Planting

The project this weekend was to plant cowpeas and millet. I had previously sprayed herbicide on some of the fields to prepare them for using the no-till seed drill.  The cowpeas had to be planted at from 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep, while the millet wanted a 1/2 inch deep planting.  Also, the millet was much smaller than the cowpea seed, so when mixed together and vibranted, as if in the planter, the millet would work its way to the bottom and we would get an uneven mixture.  So we decided to plant the cowpeas first, deep, and after all cowpeas were planted, come back over shallow and plant the millet.

Jeffrey started planting, while I sprayed more herbicide on some of the fields that hadn't yet been sprayed.   Then we took turns running the planter.  It was about 16 hours of field work to get all the cowpeas planted. Late Saturday, we started planting the millet and I continued until around 11:00 AM, when a weather front came through and it started raining.   It was a good rain that settled all the dirt in around the seed.  I had finished planting millet in the south field and the middle and north beaver fields. 

Monday morning I checked some of the cowpeea seed, it was starting to germinate already, showing a quarter inch of root coming out of the seed.  Since the rain had settled the soil and cowpeas so well, I did not want to disturb them by overseeding the remaining millet.   Instead I planted the millet in the lone pine field, with some in the middle field to finish it up. 

Tuesday morning, I was considering spreading fertilizer on the cowpeas before they emerged.   No such luck.  Below is a photo of the south field, Tuesday morning. 

The cowpeas are up and getting a good start.

I will have to delay running the tractor and fertilizer buggy over them until they are better established.