Tillage attachments for sunflowers and wildflowers

[PM1]

My wife and I are interested in trying to grow sunflowers as a hobby (no illusions about making money here). We're thinking about planting an acre or two to start with as a manageable size. We have a long gas line right-of-way that stays covered in weeds, and we thought it might be fun to have something colorful growing instead. I called the gas company and have their blessing.

Before we go too far, I'm trying to pull together a list of equipment we'd need. It seems like there are some basic functions we'd need, like ground preparation, planting, and maybe fertilizing. Can anyone with experience growing sunflowers or something similar offer advice on what we'd need to get started?

Would those same implements work for planting and growing wildflowers, or would that require an entirely new setup?

My hope would be that I could find used implements in a reasonable size for my 45-hp 2wd tractor.

I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to get started. Thanks.

Parker

 

[Indydirtfarmer]

Every year, I plant a 3-1/2 acre plot of sunflowers for a "privacy fence" at a local church. They furnish the seed, I do the "tractor part". We do it as inexpensively as possible for several reasons. The simplest way for us has been to "no-till" them. I spray the plot a couple weeks before planting. Round-Up (41% Glyphosate- generic, 2 qts. per acre. with boom-type sprayer) Then I use a 2 row John Deere Model #71 flex planter (disc openers) to plant. Lincoln Ag has the plates for sunflowers. I don't remember off hand, the plate #'s. I purchase seed from a local horticultural supplier. With some wieght added to the planter, it will get the seed to a 1-1/4" depth. That seems to work best in these soils. We use a broadcast spreader to fertilize and/or lime per need to the specs of a county extention office soil test.

Besides the tractor, you could buy the equipment needed for around $2000 or less. With the amount you're talking about planting, that equipment would last a lifetime.

OR.... To avoid the need of spraying, you could do everything the same, EXCEPT plow and disc, disc only, or till with a rototiller. We like the no-till method because you don't get much of any weed growth until the sunflowers are big enough to create a conopy that stiffles light from the weeds, giving the sunflowers the advantage. ( OR, you could get a 1 or 2 row cultivator should you choose the "tillage method")

Hope this is some help.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

A modest size 4x4 tractor, probably anything from 25hp on up will be easily able to pull a small planter. I purchased a refurbished & cut down 2 row John Deere 71 Flexi Planter for $800. You should be able to find a similar unit, either 1 or 2 row would be suitable for an acre or two. Mine is more than I need, but it was what I could find at a reasonable price.

John Deere 71 Flexi Planter Check farm auctions, Ebay, etc. The nice thing about the 71 Flexi is that seed plates are available for many different seeds so you can plant sunflowers, corn, beans, etc.

 

[Taylortractornut]

We pant about4 to 8 acres in sunflowersa every year. We use a 3000Yanmar 30 hp with a Covington one row planter about 700 dollars new. We have a one row culivator that looks like the same set of scratcher on the covington that we cultivate with. We run a wood waste landfill and keep it like a park and also have sunflowers and wild flowers to. dilf flowers are sown with the the broadcast spreated them packed in with the disce and a packer wheel or wlaked in with the dozer. On the bigger slopes we use a broadcaster and bags of wild bird seed. It has minature sun floawers millet aand sorgum in it. THe turkeys and deer love it.

 

[MarkV]

PM1, using a planter would most likely offer the best results but isn’t absolutely necessary for hobby planting on your gas line easement. We did something similar one year by breaking up the soil with a tiller; because we had one, I am sure a disk would have worked fine, broadcast the seed with a walk behind spreader and used a homemade drag to bed the seed. We had good germination and plenty of flowers for the birds.

I would suggest the first step is to take a soil sample to the local extension service to see what soil amendments will give you the best chance of success. In our area it cost about $7.00 and will give very specific information on what type and how much fertilizer or lime to use for specific plants.

Have fun.

MarkV

 

[Darren]

The West Virginia DOH does wildflower plots along the interstates with a tiller. They don't put much effort into it. The results are fantastic considering that's subsoil they're working with.

 

[_RaT_]

I found your planting technique quite interesting. Thanks for explaining the difference between till and no till. When driving up and down Interstate 5 in California's central valley, it's interesting to guess what crop is there. It is so diverse that sometimes we never figure it out. The hundreds of acres in sunflowers however are always easy to figure out. It creates a spectacular display.

 

[db2]

We are interested in a similar project. A good link for wildflower meadow preparation and planting can be found at
Wildflower Farm Homepage

Regards Dave