I have been txping corn for the last three years with great success. It is one of the easiest plants to txp, just like the squashes. Usually, about 3-4 weeks in the pot or block and into the ground after frost. 1500 is a good number for a 200 member CSA, over three successive plantings early, mid to late. The economy of it though is not so good, even at a buck an ear, unless you have lots of land and an ecomy of scale...but everyone loves sweet corn.
John Kathryn, Transplanting sweet corn is not an unusual practice in organic systems, because we are limited as to what seed protections we can use and that often necessitates later planting, unless we transplant. I did a little corn transplanting last year, but lost some to frost damage and some because I didn't get the corn in the ground in a timely fashion. How long after planting or emergence do you wait to transplant your corn? Have you had to use row cover to protect the corn once in the ground? Thanks, Kurt Forman Clearview Farm Palmyra, NY 14522 --- KAKerby AT aol.com wrote: From: KAKerby AT aol.comTo: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.orgSubject: Re: [Market-farming] can I crimp an old hayfield to create a no-till mulched ... Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:58:20 -0500 (EST)
No more than an acre, and we'd be doing transplants of warm-season crops
such as cucurbits and sweetcorn. That might sound odd for sweetcorn,
to do transplants. But our window of opportunity is pretty short for
sweetcorn so a lot of growers here start it in trays inside, then put them out
around May 15th.
Another idea I had was to cut the dead standing hay as early and as
low as possible, say Feb 15 or March 1st, thereby creating the mulch (the field
was fallow last year). Then let the existing grasses and the soil's
existing weed seedbank send up whatever growth is going to come on through that
mulch, because I know there'd be at least some growth (possibly a lot).
Right after that first cutting, I could turn my chicken army in there to
peck down whatever new green materials come up. Leave them there for two
months or so to really hammer hard on any fresh new greens and deposit their
little packets of fertilizer at the same time. Then pull them off, plant
the transplants through the mulch, and let the transplants root down through the
mulch and into the soil below. I'd still have my 90day window between
manure application and harvest, and that would put some fast-acting nitrogen
into the mulch pack. The timing would have to be careful, but I would
think hard grazing pressure for two months from the birds would at least set
back the weeds a fair amount, and reduce whatever would be left so the
transplants have a chance to get going. What I'm not sure of is whether
bird poo deposited on top of the mulch would do anything for the crop growing
below the mulch, and/or if my timing would be too close or not sufficient for
everything that needs to happen. Figured I'd pencil it out first, and make
those mistakes on paper before trying it in the field.
Kathryn Kerby
Snohomish, WA
In a message dated 1/27/2011 8:47:38 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
steved AT ipa.net writes: Kathyrn
==
Yes, ideas, but need to know what size planting you have in mind to
match up.
Is it a quarter acre, half acre, or 1, 5, 10 acres?
You aim to direct seed or transplant?
Steve Diver
Still wondering if there's a way to knock down that current grass this
year, and plant into it this year with the old grass as a mulch, without
going the herbicides route. If that's really my only option, I'll wait
and use non-chemical means this year then plant next year. But if
anyone has any other ideas how to do that, I'd love to hear them.
Kathryn Kerby
Snohomish, WA
_______________________________________________
Market-farming
mailing
list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
Market
Farming List Archives may be found
here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/market-farming/
Unsubscribe
from the list here (you will need to login in with your email
address and
password):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming _______________________________________________
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/market-farming/
Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with your
email
address and password):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/market-farming/
Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with your email
address and password):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming
|
