How we Harvest SWEET CORN and CANTALOUPE on our Produce Farm
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2020
- In this video, at Wishwell Farms Produce, we will show you how we bring cantaloupe and sweet corn from field to cooler. We use a John Deere 3020 and a John Deere 4010 for pulling our flatbed wagons during harvest.
Sweet corn is planted every 7-10 days from mid April until mid July giving us a fresh patch to harvest from each week throughout the summer, finishing for the season at the end of September.
Cantaloupe are seeded in the greenhouse three times beginning in mid April with the final seeding at the end of May giving us a harvest window from late July until shortly after Labor Day.
Check out our new farm channel here: www.youtube.com/@wishwellfarms/featured
I grew up on a small farm. This is making me hungry.
Lots of great food on a produce farm! If interested in checking out more farming videos from us, please visit our farm channel where we put out three videos a week of everything happening on our vegetable farm. youtube.com/@wishwellfarms?si=8Ka8_l2Yds2ik4Cv
Man, I bet you have to have a lot of trust in your receiver catching those melons on that wagon haha! I always loved picking and shucking sweet corn in the summers. We always blanched them and then cut them off the cob into freezer bags to store long term, but nothing beats a fresh ear of corn with some butter and black pepper!! Great video Jason!
Oh boy if you only knew some of the stories of catching melons over the years! We've had a broken finger, a chipped tooth and some kids basically sacrificing their bodies to catch a bad pass trying to outdo each other, lol. Yep, we freeze corn as well for year round enjoyment, but you are right, can't beat fresh corn on the cob! Thanks Samuel!
@@jasonwish- nice video
Beautiful looking corn. Glad you are having a good year.
Thank you! The season is about over...picking pumpkins now.
Beautiful 🌽🚜♥️your video is fantastic, 😊
Beautiful produce and operation.
I appreciate that, Becky, glad you found our farming channel and thanks for sharing about your hiking and biking adventures
Busy busy picking away glad season still going solid
Things are finally slowing down a little...picking pumpkins now, and training really hard for that next FKT! Thanks Tony!
One of these days I'd like to get a farm up and running. It probably won't be as large as your operation.
I guarantee you though your farm is quite the inspiration, Jason. : )
Thank you sir for a harvest update.
Thanks Adam! It's a lot of work...took me 15 years to get it where I wanted it and for the last 5 years we have slightly backed off making things more streamlined and simplified, trying to slow down just a little now. Glad it has inspired you!
@@jasonwish- You are welcome sir. : )
I want to express my admiration for your videos, my friend. The dedication to excellence and the creative brilliance are truly inspiring. And it's an honor to have you visit our channel, we can discuss more about our experiences in harvesting and building farms.
I’ve been half way around the world. I can tell you Ohio has the BEST tasting corn. Nobody comes close.
Ohio can grow some great corn that's for sure! A lot of that is variety selection and always selling fresh picked....those two things go a long way!
Amazing🔥🔥🔥🎥🎥🎥🍻🍻🍻❤️❤️❤️
Thanks!
I really appreciate your videos guys. I know that farming means a lot of hard work and risks at the end because i am also a sweet corn grower from Romania 🙂. I have a question for you about sweet corn producing, does your sweet corn variaties generate additional babies from the base of the plant? If yes, do you let it grow or remove it? I am asking because we remove it manually but it's a very time consuming operation and i don't know if affects the production/dimension of the ears or not at the end.
Hey Marius, yes our corn also produces the little mini side shoots, I’ve always called them tillers, whether that’s the right term or not I’m not sure, but we have never removed them and I’ve never heard of anyone removing them before. So my guess is that it’s not necessary.
Thanks for watching and commenting all the way from Romania! Please check out our farm channel where we post 2-3 videos each week from our vegetable and greenhouse operation.
youtube.com/@wishwellfarms?si=cNjFvdraGDjdyxmz
Jason, thanks for sharing 👍 your video . Farm is beautiful. How big is the farm and can you do all season growing in your greenhouse? It's a big operation, definitely requires a big family.
Subscribed!
We raise vegetable on about 70 acres and field corn and soybeans on about 1000 acres. I started the vegetable operation with my wife after we sold our dairy in 2001. My mom and dad mainly run the grain operation but are now in their early 70’s so slowing down. My younger brother helps with both operations. We grow tomatoes in our greenhouses about 9 months of the year. It’s nice to have a few months of down time to get them cleaned out and sanitized for the next season. Thanks!!
Thank you very much for showing us your amazing farm. I wonder how many kilos of corn can you collect in one day with your team.
Thanks! We pick about 5000 kg every other day
Which is equivalent to about four or 500 dozen
@@jasonwish-
Thank you very much Jason for your prompt reply.
Kind regards,
From my lovely county Kurdistan 😊
I saw a lot of northern corn leaf blight, how is the next planting? Last year rust took out my two last plantings, this year, no rust or nclb. Was that a bi-color or just some stray white pollen? Those kernels were sure squashed, you got it just in time.
Yes, you are correct...the nclb was terrible in that patch. Never had a problem with it the entire season until that one and of course thats when I finally chose to film, lol, and that patch came on a few days earlier than we wanted so it was on the verge of being too ripe for sure...it was beginning to get a little meaty but was still just good enough to sell, especially since this late season corn is in such high demand this year. Next patch has a little but not enough to ruin the ears, luckily it didn't hit to really late. That one variety must not have much resistance.
The augmented super sweets, sH2's, hold their sweetness so well, its unbelievable some times. If that would have been regular corn, just sugar enhanced or triple sweets, it would have been pure junk looking that full. We only grow bicolor now, no white or yellow. 98% of my customers only want bi now. A few still ask for white but not many and it makes my life a whole lot easier only growing bi now!
@@jasonwish- I've been growing BCS0805 bt Providence for over twenty years. It started out as Serendipity, then a rust package to Providence, and now with the bt trait. My customers would give ten dollars a dozen if I had it off season. It doesn't do good if you have a smutt problem. I got $7.00 a dozen and couldn't grow enough this year. I don't see how you keep all those balls in the air at once, quite the juggler.
wayne busse Yep I remember that variety well we grew it when it was also called serendipity and Providence but only grew it as 0805 for three years before moving on to the augmented super sweets. The variety that you saw in the video was patriarch which we only grow a few patches of it after Labor Day to help deal with the worms that normally get in it that time of year.
how long will the corn keep in the cooler and is that just to extend the shelf life or is there something else? thanks going to grow some with grandkids this summer.
Sweet corn needs to be chilled immediately after harvest because the sugars will start to convert to starches right away. If you are growing standard or sugary enhanced or even triple sweet varieties, which is what most home gardeners grow because they don't know any better, this will happen in less than one day. Many commerial growers now grow augmented super sweets, they have the tendernous of sugary enhanced and triple sweets but the holding abiltity of the super sweet gene and the sugar to starch conversion is much much slower. I can pull corn out of the cooler 5 days after picking it and it tastes like it was just picked, it is incredible! Since we attend 6 farmers markets on Saturday morning and the trucks leave the farm at 6 am there is no way for us to pick corn on Saturdays so we pick it on Friday and put in the cooler. Hope that helps.
what do you spray with for corn bore or ear worm? and is it just once.thanks
You want to apply your first spray as soon as you see the silks start to appear. We spray each patch three times, but once the silks are dry and brown it's not necessary to continue spraying. We use Perm Up 3.2 EC, which is just permethrin.
How do you keep an "open" field of corn protected from critters ?...have a garden in town, within a fence, and 50% of my sweet corn had shredded husks and half the cobs picked clean. I'm thinking birds.
It's nearly impossible! We've used traps, poison, scare crows, radios, and electric fences and the raccoon still get it! On dry seasons its really bad because they are searching out moisture...when its rainy and wet, not so bad. We grow about 35 acres and I bet they get nearly an acre of it each year mainly the early varieties, they don't bother the mid season and late varieties so much. Black birds are really bad on early corn too...they land on the ear and peck into the tip to get to the kernels which ruins the entire ear for sale but they only damage the top inch.
@@jasonwish- thanks for your reply. I cut wood in an area that borders a field and noticed that the ears still look good..was starting to wonder that it was a problem that only I had. Thanks again!
Damn we don't get em that big by me in jersey ..they look good
We can grow some big melons in our soil! The two varieties we grow are the biggest ones available...our customers like em huge!
Niceeee
Excuse my ignorance, but I didn't know corn was hand picked! How wide are the rows? It looked like at some point it would be too far to throw?
...how do you get the inner rows without running over it....?
@@Smokeybeesnatural we normally are able to pick every ear on our first pass through the patch and then run it over before mowing it down the following week. We only pick 4 rows at a time then turn around and run those 4 over to get to the next 4. The corn rows are 30 inches apart. Hope that makes sense. I would have no clue about honey bees, lol!
So, what happens to the secondary ear? Does that become silage or animal feed?
We just mow it down...most of the time its not even worth looking at. Even when we had a dairy it wasn't even worth chopping the sweet corn for silage because of how little corn material is there compared to field corn...not even worth the fuel to drive through the corn field.
can you give a comment about the Mirai corn? im about to try it this season?
Well, from my understanding, the Mirai corn was some of the best eating corn when it hit the market 20 some years ago, but it was finicky to grow...needed lots of heat in the soil for good germination and emergence so it had to be planted mid season or later. We planted it for maybe two seasons to try it out about 15 years ago. Now, with more modern genetics there are dozens of vareities out there that eat just as good if not better, have better ear size, better husk protection, excellent cold soil emergence and just better all around. The "Mirai" name is nothing more than a marketing/branding technique to make you think its still the best.
What variety Of cantaloupe do you grow?
Avatar and Verona...the two largest varieties available on the market. We also grow a little Aphrodite.
How do you deal with anthracnose in your melons?
That was a pretty "corny" joke for a Farmer. Looks like your workers are Olympic ShotPutters on the Lopes. I want to apply as tractor driver. Thanks for helping to feed America.
That was actually a melon joke! Hahahahah! I guess we better come up with a pumpkin joke next!
how long does it take your crew to pick 300 dozen?
Not very long, a good crew of 4-5 in a good patch probably 45 minutes.
It looks like everything's coming together
But it's curious to find out that you were actually picking the corn by hand
If I remember correctly you have a machine that will pick the coin
I think the combine separates the grain from the cob. You don't want that for sweet corn.
Same as the melon picking!! Did your melon-bine breakdown on you????
They do make a sweet corn harvester but it picks every ear whether its ripe or not then you have to sort all that junk out. We prefer to handpick for quality control. Field corn is totally different....its harvested as grain with a combine like Happy Camper below mentioned. Thanks CG!
@@colonel1979ab hahahahaha!!!
Where is your market at? Who exactly do you sell to? I'm a sweet corn grower/picker in East Central Indiana. This is my fourth year selling to friends and family. I only sell 1000 or so dozen a year. I would love to amp up my business but not sure how. Local farmer's markets already have their sweet corn provider. Any tips? I have the land/equipment to expand, just not sure how to gain the market. (I don't have a cooler)
It can certainly be difficult to get your foot in the door at some of the better farmers markets as a new vendor trying to sell a popular item like sweet corn. We were fortunate to get into many of the larger farmers markets around Columbus over 20 years ago just as the buy local movement was starting. Before that we were selling a lot to a small grocery store chain so maybe you could try that as well. I would not recommend Produce auctions because it’s very risky and can be very up and down. Other than farmers market our best outlet for selling large quantities is setting up a mobile Produce stand at busy intersections. Feel free to reach out to me through email for more details. jason@wishwellfarms.com
I have a farmer friend in southern Ohio who completely quit farmers markets and now does 19 mobile Produce trailers at busy intersections and they are a multi million dollar operation now.
azzi You’re welcome to send me an email but not sure how helpful I can be as I have no experience with food processing sweet corn.
How long does it take to pick 400 doz?
We picked 400 dozen this morning in just over and hour with only 4 pickers.
how big of storage will I need to hold 25,000 dozens at once? I am serious.
I’m not sure I can answer that question considering that is a little more than we even pick in an entire season. That would be a better question for somebody who grows several hundred acres or more.
@@jasonwish- I decided to go with hydrocooling. Much more efficient for my needs.
I like sweet corn with butter
the best!
Why are you saying 1500 dozen or couple hundred dozen indtead of the actual number?
Because we don’t ever know the exact amount we harvest until it is packed up and put into tubs and rolled into the cooler so it’s just a guesstimate
@@jasonwish- Oh understand now, thank you
Berapa harga jagung manis di negara anda
pada tahun 2021 kami menjual jagung kami seharga tujuh dolar per lusin dan empat dolar untuk setengah lusin tetapi saya pikir kami harus menaikkan harga kami sedikit tahun ini karena kenaikan biaya semua input kami.
In 2021 we sold our corn for seven dollars a dozen and four dollars for a half dozen but I think we are going to have to raise our prices slightly this year due to the increased cost of all of our inputs.
MAGA!!!!!
Q-where do cantaloupe go in the summer A- john cougar melon camp
Love it!
When I was young I used to be a migrant worker
I'm sure that was very hard work!
I was 12 years old
@@jasonwish- at first it was hard but it made it easier I did into it became 18 years old then I went to the US Army
Second ear is never as good as the first. I don't even harvest them.
Yes, I agree, but sometimes under perfect growing conditions, they are harvestable, but not very often
Check out our farming channel where we post three videos a week, already have a few new ones out on sweetcorn : youtube.com/@wishwellfarms?si=mT1-xv05YwGA7WBi
@@jasonwish- They just don't seem to have the same flavor. They are always bland to me.
Farm working always miserable. Super important.
Hard work but very rewarding!