Sweet corn is huge in Indiana and bigger yet on Chuck Mohler’s Millersburg, IN, farm, Sweet Corn Charlie’s Produce. Mohler’s favorite farm tools — his “toys,” he says — not surprisingly revolve around sweet corn for the most part. Planting and covering at night has become his newest “fun sport.” In the photo slideshow below, Chuck Mohler shares some of his favorite equipment pieces.
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Model 5000 carousel type transplanter (Mechanical Transplanter)
Mohler installed lights on his carousel transplanter, allowing him to accumulate 180,000 plants in a couple of days. “This is not going to be done by hand!” he says. “Our two-row can do two to three plants per second.”
Photo courtesy of Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Veg-Veyer harvester (Harvest Products)
When it comes to harvesting, Mohler turns to his 33-foot Veg-Veyer, purchased in 1989, which he carries on his Hydro 100 four-wheel-drive tractor. “We pick our vegetables by hand. You can’t harvest the highest-quality sweet corn mechanically,” he says. “My helpers love this harvest aide. Harvesting 12 rows of sweet corn, we can pick 1,000 to 1,200 dozen hand-selected, ready-for-shipment ears of corn in one hour. I would not grow vegetables without my Veg-Veyer.”
Photo by Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Model 95 wire hoop setter and tunnel layer (Mechanical Harvester)
“My Mechanical Transplanter wire hoop setter and tunnel layer has been with me for 35 years,” Mohler says. “I have tens of thousands of wires that we straighten each year. We can run about 1.7 mph covering. I have two machines. We can cover 12 to 14 acres per day if we want to. It also has lights now.”
Photo by Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Super AV tractor (Farmall International Harvester)
“Lastly, there is my IH Super AV, built when I was born,” Mohler says. “It helps us with our low tunnels … putting soil back on when storms damage our tunnels. It loosens the edges when we want to take the tunnels off. If the ground is dry and hard at the time of removal, this tractor can be the ‘Messiah.’
Photo courtesy of Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Chuck Mohler and his wife Tami.
Photo courtesy of Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Chuck Mohler reads a very special edition of American Vegetable Grower® magazine. Photo courtesy of Chuck Mohler, Sweet Corn Charlie Produce, LLC
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Model 5000 carousel type transplanter (Mechanical Transplanter)
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Veg-Veyer harvester (Harvest Products)
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Model 95 wire hoop setter and tunnel layer (Mechanical Harvester)
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Super AV tractor (Farmall International Harvester)
In April 2007, Chuck Mohler and his family graced the cover of the 100th anniversary issue of American Vegetable Grower.
“A lot of fuss was made about my early sweet corn then, and there still is,” Mohler says. “We call ourselves the ‘doctors of early’ — that we learned from the Israelis. Today we cover with low tunnels, about 40 acres, eight to 10 acres of which are transplanted sweet corn and also melons, lettuce, beets, zukes, cucumbers, kohlrabi, etc. We have covered about anything that grows.”
April 10, 2024 
