This heat and humidity down here is making this rough on an old arthritic man...

Replaced 3 disks, 2 bearings, and 1 axle on the harrows a few days ago. Put on a little paint I had on hand after the repairs.

Done a total cleaning on the old Paulk drop spreader....complete with a coating of Fluid Film. New nylon nuts and washers...now all with anti-seize compound. New tires and a handle extension I can reach from the tractor seat.

Rust is natures Loctite.

For sure...especially when fertilizer and lime is in close proximity.

Maintenance is overrated...

Not when you don’t have the extra money to buy a new one....

That's when you break out the smoke wrench.

Like that blue paint.

fluid film is good stuff

I just bought 2 more gallons , Amazon had it for 36.45 a gallon shipped because every fall the price jumps to 50 bucks or more

Those heavy adjustible 3pt harrows are handy units. Easy to maneuver in tight spots and no cylinders or hoses to mess with....

I just learned about Fluid Film. Had never heard of it before....Google AI "told" me about it...lol. Bought a spray can at Walmart ($10). Seems this stuff is made for fertilizer spreaders and other things that have rusted/may corrode. Lanolin and some other waxy components that penetrate and coat the rusty areas and stops further rust. Good concept if you don't mind the greasy/waxy coating on whatever you're putting it on.

No hydraulics on my New Holland.

I have two sets of these....a 60" and the blue 72". Handy for the food plots in the woods.

All that stuff was easier when I was still in my fifties....now?.....I wonder how I did it, lol

Does the fluid film not attract and hold dust and dirt?

White Cliffs,
I'm not sure. It's supposed to penetrate every crack and crevise of a rusted area providing a waxy coating. I'd say it probably will hold dust/dirt, so it should be used only on/in areas where that doesn't matter, but the protection does. I can say water beads up on the treated areas like they were dipped in wax.

I resemble this remark^^^^^

It is always something. I got my 65 hp tractor serviced last December. Not sure I have used it since then until a week ago. A leak had drained the hydraulic oil. Took over three gal to fill it back up. Bush hogged for about four hours one day and worked flawlessly. I needed to help my neighbor move some things a couple days later and about half the time would not go into reverse or forward with shift on the column. So now, service dept has to come pick it up - $400 round trip plus what it costs to fix.

Everything is a fight when working land - and expensive.

It is an expensive "hobby" to bushhog trails, logging roads, plant food plots, etc.

But, that's my hobby....I don't fish much and I don't play golf.

Natures Loctite,,, classic

I right there with you Mr. Swamp. Trying to get everything serviced before it gets crazy hot. I’ve got 2 acres of millet and sunflower to get planted soon.

That new cultipacker of yours shouldn’t need much love for awhile. Now that you’ve been through one food plot season, how you liking that thing?

GL,
I'm trying to get some bulk ag lime out now. Then, some small scale warm season plantings.

1) Got three plots that I'm planting plot screen (Egyptian wheat and other tall sorghums) in front of the stands so I can enter/exit this fall without being seen.
2) Four or five plots of sun hemp/grain sorghum mix and some browntop millet and cowpeas.
3) Mid-June....one acre of chufas.

That cultipacker is the shiznit! I love it!! I had much better germination last fall in this sand than I've ever had.

Ag lime distribution with my 6ft drop spreader is very good PT for my old butt! Works good, but loading with a 5gal bucket for measure is work. Didn't know what this spreader would drop with slide wide open and at what tractor speed, but I do now.

Doing all the small plots with it. But, 3 or 4 of the bigger ones...I gonna use the Co-Op's spreader.

Happy deer and turkey management!!!

Mr. Swamp, that’s the least sandy picture of S GA soil that I believe I’ve ever seen you post.

See, you need 2 tractors, one for spreading and one for loading!, lol

It's only a little darker because it got rained on...lol

You ain't kidding.

I need another person too. That way I wouldn't have to get off the tractor....lol

Everyone wants to hunt deer and turkeys but few want to help plant and such.

You fellers ever have to lime your dirt?

This sandy dirt down here allows it to leach within 2 or 3 years.

Same as west central IL. About every 2 to 3 years add lime. Shoot for 2 ton/a. According to Dr Grant Woods we wouldn't need so much lime if we didn't fertilize as much.

thought all soil East of the big muddy
needed lime for PH adjustment.

I once put a free pick-up load on 2 acres.
Afterwards a test showed super high magnesium.
That did not seem to bother anything that I noticed.

Fertilizer is acidic....makes sense, but his buffalo system is difficult to make work down here. Ive got a friend that bought a 6' Genesis no-till drill and a crimper. He stopped liming and fertilizing his plots. His are large 2 & 3 acres in size and 5 or 6 of em. He used to have the prettiest food plots in this country, but not anymore....thin, droughty, yellow, weak plots...that look unfertilzed...as that what they are. He's been trying now for 4 or 5 years to get that system going....it's not working.

He actually went and visited Grant Woods on his place in south Missouri.

Swamp, a lot of farmers here don't bother to change implements, they just change tractors with the one they want already mounted, lol

That's those federal government agricultural subsidies on display! $$$$$$$$!!!!

LOL, nah, just smaller operations still using old tractors they've accumulated over the last 3 generations...

I enjoy turning the dirt too much for no-till planting....its half the fun. I take soil samples every few years and adjust lime and fertilizer accordingly. I think the local elevator charges $10 for soil samples. They also ask ahead of time what you plan to plant so they can adjust their recommendations accordingly.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service provides the same custom soil testing thru the county extension offices.....$9/sample.

One of my cameras caught the lime spreader in action dropping the damp ag lime flawlessly...and then me disking it in. The socks are to keep the devilish yellow flies from biting my ankles....lol

I think id like that drop spreader better than the wagon spreaders that ive used. Curious how many pounds of lime that will hold when its full...?

Google AI said it will hold 2000 lbs....but depends on the moisture content of the lime. I told ol'Uncle AI the dimensions and "he" spit it right back, but said NOT to fill it up as that added weight would cause compaction. I didn't load more than 500 lbs in b4 spreading and no problem. It would probably handle more without bridging as 500 lbs was less than 1/3 the hopper. Not ideal for large plots, but perfect for most deer plots.

Edit: recalculated hopper volume on AI.

I just walked back inside. High humidity here and about 85 degrees. Need to sharpen blades on my disc mower in case it stops raining next week. I walked out of the house with intention of doing more but retreated back into the AC and will wait a few hours. Not ready for the humidity and heat yet. Sure it iway worse down south already. I chuckled when you said you replaced some disc blades. Some of mine are still in pieces scattered about my last discing.......mine needs about half replaced but I am sure it will take the hot wrench multiple times on it.

TreedaBlackdog,
You must have rocks?

Thank goodness...I have no rocks!!

Swamp, if you spread the lime in the winter you shouldn't need to disc it in, unless you just like going for a tractor ride!, lol

Yes we have rocks and I am using a 50 year old harrow with rusted out discs.

Mini red sunn hemp or standard?
Red ripper or iron and clay cowpeas?

The egyptian wheat and some of the taller sorghums make good travel corridors for walking to your stands.......

Planted a few plots this weekend but mostly for my sheep grazing on the summer annuals - all bmr millets and sorghum sudans along with some crimson clover, rapeseed, forage collards and buckwheat. Epic millet and endurance sorghum sudan. Think I will grab a bag of Jap millet as well for some wet spots and try some around the pond edges as well.

I should have. That was the plan so it would be cooler weather. But a little trapping and other plans interferes....lol

Need to bust up that dirt anyway for light grass/weed control. Might save some glyphosate in September.

Standard sun hemp. Never heard of the red sun hemp.

I have planted both red ripper and I&C. The red rippers had better germination than any I&C I've planted. But both are like pouring money onto the dirt and walking away as the deer will consume them quickly. I have to plant them with browntop millet to " hide" them somewhat so at least a fair stand will get past that 2-leaf stage.

I've planted screens before with good success...been a few years. Have three stands that are exposed to the plots...figured I'd plant screen this year and make it "sneakier" to get in and out of.

that lime spreader is probably older then most on here somebody took care of it

Built in the 60s or 70s by Paulk farm equipment. They are no longer in business. I found this on CL about 50 miles north of me. After I saw it in person I jumped on the $400 asking price. After a little research, I learned it was built for damp ag lime.

I had a 10' Ez-Flow drop spreader but it was a pull-behind with a long tongue that made it near impossible to turn around in most of my narrow shooting lane plots.

The Paulk has 3 pt hitch and its perfect for what I needed.

I had never tried ag lime in it until now. I have dropped granular fertilizer thru it a few times.

Plot screen patches complete. Had three stand locations that will benefit from the tall Egyptian wheat and sorghum in the Tecomate mix....this being one of 'em.

In the pic: the main part of the field is to the right in the pic...its 200 yds long and 25yds wide. The mowed path to this stand comes up from behind the stand thru the pines...from another access road. Pretty good setup. Two good 8pts were kilt here last fall.

Got this pic early this morning....antlers are growing!