Results of trials to block weeds in garden...

[Crane Stoves]

OK, ive tried several things thus far to prevent/reduce the horrible chore of weeding and this is what ive found...

weed block fabric: is the best (area's in photo were weeds are coming through are the areas where previous lettuce was already picked from), im going to have to try my best to re-use fabric each year or find a cheap supplier for some crappo 1 year fabric?

preen: works to reduce the horror by approx 80-90%

no treatment: not an option because as you can see by the photo's i cant keep up manually and weeds would engulf my gardens.

using your lawn to avoid weeds: this is surprisingly a good cheap and easy option i will be using more for certain things (things i can mow right up against in strait lines) worked wonderfully with rows of snap peas!

area without weed treatment
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area preen applied to
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area with weed fabric
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area planted in grass
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[save$]

Honestly ,the best thing I have found to control weeds is a hoop hoe. Get a good one with sharp edges on each side. In the morning, go scrap the soil back and fort. Most young weeds are cut off and lay on top of the soil where the sun dries them out. This is better than deeper hoeing because it does not overturn much soil which would expose more dormant weed seeds and start them growing.
I can do an area about 20 ft x 20 ft in 20 min. The key here is to do before the weeds get to big.
I have a friend who keeps his rows far enough apart so he can run his lawn mower down between his rows!
What ever you do, try not to let the weeds go to seed. If you use manure, make sure it is well composted. Putting last years cow manure in your garden is a sure way to plant a hayfield.

 

[MasterMech]

That's the theory behind a cultivator like farmers commonly used long ago, when fuel was cheap. Keep uprooting weeds in between the rows and bury the ones in between the plants. I remember cultivating 40+ acre fields of corn, 2 rows at a time, with a John Deere B and a mid-mount cultivator. They should sentence convicts to that.

 

[lukem]

I plant rows far enough apart I can get my tiller down through and scratch the top 1"-2"....then go back with a hoe between the plants and get anything the tiller can't reach. I just keep on top of it and I can do my whole 2500 ft2 garden in under an hour.

Works good enough for me.

 

[lukem]

I remember cultivating 40+ acre fields of corn, 2 rows at a time, with a John Deere B and a mid-mount cultivator. They should sentence convicts to that.

I thought 16 hours a day on a 4450 was bad...at least I had AC and a radio.

 

[billb3]

I use lots of leaves.
I've used black ground cover, too
It's supposed to help warm soil too but I've had troubles with moles or chipmunks tunneling under it.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I do what Bill does. The soil can overheat with some of those black plastics- I find that mulched leaves/compost regulate heat better. They require more maintenance in a year, and are not quite as effective- but it works well for me, and as they decompose they improve soil.

Some plastics will degrade and end up in soil if you don't watch out between seasons and replace them.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

By the way- similar to your using the lawn- boosting up the organic matter (OM- from compost and mulched leaves/grass) in the soil and planting the garden densely helps as well. The OM supports more plants in a small area, and more plants crowd out weeds better. Plus- with high OM, pulling weeds is really easy- the roots come right out of loose soil. Square foot gardening is an intense version of that- but there's no need to get that formal about it or to spend money on peat moss.

 

[MasterMech]

I thought 16 hours a day on a 4450 was bad...at least I had AC and a radio.

Actually you couldn't pry me out of the cab of either the 4440 or the 4450 (we had one too!) even tho the AC didn't work. Loved hearing those big turbos sing too.

Harvested grain with an ancient (1950's) International 82 combine, 5ft at a time . Ran that with the 4020. Another machine I couldn't get enough of....

We had a 3020 and a 4-row mounted cultivator to replace the setup on the B but unfortunately the summer I was working that farm, the 3020 was down most of the time.

Just in case you're wondering why we're farming with 60's era technology it's a certified organic small grain operation so spraying for weeds was out of the question.

 

[begreen]

Sorry to say but that corn in the preen area looks pretty spindly and sickly. Did you use the preen made for veggies ( only corn gluten) or the regular preen with trifluralin?

 

[Crane Stoves]

Sorry to say but that corn in the preen area looks pretty spindly and sickly. Did you use the preen made for veggies ( only corn gluten) or the regular preen with trifluralin?

i agree, im not sure if the preen somehow stunted them or what? Im new to this and learning for sure which is why im reading everything people say and absorbing all this good info for future crops. Its very strange but i have 3 corn plants which look like jurasic freekin park while all the others look like thin straw (the 3 looking like jurasic park have no corn forming yet but just started seeing tassels on the tops. The only thing i did differant around these 3 pro corn plants is i mounded at the base of them with the little miricle grow potting soil i had left over in a bag (a told me they look like a different species of corn), but how coincidental that is.....that the only 3 plants i mounted miracle grow soil against look like this and all others look like crap? (the second pic gives a good look at the size difference below)

I have 3 seperate garden areas which total about 3000 sq', i do agree that a hula hoe is a great tool to weed with and i WILL try it.... i dont think i have that kind of time in my life at this point yet LOL so im determined to experiment and learn what my best options are and thank you all for giving me all your ideas

3 corn plants with little miracle grow at base
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corn plants with miracle grow soil at base
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[MasterMech]

Rule of thumb for healthy corn was always "knee-high by July". Apparently Miracle Grow works pretty good.

 

[save$]

That corn seems to be planted way too thin. We always planted 3 seeds in one hole, each hole a foot apart. Then you have a thicker stand and more ears to harvest. Did that for years when we had enough space to grow corn. Also, new varieties of corn are much shorter. Harvest is from waist high corn.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That's the theory behind a cultivator like farmers commonly used long ago, when fuel was cheap. Keep uprooting weeds in between the rows and bury the ones in between the plants. I remember cultivating 40+ acre fields of corn, 2 rows at a time, with a John Deere B and a mid-mount cultivator. They should sentence convicts to that.

I resemble that remark.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

As for the weeds, I've never been fond of hoeing. So after the crop is up, we then cover the entire garden with straw. It takes around 20 bales to do the trick. In the fall, we rake off most of the straw then till. That is, in a normal year. This year we have very little garden but it was by choice. Even then, what we planted did not do well because we needed rain and did not get it. I was going cross country when I should have been hauling water to the gardens.

 

[billb3]

Just went back and looked at your pics ( I like that fence but the low wire would never keep the rabbits from hell here out ) and noticed the sprinkler.
Maybe get rid of that for a week or so and see what happens , summer squash and zucchini don't always like being wet topsides. Might help keep the flowers open longer, too.

I grow mine in groups of three ( although I only did pairs with the zucchini this year) in a hill with a ring mound so if it does get real dry I can just leave a hose running slow amidst them and the water doesn't wash downhill.
If it rains too often here I'll have powdery mildew problems.
I can't overhead water at all.



ll.

 

[billb3]

another thought
( I've never seen black miracle grow, just the mix with liquid stuff )

maybe you have your nitrogen too high
that can over stimulate green leafy growth at the expense of fruiting and flowering

 

[basod]

I thought 16 hours a day on a 4450 was bad...at least I had AC and a radio.

How about a 1952 farmall cub, with no electric starter and it ran like a POS, if you bogged it down without getting the hydos back up 1/4mi into a 1/2mi row, walk up 2 miles and get the old Ford 3000 to pull start it. Have fun backing that down the rows as well. I remember thinking how cool it would be as an 11yo when the older guys got to go cultivate on the tractors while I was stuck watering the mums all afternoon - young and dumb. Even more "fun" was bushhogging with that 70's 3000 1st gear wide open and that heat blowing on you on a 90deg afternoon.

For cheap weed block check with your local carpet place ask if they have any end scraps that they throw away works like a champ and holds moisture.

 

[MasterMech]

How about a 1952 farmall cub, with no electric starter and it ran like a POS, if you bogged it down without getting the hydos back up 1/4mi into a 1/2mi row, walk up 2 miles and get the old Ford 3000 to pull start it. Have fun backing that down the rows as well. I remember thinking how cool it would be as an 11yo when the older guys got to go cultivate on the tractors while I was stuck watering the mums all afternoon - young and dumb. Even more "fun" was bushhogging with that 70's 3000 1st gear wide open and that heat blowing on you on a 90deg afternoon.

For cheap weed block check with your local carpet place ask if they have any end scraps that they throw away works like a champ and holds moisture.

No hand crank on that one?

 

[basod]

nope, it had a starter that had failed long before my time - the tractor was newish when my boss first started working on the farm as a kid in the late 50's.
Parked it on the hill in front of the barn to role start it.
He bought a restored 70's IH cub that which i swapped the rear axel extensions over to and front axel, atleast I didn't have stay on the edge of my seat ready to dump the clutch anymore.

The hand crank was on the irrigation pump - custom job with real wire-spoke wheels on it, nearly became an amputee on that sucker a few times

 

[MasterMech]

nope, it had a starter that had failed long before my time - the tractor was newish when my boss first started working on the farm as a kid in the late 50's.
Parked it on the hill in front of the barn to role start it.
He bought a restored 70's IH cub that which i swapped the rear axel extensions over to and front axel, atleast I didn't have stay on the edge of my seat ready to dump the clutch anymore.

The hand crank was on the irrigation pump - custom job with real wire-spoke wheels on it, nearly became an amputee on that sucker a few times

Maybe 40 years too late but .... Was the irrigation pump powered by an IH Farmall engine? Some of 'em look like the front-end of a Farmall amputated....

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[basod]

It was a V4(the only one I've ever seen) mounted to some angle and an old axel with pump attached. Straight pipe out the manifold so you could make sure its was still watering the back field.

 

[MasterMech]

Straight pipe out the manifold so you could make sure its was still watering the back field.

 

[basod]

I believe it was an old wisconsin V4 this one here has a small muffler on it, I remember the old lever to engage the clutch on it.

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[begreen]

Corn likes full sun. How many hours of sunlight does the corn patch get?