transplanting veg plants into stubble by hand

[Devil's advocate]

I'm in a bit of a situation in that I've 18,000 veg plants, growing like crazy & its too wet to plough, till & plant.

What would happen if I planted them by hand now into last years cereal stubble?

 

[7610 super q]

How long would that take ?
I suppose it could work......plenty on here plant seeds like that ( no till )?
Use the stalks as a guide to get the row spacing and straightness right ?
Tramlines might be a bugger ?

 

[Devil's advocate]

How long would that take ?
I suppose it could work......plenty on here plant seeds like that ( no till )?
Use the stalks as a guide to get the row spacing and straightness right ?
Tramlines might be a bugger ?

I reckon two days for one man, tramlines already in. Less weeds would be an advantage. Have planted by hand many times when rained off, but that was always into raised beds that were rained on.

Looks like we have a window tomorrow, plough 4 am, till 9am, second pass 10.30am, start planting 1pm. Fingers crosssed.

edit we are on gritstone

 

[Muddyroads]

I’m in a similar situation. 14500 calabrese have been here for 10 days and not likely to be planted for another week, with 10000 savoys arriving next week too. The advice we’ve been given is to give them some seaweed to keep them healthy and not rush the planting.
Have you got plenty of labour to hand plant? How will planting into stubble affect weed control?
If you decide that you have to go ahead, how about going through with a subsoiler and planting into the slot?

 

[Devil's advocate]

I’m in a similar situation. 14500 calabrese have been here for 10 days and not likely to be planted for another week, with 10000 savoys arriving next week too. The advice we’ve been given is to give them some seaweed to keep them healthy and not rush the planting.
Have you got plenty of labour to hand plant? How will planting into stubble affect weed control?
If you decide that you have to go ahead, how about going through with a subsoiler and planting into the slot?

Me for hand planting, once did 5,000 in a long day.

Weed control easier but we normally crop on raised beds so not sure.

 

[RmfJ]

I'm in a bit of a situation in that I've 18,000 veg plants, growing like crazy & its too wet to plough, till & plant.

What would happen if I planted them by hand now into last years cereal stubble?

What is the value of the plants and the likely income from the final crop? Would be a good trial area if you are forced to do it.

 

[Devil's advocate]

What is the value of the plants and the likely income from the final crop? Would be a good trial area if you are forced to do it.

Somewhere between £3,600 & £18,000.

Agree interesting trial would prefer smaller plot & plan for it with legume cover crop direct drilled previous autumn.

The benifits of not disturbing the soil are huge in terms of soil erosion & weed control enougth to justify the labour. But with bare ground over winter (some brome) really needs ploughing so not a true trial.

 

[RmfJ]

What size area would 18000 plants take up?

 

[cquick]

What's the maximum row spacing you can get away with?
You could bodge a few planter units behind a subsoiler with 600mm legs and direct drill them?

 

[Devil's advocate]

What's the maximum row spacing you can get away with?
You could bodge a few planter units behind a subsoiler with 600mm legs and direct drill them?

No we need the transplanted plants because of the verimark plant drench also to mature at the correct time.

What size area would 18000 plants take up?

Under two acres but huge costs involved.

 

[corkman2013]

No we need the transplanted plants because of the verimark plant drench also to mature at the correct time.


Under two acres but huge costs involved.

The growers in Cornwall do a bit using a normal transplanter attached to a grubber or subsoiler to open a slot. I saw a grower on the west coast of Scotland do a bit last year. Don't know if he is still doing it. Tasmania growers also do it. Chegi Magli have specific technology for this.

 

[corkman2013]

No we need the transplanted plants because of the verimark plant drench also to mature at the correct time.


Under two acres but huge costs involved.

The growers in Cornwall do a bit using a normal transplanter attached to a grubber or subsoiler to open a slot. I saw a grower on the west coast of Scotland do a bit last year. Don't know if he is still doing it. Tasmania growers also do it. Chegi Magli have specific technology for this.

 

[jessop123]

I agree with other poster, will be a lot better with a slot from a sub soiler. Can't you get a gang from an agency and knock the job in a few hours? Will be a long job with 1 man

 

[cquick]

Sorry, in my first post I meant a transplanter unit as pictured.
If you could mount a toolbar on the back of a subsoiler and pinch a couple of these type of units from somewhere you would have a neat little setup. The share should work well in the tilth behind the subsoiler leg

 

[Muddyroads]

I’ve just had the mountings on my subsoiler widened so I can front mount it and plant as normal in the slots behind.

 

[Devil's advocate]

I’ve just had the mountings on my subsoiler widened so I can front mount it and plant as normal in the slots behind.

Was this something you have planned for some time, or a reaction to the weather?

I'm ploughing tomorrow at 4am so fingers crossed very free draining land, yet moisture retentive in a drought, but shallow & stony so hard work.

We made really good money in 2007 & 2019 but we worked hard for it.

 

[Muddyroads]

Was this something you have planned for some time, or a reaction to the weather?

I'm ploughing tomorrow at 4am so fingers crossed very free draining land, yet moisture retentive in a drought, but shallow & stony so hard work.

We made really good money in 2007 & 2019 but we worked hard for it.

I’ve been planning it since last year. It was our first year doing veg, so a steep learning curve. Our ground goes very hard so I‘m thinking anything I can do to encourage rooting should help establishment and give an element of drought proofing. Time will tell if it works.

 

[renewablejohn]

Do you not have a potato ridger. Have planted acres of brassica on ridges with a dibber plant dropped in dibber hole than water from hosepipe on water tank to flood water them in. As weeds come up keep ridging up will kill weeds until plants produce canopy. Plant deep but dont cover centre point otherwise plant will die.

 

[renewablejohn]

What size area would 18000 plants take up?

In our system we have 9 plants per m2 of brassica with 4 lettuce as companion crop per m2. Thankfully all mine are planted just leeks left to transplant.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Started actual planting at 4pm & have planted 6,000 & gone in well.

Early start tomorrow rain at 1pm forecast.

Medium loam land at home is still sopping wet, swedes to drill here at the weekend hopefully.