Planting more plots, this time in the Yuma area... in the Winter Wheat Planting in Montana post from last month, we were working at some points, only 50 miles from the Canadian border... here in this series, we are only 5 miles from the Mexican Border...
We are using a PlotSpider, a self propelled planter / tool bar system set up to plant trays of seeds rather than envelopes as we usually do. This is a fairly specialized piece of equipment, and this is an older model we are resurrecting in cooperation with Dr. Oly Cantu at Arizona Plant Breeders.
The system and machine worked fine. Oh there were the usual new equipment blues like forgetting to put the drills in the ground, but overall, it worked great. And hopefully our alleys will be straight!!!
 |
| Calibrating to plant 4 foot plots |
 |
| Kenny watching the cone and trip marks as we calibrate. |
 |
Kenny working to keep the rows straight while Cody runs the
tray planter in some 25 foot Canola plots |
 |
| Canola seed in the cone |
 |
Daniel driving as Brandy runs the trays and Cody calls the trip points
in some 8 foot long wheat plots |
 |
| Things moving smoothly--the buckets are to put spent trays into. |
