N scale farmland

[Dave V]

Team,

I'm planning a T-TRAK end cap based on Lancaster County, PA (around Ronks and Gap), and I have a single set of Bluford corn. I also have a Lancaster-style bank barn and farmhouse with a pair of Amish buggies. But I need more crops (Cops, come and try to snatch my crops, these pigs wanna blow my house down... sorry, I always have to sing a little Cypress Hill when I hear "cops" or "crops").

What options work in N scale for crops that you'd see in Lancaster in July-ish? Corn of course. Wheat. Tobacco. Soybeans, Alfalfa. Such products exist, but they're HO scale, meaning the crops are too tall and the rows are too far apart.

I'd love some suggestions.

[sirenwerks]

You can kinda rule out soybeans. Not really a popular crop in the steam era.

[Dave V]

You can kinda rule out soybeans. Not really a popular crop in the steam era.

Yeah, very true. Most of what you'd see would be corn, wheat, alfalfa, and Amish tobacco.

[Chris333]

Green corn   

[chessie system fan]

Wheat could just be static grass. But you'd have to differentiate it from the grass around the field somehow so that you'd know it was a planted crop.

[Dave V]

Wheat could just be static grass. But you'd have to differentiate it from the grass around the field somehow so that you'd know it was a planted crop.

Walthers does a wheat field that--naturally--is geared toward HO. Yields the equivalent of 5' tall stalks in N scale. Too tall for July but probably not noticeable. This may be the answer.

Green corn   

I have a single box of Bluford harvest corn that I plan to spray bomb green.

[sirenwerks]

Winter wheat would be ready for harvest around late June through early August in Lancaster County. Sweet corn is at harvest starting mid July through October.

[Dave V]

Winter wheat would be ready for harvest around late June through early August in Lancaster County. Sweet corn is at harvest starting mid July through October.

Yep... I know late June in Lancaster quite well. Every year we'd do the family reunion (on my father's side) at my great Uncle Jack's farm near New Danville on Father's Day weekend. We had at one point 5 generations all at once there, including family from Germany. My maternal grandparents lived off Eden Road just east of where 222 comes into the 30 bypass. Later my folks lived right off the Oregon Pike just north of the old Sip N' Sup (Roseville Tavern). Lancaster County is to me what the Shire was the the hobbits if that makes any sense.

The corn actually shouldn't be as high as the Bluford corn early-to-mid summer but it is what it is. It'll still look good and convey Amish Country.

[Chris333]

If you ever saw the show on Discovery "Amish Mafia" green corn is their phase for weed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_Mafia

[Dave V]

If you ever saw the show on Discovery "Amish Mafia" green corn is their phase for weed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_Mafia

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Hah! Yeah, I missed the reference.

[btrain]

I’ve had pretty good luck with Woodland Scenics 4 or 7mm straw to make a late June wheat field. In northern Ohio at least, it seems that it’s harvested around July 4th.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Bluford corn, I see that David Popp used Faller #180463 field for it on the Red Oak layout.

[Dave V]

I’ve had pretty good luck with Woodland Scenics 4 or 7mm straw to make a late June wheat field. In northern Ohio at least, it seems that it’s harvested around July 4th.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Bluford corn, I see that David Popp used Faller #180463 field for it on the Red Oak layout.

Thanks! On Trains.com he has a whole video on installing that field.

[GimpLizard]

Only been to Pennsylvania once in my life, and that was passing through on Amtrak... in the middle of the night. Didn't really "see" any crops. So I asked Google. It tells me the most common ones in Lancaster county, in July, are sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, peppers, & melons.

Also according to Google a tomato plant in July would be approximately 4 to 6 feet tall. The vine length of a cucumber plant, spread out on the ground, would 3-6 feet. A pepper plant? 12 to 24 inches tall. And a cantaloupe plant would be about 4-8 feet long x 12-18 inches tall.

[Dave V]

Only been to Pennsylvania once in my life, and that was passing through on Amtrak... in the middle of the night. Didn't really "see" any crops. So I asked Google. It tells me the most common ones in Lancaster county, in July, are sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, peppers, & melons.

Also according to Google a tomato plant in July would be approximately 4 to 6 feet tall. The vine length of a cucumber plant, spread out on the ground, would 3-6 feet. A pepper plant? 12 to 24 inches tall. And a cantaloupe plant would be about 4-8 feet long x 12-18 inches tall.

I appreciate that, but after spending so much time in Amish country in person, I have in my mind's eye what I want to accomplish. My Uncle Jack and Aunt Shirley used to grow tomatoes in Lancaster, but they did it in greenhouses. Outside of family gardens, I've never seen tomatoes growing in the open in southeastern PA.

[Point353]

What options work in N scale for crops that you'd see in Lancaster in July-ish? Corn of course. Wheat. Tobacco. Soybeans, Alfalfa.

Strawberries and potatoes are two other options for July-ish crops in Lancaster county.

For scenery supplies, check out the various items offered by NOCH.