4/18/2024 – Sowed G-90 and Temptress Corn in the south half, east side. The single row of Temptress is the eastmost row and nine rows of G90 are immediately west and over to the cucumbers.
The process used this time was modified from past years and was as follows.
- Marked the row locations with Fergie.
- Spread 33-0-0 with Zinc-Nitrate between the tracks. Put 8 TBSP of Silver nitrate in 2.5 gallons of 33-0-0 so one quart could be spread per row.
- Used the hiller to pull up a very low hill to cover the fertilizer slightly.
- Pushed the seeder through the soft soil. See note below.
The HOSS Seeder did not work well with the rough sweet corn kernels that hung up in the drop tube. The soil was dry and very soft so the wheels did not turn well and the raged kernels hung up in the plate and stopped it from turning every 1-2 feet.
Emails with Andy of HOSS after the pea/bean sowing went poorly, led to realizing that backing up to free the jam was clogging the seed drop tube. Should have lifted the back wheel and spun it backward with my foot to free the jam.
Also should be sure the plate-to-seeded is matched well and works smoothly before moving to the soil. Jump to 5:00 in the video below. Note he uses the No. 4 plate for sweet corn.
Likely, the issue of seeds stopping the plate from turning was made worse by pushing it too fast. That made the plate turn so fast that the rough seed did not have time to clear the plate before the plate turned past the drop tube.