A few people have been asking for a follow up from my Burn Baby Burn post. Here it is!
This photo is an overview of the corn field two days after the flame weeder went through. You can see how some areas are burned a little more than others. This photo was taken while standing on the side of the road.
This photo is nine days after the flame weeder went through. It is almost in the same area as the one above, but this one was taken from the window of the van. The mosquitoes are so bad right now, I didn’t want to get out. 🙂
I enlisted Jonathan’s help in taking the next few photos. We were on a parts run (farmer date), so he took the photos while I walked out into the corn. The field I’m standing in is the one we were flaming in the video (link above). It was about knee high nine days ago!
Here are two close ups of the corn leaves. You can see that there are still a few burned edges, but for the most part, the plants are nice and green again.
Last weekend, we had great corn growing weather. High temperatures, high humidity, and little wind. Some say that if you stand out in the field and listen, you can hear the corn grow on days like that. The corn is looking great. There were some broad leafed weeds that didn’t die, so our crew will be walking the fields this week to hoe those weeds out.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section!
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Thanks….I was wondering. You are a lady that is very “out standing in her field” !!! I know, a little “corny”, but couldn’t resist !!!
how many times do you guys get through your corn with the flamer before the rows lap? also, I assume you are growing organic? what do you guys use for fertilizer? and what kind of yields do you get? thanks for any info you are willing to share. great video!
Thanks for the comments, Rich!
We go through our corn once with the flame weeder. We follow the flaming with a cultivator pass. By then the corn is too tall to go through again.
Yes, we are organic farming. We use hog manure and green manure in the form of a tillage radish and oat cover crop in front of corn. The past few years our corn yields have been about average with our neighbors. Whole farm average was in the 160’s last year. Our area was hit by strong winds on September 19th last year, which damaged the corn and affected some of the yields. It’s always something, isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing! I heard in the video that you cannot do this for other crops, do you also grow wheat and soybeans? How do you manage weeds/insects in those crops? Row cultivators?
When we first plant our crops (corn, soybeans, and wheat) we use a harrow, then when the plants have emerged we use a rotary hoe, and in the corn and soybeans we use row cultivators. We also have migrant workers walk the soybeans for weeds in the rows. This year, we may try a flame weeding trial on soybean ground when the plants are barely out of the ground. New research has shown this can be effective. We’ll see! 🙂
As for insects, we plant soybean hybrids that are naturally resistant to soybean aphids in areas that are prone to infestation, but haven’t had insect issues in corn or wheat for a long time. Our three crop rotation helps to prevent root worm, for example. The University of Minnesota is also conducting an experiment in soybean fields with predator wasps. They feed on soybean aphids in a very Alien like way. They are trying to determine what makes good habitat for the wasps to overwinter, and have a food source if aphids are not an issue. Pretty cool stuff!