Plastic mulch layer

[Marshall]

Well here is my latest work in progress. I have more done since the pictures were taken but it’s still not done yet. I know it’s not horse drawn but I am making it with stuff I had laying around. Hopefully someday I will be able to convert it to horse drawn or maybe make another one that is.

[416Jonny]

That’s a neat looking rig. Too bad it’s going to immediatly burst into flames the moment you go to use it. Tractors the wrong color. 😉

[Marshall]

461Jonny, I didn’t know there were tractors any color but red.

[Joshua Kingsley]

At least the red ones use way less fuel and are easier to fix than those green things….

then again there is nothing that is so sweet as the smell of sweat. I’ll take that over a tractor any day.

Joshua

[jac]

I’ll second that Josh.. Over here the green ones are called “Oh Deery Me’s”… By the Massey fans that is:)… Going to be a usefull tool when its done..
John

[416Jonny]

If you were color blind, I could see how they would all seem red.

Three farmers were sitting at the bar in town, the first one said: “my Farmall plowed 10 acres today and it only took one gallon of gas”, the second one said: “my John Deere plowed 10 acres today and it only took one half a gallon of gas”, the third farmer said: “yeah, well I plowed 10 acres today and all I did was soak a corn cob in kerosene and stuck it in the intake on my Allis Chalmers.”

If I had my way, I’d rather use horses as well. But at least I don’t have to ride an Inter-trash-onal. Thirteen letter &*%^ speader, too fast for the field, too slow for the road.

Good job on the mulch layer, by the way.

[Marshall]

Thanks Jonny416. I agree about using horses instead of tractors but did you know John Deere’s are green so they can hide in the weeds when the Farmalls go by.

[416Jonny]

Anytime. But just remember, friends don’t let friends drive red tractors. I think we’ve milked this one far enough.

So, how ’bout that mulch layer? Gonna get to try it out soon?

[Marshall]

It will probably be the first part of April before I get to try it. That is when the onions arrive. Right now there is a lot of frost in the ground and the top is pretty slimmy. I have the mulch layer almost finished so in another few days hopefully I will have the finished photos.

[dominiquer60]

Nice Marshall,

I would much rather have a little mulch layer like that than the giant over sized and way too heavy RainFlo machine that my boyfriend bought. He regrets it too, although the big Massey and the 1066 can handle it fine we would rather use the smaller tractors in the vegetable fields. Of course some day it would be nice to have more animal power as well, I hope to get the calves harrowing the sod ground to kill the quack grass in this summers planned bare fallow.

Have you tried the biotello mulch film? A friend brought a roll over last spring and we had 2 beds of cucs on it. what a pleasure to just disc it in a watch it disappear with no hand labor involved, it degrades with time due to soil microbe activity, made for corn starch or something like that. Anyway, I would recommend it to anyone that uses black plastic mulch.

We may stick with the RainFlo mulch layer, but if a used Nolts layer comes along, we think that we would like it better (less soil needed to fill bed and less weight).

Dale’s mother bought him a sweatshirt for x-mas,”crops are green, tractors are red.” We have 3 generations worth of tractors, mostly red, two yellow and the only one we never use is green, well I think it does prop the shed rood up if you consider that a job.

Erika

[Marshall]

Erika, I never tried the biotello mulch mainly because I have never heard of it. This year will be my third growing produce. I am only palnting 3/4 of an acre this year planning on adding more each year until I can quit my day job. I am going to do some research and see where the biotello is available and how much. Last year a used about 1500 feet of plastic and what a pain to loosen and pick up.

[dominiquer60]

Nolts and RainFlo in PA carry it for a listed $169 for a 4’x5000′ roll. We have been waiting to pick up our yearly order with them because the container load of it has been taking forever to go through customs, but may be ready to go this week. It should last years if you store in a clean, dry, dark place. We have no extra help and it is a huge labor saver and helps us get the late cover crops in on time.

[Marshall]

Erika, I sent you a PM.

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