Cultivating corn with 8n

I want to use my 8n to cultivate my corn if I make rows 36 the tractor will fit ,I usually planted 30 rows but I cannot fit tractor in there well , Im growing bloody butcher and was told wide rows are good because its 12 ft high I usually sprayed but I have people that want a no spray heirloom corn so I gotta cultivate, any help will be great
 
8N works well with cultivator. Did it with Dad on a 9N years ago (about 70 years).
May or may not want to use stabilizer bars. We were cultivating listed crop with the ridges and furrows.
 
This would be the perfect rig but not many around.
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I helped grandpa many years getting the 8N ready for cultivating corn. First we spread the tires. Realigned the front tires. Mount the cultivator. Then put the marker on the front axle. The marker is what you watch to keep the cultivator aligned with the rows. Without it you will surely cultivate the corn rows. Also you will need shields to protect the corn rows, for the first few times, from flying dirt when they are under 6 tall. After that you can lift or remove the shields so the dirt flys between the rows to cover any weeds that may be there. Make sure there is a disc blade in the center of the cultivator. That will prevent side to side motion of the cultivator which would be devastating to the corn.
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Row marker in bright red.
 
Back in the days, 2 row cultivation was the norm and with the 8N and Dearborn Cultivators setting the wheel spacings out and moving drag links out to accommodate were necessary. There was a Row Marker fastened to the front axle as shown for the operator to watch in front as a guide. Nowadays farming is done with rows spaced closer together and crops planted closer too. Cultivators also had crop shields to protect young fragile plants. You can get spacing charts in all the Dearborn lister planters, grain drills, and cultivator manuals. Don't know if this helps you or not.

FORD 8N TRACTOR & DEARBORN 13-2 2-ROW CULTIVATOR; TIM DALEY OWNER/OPERATOR:
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Back when we lived on the farm and had laying hens, I'd usually put in a half acre or so of field corn that we'd later grind for feed.

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I planted on 36" rows and flipped the wheels around when I cultivated. As is mentioned above, look down the row and trust the cultivator to go where it's supposed to. If you are instead watching the implement, you'll plow up a lot of corn.

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I think I may have cultivated twice before the corn got up too high to drive through, and by that point, it was shading out the weeds fairly well. Paid off come harvest time!

es
 
Ed S. Does locking at that picker make your hand hurt?
Bad Idea Picker!

This post was edited by Den N Ms on 01/27/2023 at 08:24 am.
 

Some random thoughts at 3:30 AM this morning;
I had a guy contact me maybe 12 years ago now, asking for some help to identify and value some Ford/Dearborn implements his father had left him. There were several.
One of them was a complete front - and rear mounted cultivator setup. The rear one was like Tim shows in his photo.
The front set had long rods that went to the back and was raised with the 3 point. I don't know if they were used at the same time as the rears but suspect they were.
It was the only front set I have ever seen.
I do think Hobo is onto something with his little Farmalls. They were significantly taller than an N and if as Ed said, he could only cultivate twice with his N I'll bet you could cultivate at least one more time with one of the Farmalls - though I do not know if
it was needed.
There was a thread on Tractor Talk about why cultivating fell out of favor. The consensus was that it was replaced by chemical weed control. It looks like cultivating is returning as more and more people want organic foods ala Chris L.
Ford didn't build a row crop tractor till 1955 which was rather late to that game.
Their first entry was the 700/900 Series.

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But they continued to build cultivator tractors and equipment till the 1980s which was late.
Here is an early 60s Ford 501 offset tractor.
You didn't straddle this model but sat side saddle on them. Ford continued to build these for several years after the big model change in 1965.
These are still very much in demand by organic farmers and fetch high prices.

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Another entry in the Ford line up was the 1965-75 4200. There was a full set of mounted cultivators built for these.

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The last cultivator tractor sold by Ford was a Shibura (Japanese) built model.
These were sold till well into the 1980s.
Another side saddle machine.
I forget the model # of these.

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Well, I've been at this for an hour or so and will have a shot at sleeping again.
Thanks for letting me prattle on.
 
HiYa Dogman!
What are you doing up so early? Sounds like me. Medications for my aplastic anemia only allow me to sleep 3-4 hours per night and I'm up at 2/3 AM to pee and then just don't bother trying to go back to sleep cuz it won't work so make a pot of coffee and wait for dawn. I love the 960 and used to have that FORD FRONT CULTIVATOR manual. Do you know who has that tractor? Notice how the cultivator still used the row crop shields. My buddy Don Olson has an offset 541 with the rare front and rear cultivators. Yes, B4 pesticide and herbicides were invented, and long before Roundup an Paraquat, farming was controlled by implements like cultivators, weeders, and rotary hoes. One reason I always attach an implement to a tractor when I take to shows is to show how things were done back the days. City folk are fascinated, old-time farmers recall when they were used themselves. Yes, when HENRY FORD II hired the WHIZ KIDS the new marketing strategy was to catch up on recovering the marketshare they once dominated. Late to the game is an understatement. They never did catch up and why by 1990 FORD TRACTOR was now in the past. The yuppie movement from the 1980's began the trend for organic farming, but that is a misnomer and many consumers buying today are fooled yet will pay double/triple prices at the grocery stores for products labeled as such. Organic basically meant that no modern pesticides and herbicides could be used but just because the product says say don't believe it. It's like when your beef, pork, chicken, or fish package says 'Product of the USA'. It doesn't mean the meat was raised and farmed in the US, only that it was PROCESSED in the USA. The USDA is so lax in regulations nowadays. I don't buy packaged fish anymore at gricerystei9res as it all comes from Cheena or VietNam now. Oh it might say Alaska Wild Caught but that means nothing. When I bought my farm in 1990 I was looking into organic farming and thus with my 8N started acquiring all the old Dearborn Equipment that were used. Then I got a book and had a friend who did it so was made aware of all the BS involved and soon discarded the idea. $9 for a dozen eggs now? Reason: bird flu? Really??? Just part of the abundant regime's attempt to control our lives and make it impossible to live free.



Tim Daley(MI)
 
(quoted from post at 03:34:41 01/27/23)
On the N don't look back are you will plow it up.

Get a nice 100, 130,140 Farmall for cultivating life will be good.

Don't look back?? Golly, I cultivated literally hundreds of acres of corn with the rear 3-point cultivator, from the time I was old enough to reach the pedals until I was a young man. I never used that guide that mounted to the front axle either. I just eyed a bolt in the front axle and as the corn got big enough I ran the 2-N in second overdrive to throw the dirt around the stalks. (Maybe that's why I can only turn my head one way today!!) Seriously, It is no problem if your cultivator is adjusted correctly. Also, don't be tempted to use one or both of the under-axel sway bars. That will defeat the purpose of the center colter or the center blade, depending on how old your cultivator is.
 
Deanostoybox has the answer below. You need a 60 inch tread setting for 30 inch rows. Might be easier said than done though if bolts/rims are rusted. Which they probably are.
 
The 60 inch tread is what you need for 30 inch rows 72 inch tread was used for 36, 38 or 40 inch rows as wheel tread only went to 72 inches so had to use a wheel tread that did not fit center of rows on the wider rows. And the 52 inch tread is what you plow calls for. And Dad did not use that guide in cultivating, he just used the corners of the hood to guide him. I wanted a set of thre front mount so bad but when a set came up for auction I did not have enough $$$$$$ to get it. And be sure the leveling box on the 3 point arms are set equal in not the cultivater will want to pull sideways.
 
(quoted from post at 21:49:00 01/28/23)
(quoted from post at 03:34:41 01/27/23)
On the N don't look back are you will plow it up.

Get a nice 100, 130,140 Farmall for cultivating life will be good.

Don't look back?? Golly, I cultivated literally hundreds of acres of corn with the rear 3-point cultivator, from the time I was old enough to reach the pedals until I was a young man. I never used that guide that mounted to the front axle either. I just eyed a bolt in the front axle and as the corn got big enough I ran the 2-N in second overdrive to throw the dirt around the stalks. (Maybe that's why I can only turn my head one way today!!) Seriously, It is no problem if your cultivator is adjusted correctly. Also, don't be tempted to use one or both of the under-axel sway bars. That will defeat the purpose of the center colter or the center blade, depending on how old your cultivator is.

A poor boy has to do what a poor boy has to.

If you would have been put on a offset tractor it would have been more fun then the law allows : ) One of the things I enjoy the most is cultivating corn with a offset tractor. The center of the row is between yer legs run the tractor as fast as you can throw the dirt to it. No guessing are wondering its happening you can see it right in front of ya.

I normally can cultivate 4 times, corn up to 4 1/5 feet, by then the corn shades any grass out.
 

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