Planting to Beat the Weather

Saturday afternoon when I was spraying beans I received a call from Justin Storlie, my field representative with Birds Eye Foods. Justin informed me he was going to drop off the sweet corn seed and I could plant it anytime. The forecast was 80 percent chance of rain Saturday night so I wanted to get it planted before the rain. The problem was I had to attend the NRHEG FFA banquet Saturday evening in New Richland. You do not want to get part of the field planted and get rained out so that the whole field is not ready to harvest at the same maturity.

The banquet was over about 8PM and I was thinking, I am only about 10 miles from the farm. Maybe I should plant the sweet corn tonight. If it rains for the next week or two I will sure "kick myself." This is a picture I took of my John Deere 4430 and planter just as I finished the last pass in the sweet corn field. It was late, or early, depending on how you look at it. It was about 1:30 Sunday morning.

This is a 1975 John Deere tractor and it came from the factory with only two lights in each fender and four lights in the back. Nothing is more frustrating than working at night and not being able to see what you are doing. Just before I bought the 4430, Ag Power Enterprises completely restored the tractor and added more lights like the newer tractors have. They added the lights under the steps, in the hood and a spotlight on the top if the cab. I now have 10 lights in front and four lights in the back. They also added a bigger alternator for the extra lights. By the way, even thought there was an 80 percent chance of rain Saturday night, it didn't rain!