I am new to growing corn (from KY and it is tobacco & horses here) abnd I have some questions about the metal corn cribs. I have one that I have to move, 12' Dia. x 8-10 ft. tall + roof. It has the perforated sides to allow air flow. I am guessing it is about 400-500 bushels. I am going to pour a concrete pad to sit in on. I don think I need a drag channel in the concrete, since it isn't that big and shoveling it out really isn't that big a deal. However, I am confused/concerned about the air flow in the crib. Is there suposed to be a vertical tunnel in the middle of the crib? I have read about the tunnels in the corn running horz., but I am do not fully understand. If anyone can give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. Looking forward to harvesting my first crop of corn!!
My dad and I have round wire corn cribs and always have had both horizontal and vertical tunnels for air to circulate. The vertical tower/tunnel was placed in the middle of the corn crib and supported by guide wires to stay put as the crib filled. Our horizontal tunnels were placed at the bottom, on the concrete floor. It looked like an inverted "T" when the cribs were ready. Our oldest crib did not have metal tunnels but instead has a wooden tower with a pointed top, like the roof on a house, to help spread the corn as it dropped from the elevator. The other two cribs had metal, round tunnels with a 5 gallon pail on top to spread corn and close the end of the tunnel. However, the horizontal pieces were larger and basically shaped as a half-cirlce. For us, this system of horizontal and vertical tunnels did a great job of air circulation.
A few years back, I was at a farm auction and purchased 13-14 pieces of round tunnels. They are about 3 foot in length. I presume they were used for a vertical tower but some one told me that they used it also to add horizontal tunnels at different levels. I bought it all but only wanted 2-3 pieces in which I used them to make wildlife feeders.
Hope this helps. This is what we did and it worked for us.
Thge crib I've got has a 24" round metal vent tube (like rolled hog panel) that got partially crushed the first time the original owners filled the crib. Most cribs in this area have a wooden vent about 24" square with 1"x4"s spaced 1-2"apart that runs vertically in the crib.
