry. Although the surface may be a
little dry, that's where running busters in front of the planter comes in.
Set them to be level with the ground and about a half inch above where the
seeds come out of the tubes. When planting, lower the planter so the
busters skim off the dry soil and make a perfect level surface for the
planter as it comes along. The opening plows are set to 1.5 - 2.0 inches
and the paddles to cover the seeds are set at the same height as the seed
tubes.

Well, anyway, that's the way I do it. No bed shapers here.

TxBeeFarmer
Mark (West Texas - Zone 7b)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Saxer" <kellysaxer AT hotmail.com>
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bed Shaper


> That's exactly what I use now. I have a 6 foot draw bar, with 2
> middle-buster plows mounted directly behind my tractor wheels. I till
> with
> a rototiller attachment first, so that the soil is well worked before I
> make
> rows. My tractor pulls the 2 middle-buster plow that I have just fine,
> but
> it doesn't make the best planting surface at the top of the bed. The soil
> it throws to the top of the bed is often uneven and sometimes a little
> clumpy. As a result, my seeder can't run smoothly along the bed top and
> I'm
> not getting the germination rates that I'd like to. I work by myself and
> depend a lot on my tractor and attachments to be my help. I'm not the
> handiest person in the world and have found that when I try to improvise,
> I'm often sorry I wasted the time and heartache. All I need is something
> to
> smooth the top of my rows, though. So, I do think I'll give it some
> thought
> before spending the extra money.
>
> Thanks,
> Kelly

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