Planter challenges in heavy clay soil?

[wetfarmer]

And yes 5 gallons of total water , 10 34 and this liquid innoculant

[mb580r]

wet, what brand of liquid inoculant were you mixing with fertilizer? I have been told by a few inoculant companies that this a total no no. Is it safe because your mixing it 50-50 with water? Who recommended this mix to you?

[wetfarmer]

I was told quietly by a rep of one of the innoculant companies that this would work. I promised him I wouldn't quote him. I believe that alpine has stated that their product can be mixed with some innoculants as well. I repeat as I have said other places on this forum that you should not leave this mixture overnight , the bacteria cannot withstand the salts indefinitely and the phos can separate from some kinds of water and the pure phos will kill the inoculant. Basically you mix and plant right away and make sure the water and phos mix in a mason jar or something before you start and NO CHLORINE. I have read somewhere an inoculant companies recommendation for using the product mixed with water and applied in the trench. I can't remember where(maybe on the label). Please research this carefully before you try it. I don't want to be responsible for someone else's wrecks. I create enough of my own. And this has the potential to create a wreck if not done properly. My planter puts the product through Keaton Seed firmers and there is product right on the seed in the trench so it pretty much has to work as well as granular if you put a high enough population on. I remember seeing the official recommendation for the water and innoculant mixture in the trench after planting last year and thinking that the rates they were recommending were much higher than what I had used.

[Jimmytheaxe]

Thanks wet that is some good info. Anyone else doing liquid innoculant in the seed trench?

[mchalvorson]

I hope to this year I bought a john deere planter that doesnt have granular capiblities so liquid is the only option I use alpine for phos on everything else so I think this is a good idea

[mbfarmer]

We are doing it this year. 35 acres a jug of Celltech is the rate we were told to use. Works out way cheaper than granular. I don't have the marbles to mix in phos and on soils that aren't low there shouldn't be a yield increase but studies done in the US don't always have relevance here.

[cooper]

There are a few planters being used for soybeans just a few miles to the NE of you. They are all JD planters and it may be something to consider when you are buying a planter that parts availability can be important. There are many parts to work with and it seems that the JD planters are the most common and most parts are available in Altona.

As was said before DO NOT disturb the soil in front of the gauge wheels if its wet or you will end up taking them off and scraping out that gumbo once they start skidding along. We haven't tried it yet but there are a few options out there for gauge wheels that have spokes which would make them less prone to plugging and easier to clean out. We put our liquid down thru totally tubular tubes which put the product down just before and below the seed. The Keetons will sometimes ball up in our wonderful clay and drag the seed up out off the trench so you might want to look into that before you install them.

Haven't done any inoculant with the seed yet but a neighbor that did it last year but I don't know if he did any side by side trials to see if it was worth his while. We were thinking of trying some iron supplements and it sounds like guys are doing different things with inoculants that we may have to try also. Oh and we are using a 1770NT 16-30 planter.

[mbfarmer]

I would need all my finger and all my toes to count how many times I have removed planter gauge wheels and dug them out, and I don't even run the planter! It is a terrible job. The 20/20 pressure monitoring system certainly helps but there is no magic cure other than just waiting and the last few years waiting hasn't been an option.

[cooper]

I'm with you there mbfarmer! I think every year that my body has found all the sharp corners under a planter when I'm cleaning out the gauge wheels but alas I manage to find some new places each season! The difference here is that I'm the driver so Ive got no one to blame Have you looked at the pro mag or ridgeland spoke gauge wheels at all?

[westy601]

we have been using a 2x rate of liquid apllied on the seed then put into the planter it works well. Years ago when we were using the airdrill i tried a few different things with innoculants, i did liquid and granular, 2x liquid and 2x granular, and 2x granular with liquid it didn't seem to make much of a difference but that being said i'm always wondering if we are doing enough or coulod we do more? we planter with a 16/31 jd ccs and have been wondering if we could do some phos at planting or granular. I will have to look into it, but a planter is by far the way to plant beans leave the airdrill to cereals.