HARD WORK AND
HIGH-TECH IRRIGATION
JUST COULD HAVE SAVED
OUR SEED CROP
by Ted Doebler
Picture wet taken during a better crop
year, of courae.
How does the Doebler seed
crop look? Will Doebler be
short? Will the new XP
hybrids be available?
My son-in-law Willard Jones
is sales manager, and he’s
been fielding such calls for
weeks. Ever since the midwest
drought started making front
page news.
But Willard didn't have the
answers then. He still doesn’t
None of us will have much
before Ag Progress Days.
I can tell you this. We began
producing about 30% of
Doebler’s seed in the midwest
after Hurricane Agnes almost
put us out of business. So
customers have a right to be
nervous. Seed crop there is a
disaster. For all seed
companies
Big local acres
Up until late
June, we thought
we had an ace up
our sleeve at
Jersey Shore
1900 acres of
hybrid seed corn
along the west
branch of the
Susquehanna
River, Then we
also got hammered
by drought and
blistering heat.
In 1972, the Susquehanna
covered our seed crop with
three feet of water. In 1988,
the same river just could have
saved our crop.
May was wet at the farm
this year with 1.89 inches on
May 19 alone. But then June
came up 2.89 inches short. By
July 1, inbreds stopped
growing. Leaves curled.
Suddenly it was crunch time.
Family trips and outings were
cancelled for the Doeblers over
the Fourth of July. Everyone
moved irrigation pipe instead.
Over 18,500 feet. And we
started putting down water 24
hours a day.
Just in time, too. By mid-July
rains were off another 1.4
inches
Near frost to super heat
In June we worried about
frost. In July the weatherman
turned up the furnace.
Irrigation reel stand* 14'
1 B-f
■ / .
r
It takes big power to move out gun
cart and 4.5" hose. Right; “Water’s
at gun,” Willard tells man at
pump. Gun covers acre an hour.
/V*V
V *
Temperatures hit an official
101 at Williamsport July 6.
Our thermometers read higher,
On July 7, the mercury
edged over 100 again, and we
cranked up a sixth irrigation
system. A seventh was put on
order.
Then on July 8, Jersey Shore
topped 105 degrees. Humidity
was 10%. It felt like 212
degrees in the field. And no
letup in sight.
Willard turned to Wes
McCracken, my other son-in
law, who keeps equipment
humming
“Like they say in show
business,” Willard grins, “don't
let them see you sweat.”
We learned long ago you
don’t make money irrigating
corn. Not even seed corn. Not
with pumps and people
working around the clock. Not
with the price of aluminum
pipe doubling in three weeks
and thfc bill for diesel fuel
going out of sight. At this
point, we just want to save the
crop.
Our Hobbs Reel Rain units
cover an acre an hour, and are
about as high-tech as you can
get. The crew sets up the giant
reel by the river, then pulls an
irrigation gun and 4Vj" hard
rubber hose down the row
1,000 to 1,300 feet with a 125
hp tractor. The hose is kept
full of water. It’s heavy.
Two men with walkie-talkies
coordinate water flow from
pump to reel to irrigation gun.
At full throttle water pressure
hits 160 pounds at the reel and
92 pounds at the gun.
The irrigation gun fans
water in an 180 degree arc,
then swings back to repeat the
coverage. A water turbine at
the reel pulls the gun cart
back one and a half to two
feet a minute and always over
dry ground.
Our commercial hybrids
would thrive with such
treatment, of course. But in
seed production we work with
inbreds that are more
susceptible to drought, heat
and other stress.
Let’s talk at Ag Progress
Hopefully, we'll have a
pretty good picture of seed
supplies by Ag Progress Days
August 16-17-18 at Penn
State’s Rock Springs Research
Center. Let's talk about it
then.
Those late July thunderstorms
had to help. But after a dry
April, wet May, dry and cool
June and searing July, who’s to
say we won’t have a late
August frost. It’s been that
kind of year.
DOEBLER’S
Hybrids
“T r fM'wm (olwhsi
W j
RD 1, Jersey Shore, PA 17740
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