For anyone that has an Earthway seeder, do you ever soak you seeds before planting? Does the seeder work ok with damp seeds? Would it work okay if I soak the seeds, then dry the outside before planting? I normally soak my sweet corn before planting to give it a germination boost. I'm planting more this year, though, so I want to use my new Earthway. If I can't soak, then I may need to plant a few days earlier to keep on schedule.
What do you think?
David
Earthway precision seeder & soaked seeds?
David, I just took delivery of a new Earthway seeder from www.lehmans.com I haven't even taken it out of the box yet. .....I would be interested to hear your thoughts on how you like it and what kinks you had to work out of it. You're in Texas while I'm in Michigan. You'll use your seeder way before I will use mine. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! :)
Glenda
David, if the seeds are wet they'll stick together, sometimes even clogging up the chute. However, for corn, and I've done this for years to trick the seed...
...Soak your corn seed for half a day or so, then lay it out on big towels or paper to fully dry. Don't sow them wet. Let them be completely dry again. Then sow them. No only will you get faster germination but they are less likely to rot in the ground. I'd sow them when your ground temp is warm and if possible just before a rain. That second watering (from the rain) is what will really kick them into gear.
Regarding other seeds, peas for example, soaking them will make them mushy and you'll lose some. It will also cause them to swell and they may not pass thru the seed plate holes; I suppose you could try a plate with bigger holes but as for peas I tend to broadcast them by hand anyway, not using the seeder, throwing them out in a block planting like you'd sow grass seed. It makes for a great pea patch!
Hope this helps!
Shoe (off to see if his peas have germed yet...you just reminded me even though we were talking corn seeds!)
I planted the first block of corn, Ambrosia, dry today. My soil temp is above 65F, so the only thing I need is moisture. I will water with a hose-end sprayer, since it doesn't look like rain is imminent. I'll be planting more Ambrosia and some peaches & cream in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the first batch will have germinated, so I can tell if I need to make any adjustments to the seeder.
I planted beets with the Earthway seeder a few weeks ago. I thought it was planting too thinly, so I double-planted. Turns out that it would have been fine...the beets are WAY to thick and I am going to have to thin heavily. The only difficulty so far is that the drag chain didn't do a very good job of covering the furrow. I went back over the rows with a rake, pulling the furrow level. I may add more weight to the chain to see if that helps.
Shoe-I will soak the corn for future batches as you suggest. I thought soaking and then drying as you do might be possible--but I wanted to get something in the ground today. I won't have time again until the weekend.
David
Congrats on getting that corn sowed. If there is the least little bit of moisture i the ground, at the temperature you mentioned those seeds will easily germinate.
My drag chain doesn't cover well if the soil is too clumpy, especially for smaller seeds. Other than that it does a great job; it wasn't twisted and not laying level was it?
Looking forward to your pics should you take any.
Shoe
Shoe,
I'll get some pictures when the corn declares. I planted 150 linear feet, 5 rows of 30 feet. The seeder used about 1/2 cup of dry seed (maybe 2 oz) with no holes on the plate blocked. I will figure out what that means for spacing and future plantings once I see what happens with the first block.
Since I don't expect rain anytime soon, I set up the sprinkler and watered for a couple of hours. With any luck, I'll be seeing corn in less than two weeks!
David
Great! That seeder sure makes sowing a pleasure, doesn't it?
Wait till you get to bean season! Or are ya'll already there in your area?
Shoe
It won't be long until bean season, but I'm going to hold off until the soil temp hits 70+. I do have the area for beans tilled, and I will need to do a quick raking before planting. I'll be planting French Filet (bush) and Dragon Tongue beans. My guess is that beans will get planted in about 2 weeks. That will be about the same time I plant the next two batches of corn (more Ambrosia and then Peaches & Cream). That's probably about the time that I will also plant the second batch of tomatoes. I think the last week of March may be pretty busy in the garden! Between now and then I will be planting some peppers in e-buckets, and then planting peppers in the garden sometime after the first week of April. Also need to figure out when I will plant summer squash and cucumbers. Okra and watermelon will be the last plantings in the spring crop. Lot's to do--I can hardly wait! : )
David
Planted two rows each of French Filet bush beans and Dragon tongue beans this weekend. Noticed this morning that the corn is beginning to declare. I will know in a day or two as the rest sprouts how well the seeder did. It's been 9 days since I planted the first batch. I will give this group until Sunday, then probably plant another batch of the same (Ambrosia) as well as a batch of the later variety Peaches and Cream. Once they sprout, I will probably plant one more batch of Peaches and Cream. That should give me at least a 6 week harvest period. (Hopefully...and if it ever rains!). Spring is definitely here in Central Texas.
David
Here's a picture of the first three batches of corn in my spring garden. Each section is 5 rows, about 30 feet long. That size section is just about perfect for my garden sprinkler...essential since we've had no significant rain for months!
I started the first batch on March 8th, the second on March 21st, and the third on April 10th. I will plant at least two more batches. These are all "Ambrosia". I have some "Peaches & Cream" that I may also plant when I plant the last batch of Ambrosia.
I found that the sweet corn plate on my Earthway seeder planted a little sparsely. I planted the second and third batch using the bean plate, which seeds twice as often. That gives me more leeway for extra germination and thinning later.
David
Looking good, David. I have no doubt you're enjoying the Earthway seeder. It makes sowing seeds a lot more fun, doesn't it!
You're going to have quite a crop of sweet corn this year. Enjoy.
G morning Shoe and David who I have never met.
David I agree that the E.W. seeder plants corn a bit thin.For 20 years or so I have just been running the seeder over the row again. Seems to come out ok . I never thought about trying different plates . Good job.
The E.W. is not as good as a Planet Junior but it is pretty darn good.I only used the carrot plate a couple of times and found it worked well.
Grrr it is snowing. later
David, your corn patch makes me VERY envious. I am a corn addict! My tiny back yard garden is not big enough for corn, but this year the city made new Community Garden very close to my house. I have a 5x10 foot bed (small, I know) that I plan to use just for corn.It is filled with good topsoil & compost, so I am excited.
Ernie,
I haven't met you, but I feel like I know you because I've been reading your posts for several years. I'm happy with the Earthway seeder for both corn, beans, and beets. I haven't tried it for anything else, yet. So far, the beans and beets planted okay with the named plates. (I ran the beet seeding over twice, based on the first corn results....I shouldn't have. My beets are WAY too thick.)
Here's a photo of the beets from a couple weeks ago. They have really put on more greens growth since then. I MUST thin them this weekend!
David
Jo--my wife loves corn so much I had to have more ground plowed this year. In past years, my entire corn crop was only one 10' x 30' section of the garden. I didn't have any more room after planting everything else. I've read of people doing pretty dense planting of corn (using Square Foot Gardening, and in Earthboxes). I bet you can get a good crop if you fertilize and water appropriately.
DTR
Howdy, Ernie, long time no see.
Sorry to hear about snow! Sheesh!
David, "(I ran the beet seeding over twice, based on the first corn results...I shouldn't have. My beets are WAY too thick.)"
That's because beet seeds, each one, will produce on the average 4 plants per "seed". A beet seed is much more than "one" plant.
Your garden is really looking good. Methinks you'll have a bumper harvest year!
Shoe
David, I plan to plant fairly closely-My soil is 24" deep- all good compost & topsoil, and I will use a good organic fertilizer.Around the outside edges, I dug the compost away (it's fairly coarse) and have a 6" path all around that is just sandy topsoil- I am planting carrots there to see how deep they can go! I have some "Sweet Midget" corn from Vesey's that grows just 3', but should have multiple ears- we'll see how true that is. I have 2 or 3 other varieties- I chose that don't grow real tall (wind problems!) I hope I can get a good crop. I just used the last of my home frozen corn today! I hate to be without corn!
David just remember beet greens are good to eat to lol so when you thin you win yums. I plant two 4' rows in a 4x12 raised box with over planted beets just to use for the greens.
Shoe At least the snow was gone by night fall. I doubt my onions appreciated that. There are 156 onions in this box. More in the garden this is a little experiment.
Jo Parrot you just keep on with those raised beds one can grow a lot of good food in raised beds.
I forgot, there is one other thing that I've planted with the Earthway so far, the okra! I planted a mix of Clemson Spineless that I'd saved from years past and Jing Orange (from Sand Hill Preservation). I watered Wednesday and the weeds are popping up, too. I will be able to make a quick couple of passes with the scuffle hoe by tomorrow. You can see from the photo that these need thinning but not as badly as my beets. I will thin them once they are large enough to tell the difference in plants. I want to be sure that I don't thin only one type...
David
I have beets up, and just covered them with nylon net to try to keep the leafminer flies out. Last year they destroyed the greens. I also had aphids--seems that if one thing doesn't get them, something else does.
So this isn't the Earthway seeder, but it is still an Earthway. I've discovered what is, for me, the best use of my high-wheel cultivator. I bought the "weed slicing hoe" which is basically a scuffle hoe blade for the cultivator. It is perfect for the row middles!
I was able to cultivate the middles on everything in my garden today, onions, beets, tomatoes, corn, squash, beans, and cucumbers with less than 2 hours work. It was very easy to use. I'm waiting for a kidney transplant, so I'm doing dialysis. As a result, I don't have much strength or energy. I would have NEVER been able to use a standard hoe and finish the whole garden. Even my scuffle hoe would have taken several days. With this, I could push for 15 minutes, take a break, then push some more. This and the seeder are my two favorite gardening tools.
I have a 2-cycle mini-tiller that I could have used to do the same work, but it is heavier, noisier, and smelly and doesn't start very well. The high-wheel cultivator was much better. I would recommend it to anyone that has a very large garden.
David
