Posted by mazemeister on January 11, 2012 at 15:46:14 from (24.188.81.230):
In Reply to: Re: Small Scale Ag. posted by WJD on January 11, 2012 at 14:23:17:
most seed catalogs sell sweet corn seed in multiples of 10,000 seeds- so a little more or less than half an acre depending on pop. but i"d say you pretty much would have to get your own sprayer for sweet corn. it *can* be done without herbicides, but that"s a lot of cultivating, and you mentioned concern about soil degradation. insecticide is essential if you want worm-free ears, and with that, timing is everything. if you get your neighbor to spray for you and he is a day or two late, you"ll have worms in a week or two when you pick. i wouldn"t risk a crop on someone else"s schedule.
as for equipment: you"ve got a basic start. you"ve got nothing for planting, transplanting, fertilizing, or weed control. corn planters are common. depending on what particular vegetables you"ll grow on the other acre, you may or may not need more than a corn planter.
i don"t mean to rain on your parade, but i know all about the dilemma you will be in: too big to do things all by hand, but not even close to big enough to pay for all the equipment to do it mechanically. one thing to consider in choosing your crop mix (other than marketing) is can you adapt your current equipment to work with other crops? will you have anyone else to help with the work? for something like a transplanter you need at least 2 people.
the most important concern is marketing. you need to produce something for which there is ready demand, and then meet the demand. growing beautiful crops doesn"t do much good if they rot in the field while you"re trying to sell them.
you mentioned two acres of vegetables. how much land all together are you considering taking over? what will you do with the remainder?
good luck, it"s not easy, but it"s good. ask away; we"re all here to help.
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