Straight planting rows

It's sad that the art of driving straight is dieing Its been a while since I've seen straight rows planted without using a gps

junkman wrote: My  neighbor back during the depression years stated that her and here siblings would go to the corn field equipped only with hoe's. now that would be a job most of us are glad is over.

My Dad was never  known for his straight rows, his reason was he said he was watching a bird on the fence at the other end of the field and the bird must have kept moving. He also said you can get more corn in a crooked row.

AC, don't let her get away even if she does drive an"offbrand" tractor.JP

Driving straight had absolutely nothing to do with it-   Yep- a check-row planting system consisted of guide-wires stretched across the field.  The wire not only made a straight line, it had beads affixed at regular intervals, where the planter 'hit' the beads, the planter dropped a seed.  Took guys at each end of the field setting stakes, measuring distances, and stretching the wire.

Remember that the whole idea here, was to allow cross-cultivation-  you ran down the rows one way, then across the other rows the other way.  Running a mounted cultivator, you had three different angles which to cultivate through and rip out pesky weeds from your fields... and when done right, it'd leave one really pretty lookin' field.

The unfortunate reality to check-row planting (and cross-cultivation) was that the space between knots meant that there was substantially less seed going down in the field, hence, fewer plants, and with fewer plants, more light reaching the ground, hence, more area available for weeds to get sunlight and thrive.

Next... running cultivators, though effective at tearing out weeds, means the soil is always broken, and highly subject to erosion... it also means burning more fuel in a given field.

Finally, it took lots of time (in comparison) to set up that wire and get it straight... and if you're working a field that's far from flat... well... you're gonna have fun with that wire.

So higher yields, basic horticulture, conservationism, and economics have made check-row obsolete... but it is quite a sight to see, and farmers still comment, perhaps even brag on how 'straight' rows are.  Today's planting methods don't require 'straight' rows... they just need to be put down in a way that fills the field and can be harvested by modern machinery.

There's a small point of conservation that DID show in check-row planting... today's techniques put an incredible amount of plants in the field... our back field runs 220bu/acre corn yield on an average year... if it was check-row planted, it'd be lucky to be 75bu/acre, simply because it'd have only a fraction of plants per acre.  The quantity of plants per acre being lower, a check-row field would promote better soil recovery, with the only exception being that mechanical cultivation exposes the soil to erosion losses.



Edited by DaveKamp - 14 May 2011 at 9:43am

The 4020 4440 are the only Deere's they have. They also have the first D17 I've ever driven and the only D21 I've driven/second one I've seen in person I plowed 155 acres with it so far this year,and I will probably add close to another 200 to that not includeing discing before winter wheat (we have to disc before we no-till because we have clay that gets as hard as cement)  before everythings done. with a dual on the left side, you couldn't pick a better tractor to handle a 7 bottom plow. It's been in their family since it was new.

That sure does bring back memories. Even the horse looked like the one I followed behind for at least a million miles!