Fines’ Are Not Fine in ’Flower Harvest / By Don Lilleboe — “Dean Sonnenberg didn’t know what to think when, while harvesting sunflower one autumn evening several years ago, he first noticed small red flashes shooting past his combine windshield.  ‘At first I thought I was just ‘seeing things,’ says the Fleming, Colo., producer.  ‘Then I started looking for the problem.’

        “The ‘problem’ was a smoldering fire next to a vertical wall beneath the combine cab.  He was able to follow the red trail back to a guard atop the turbo, where a thick glowing layer of sunflower ‘fines’ was readily apparent.

        “ ‘I was accumulating dust around the turbo, and it was hot enough to start burning there,’ Sonnenberg recalls.  ‘Then the fan wash from the cooling fan was taking “chips” of that, flipping them off, and they would fly around and land in other locations on the machine that had accumulated dust. . . .

        “This nocturnal episode provided the northeastern Colorado producer’s introduction to the danger of fire while harvesting sunflower.  It’s an experience many other sunflower producers have had at one time or another — particularly when combining low-moisture ’flowers.  And it’s an experience which usually can be avoided, Sonnenberg and others confirm, with some straightforward housekeeping.

        “The main culprit is the small fibers or fuzz — ‘fines’ — on the outside of sunflower hulls.  Rubbed loose during threshing and then tossed around, these fines tend to accumulate on machine surfaces.  Where those surfaces are extremely hot (e.g., the engine compartment), the fines can ignite, smolder — and, if in sufficient concentration and not controlled, sometimes burst into flames.

        “Clark, S.D., grower Vance Neuberger says it’s not unusual for him to average a half dozen or more smoldering hot spots each season while combining his 500 to 600 sunflower acres.  He reports three potential problems areas on his JD 7720.  ‘One would be in the engine compartment, where there can be a buildup of the fine dust.  The sides and top of the feeder house can be a gathering place, too, due to debris and dust.  Finally, at the front of the machine, when the platform is lifted, I’ll find concentrations in a hollow area on top of the fan housing.

        “Combine manufacturers recommend — and Sonnenberg and Neuberger concur — that the best way to minimize the chances of smoldering or outright fires while harvesting sunflower is to simply keep one’s machine as clean as possible, not letting fines build up in potentially dangerous spots.”

        Benefits of an Early Harvest / By Don Lilleboe — Northern sunflower producers who refrain from harvesting until seed moisture levels fall into the 10- to 11-percent ranger ofter sacrifice more in crops loss than they gain in savings by not having to dry the seeds suggests North Dakota State University extension agricultural engineer Vern Hofman.  That’s especially true, he says, when a wet autumn sets in and moisture contents simply never fall off, thus requiring substantial drying energy — and expense — to achieve safe levels for storage.

        “Hofman lists several ways in which early harvest can be of benefit:

        “ • The crop’s exposure to late-season weather and pest problems is reduced . . . .

        “ • Seed loss due to shatter at the combine head typically is minimized when harvesting at a moisture level in the mid-’teens, compared to that of low-moisture sunflower. . . .

        “ • Foreign material levels among seeds combined at higher moisture percentages are lower, resulting in less screening and fewer storage problems and/or less dockage at the elevator.

        “ • The chance of ‘fines’ and other debris accumulating around the combine’s entire compartment and other areas during harvest and possibly igniting is reduced when moisture levels are in the ’teens rather than at 10 percent or less.”

        Modified Header Hikes Sunflower Harvest Efficiency / By Don Lilleboe —“McClusky, N.D., farmer Mike Faul didn’t have to look far for help when, four years ago, he and his farming partners (father Jerome and brother-in-law Brian Thomas) opted for some major modifications to the header used to harvest their sunflower crop.  Faul Manufacturing in nearby Harvey provided an answer in the form of a customized toolbar with shortened pans that easily attached to and detached from a standard grain platform.

        “The Fauls and Thomas took the transition one step further by foregoing the rotary drum of their old sunflower attachment and instead utilizing the reel on their 30-foot grain head.  Metal mesh has been fastened to the reel to keep incoming sunflower heads from becoming tangled between the reel bats.  The mesh stays on during the grain harvest as well.

        “Mike Faul says the reel tends to draw plant heads into the combine without the ‘bounce’ and ensuring speed shatter that he experienced with there drum on his former sunflower attachment.  Stalk plugging has been nearly nonexistent while using the current system, he adds, with the reel height adjustable to fit varying crop conditions.

        “Beneath the reel are situated 12-inch-wide catch pans from the old attachment, each shortened from its original standard length down to about 22 inches.  The pans are mounted on the 2x2-inch toolbar, which in turn is quickly attached or detached simply by tightening or loosening the four short binding chains that secure the bar to the grain platform.

        “Why opt for the shortened pans?  ‘With our previous system, it seemed we always had some bowing or breaking of the pans with that extra length and weight out front,’ Faul remarks.  ‘We haven’t had that problem since we shortened them up.’  The short length has not resulted in any stalk feeding problems or increased seed loss off the pan tips, he adds, since the heads don’t bounce back out from the reel.”

        Sunflower Focus of ‘Smithsonian’ Article — “Sunflower was the focus of a major article in the August issue of Smithsonian magazine.  Author Katharine Whittemore interviewed several sunflower industry personnel during a 1995 visit to Minnesota and North Dakota during her research for the nine-page, full-color article, which presents a broad discussion of the history, production, utilization and popular image of this crop.”