[rty]

I'm looking for a small drill or airseeder (30-40 ft) that can plant seed and also apply a pretty heavy rate of dry fertilizer. Needs to be a disk opener as I want to minimize soil disturbance. The idea is to no-till in cover crops in the fall while simultaneously applying P & K for next year's crop. Looking at this as an alternative to broadcasting P & K and eliminating a pass through the field. I'm not familiar enough with the airseeder/drill market to know what's out there and what works best. I don't need anything fancy and it doesn't have to be new. Don't need huge capacity, and a drill would be fine instead of an airseeder if one exists.

I think the Salford 522 unit does what I'm looking for, but it really doesn't make sense to buy a $150,000+ machine. Salford Machinery | Our Products

Anything else out on the market that can accomplish this? I've heard there was an option on some of the older Deere drills to apply dry fert separately but I haven't been able to find one.

 

[woodytr99]

How about a flexicoil 6000 double shoot sometimes they sell pretty cheap. U can put a pretty good size cart with it

 

[ports]

Cross slot

 

[kirschenman]

There are some 36 foot Deere 1895s around I know. Not sure how many 30s there are. They are usually on 10 inch spacing with fertilizer banders in between every other row (20 inch). Would give you the option to put fertilizer down the banders and seed cover crops on 10 inch spacing.



Now, here is a crazy idea. Find a box drill in whatever color you want. block off the meters to every other opener (or whatever number you want. Then, find a small air cart and feed fertilizer from the cart to the blocked off openers. Use the boxes for seed for the cover crop, and the cart to apply fertilizer. Would also keep fertilizer out of the boxes.



There was a Deere 750 box drill with banders as well. But I don't think they came bigger than 20 feet. And you can probably find an air drill for what they would still cost.

 

[rty]

I did find one of those 750 drills with the separate fertilizer box and banders. Amazing what they were asking for it.

I'm not in an area where these machines are used (MN and WI) so there aren't any around to look at. Forgive my ignorance.

Does a typical double shoot system put down seed and fertilizer in separate bands using the same opener unit? And are those systems designed with only starter fert amounts in mind?

 

[kirschenman]

Typical double shoots (like the Flexicoil 6000) will put the fertilizer about 1.5 inches to the side and the same below the seed. So much like a 2x2 corn sideband system. But because they are usually on 10 inch spacing the concentrations are much less than with a corn planter on wide rows. Most small grains are also less sensitive to fertilizer than corn so many will apply all of the fertility needs in the sideband.

Deere 1895s are midrow, so they usually are 5 inches off each row (in the middle of two). Much safer, but the concentration is double since one band feeds 2 seed rows. Never will be an issue at that distance though.

Depending on how dense you want your cover crop, you could also buy a 1890 drill on 7.5 inch spacing and configure the distribution so that you could put seed down 1/2 the rows and fertilizer down the other 1/2. You would end up seeding cover crop on 15 inch spacing. Or you could make it so that you are putting fertilizer down on 30 inch rows (1 in 4) and seed on the other 3. That way you could go in the next spring and put your corn in on the blank rows right over where the fertilizer had been applied. Would give you easier planting because of less residue, good access to the fall applied fertilizer since you would be planting near it, and good establishment of your cover crop. All assuming you plant on 30 inch spacing I guess.

 

[SWFarmService]

are you looking for a drill just for seeding the cover crops or are you planning to seed the crop with it also? I am using a concord tow between cart and a Phillips rotory harrow for seeding mine right now but thinking about going with electric spreaders mounted to my sprayer booms so I can spread the covers on prior to harvest the whole goal in my mind is to keep it cheap as possible but I went the same rout your planning on with the Phillips and got an awesome catch and was able to run 10 mph

 

[rty]

The goal is to do a both good job seeding the cover crops and do a good job putting a precise amount fertilizer under the soil surface where it's safe over the winter. In one pass, in crop residue. This is all on no-till ground or very minimally tilled. I would very likely use it to seed soybeans in the spring if I could do it on 15" spacing, didn't have any issues cracking the seed in the manifold, and if the opener can handle no-till seeding directly into corn stubble.

One of the nice things about the Salford 522 is that you can put a gang of coulters on the front to very lightly till the ground. That would be ideal to help smooth the surface of the ground so the combine head can have a nice low cut, and still avoid real tillage. I will run a roller over the fields but it would be nice to supplement that.

I would much prefer a unit that's all in one piece, rather than pulling a cart around. It's really looking like the Salford is the only thing that fits the bill well. I used a Seed Hawk once for some wheat and that was a good machine. The problem with the hoe opener though is that it popped all the rocks up out of the ground, and I don't think it would handle heavy corn residue as well as a disc opener.

 

[doorknob]

The goal is to do a both good job seeding the cover crops and do a good job putting a precise amount fertilizer under the soil surface where it's safe over the winter. In one pass, in crop residue. This is all on no-till ground or very minimally tilled. I would very likely use it to seed soybeans in the spring if I could do it on 15" spacing, didn't have any issues cracking the seed in the manifold, and if the opener can handle no-till seeding directly into corn stubble.

One of the nice things about the Salford 522 is that you can put a gang of coulters on the front to very lightly till the ground. That would be ideal to help smooth the surface of the ground so the combine head can have a nice low cut, and still avoid real tillage. I will run a roller over the fields but it would be nice to supplement that.

I would much prefer a unit that's all in one piece, rather than pulling a cart around. It's really looking like the Salford is the only thing that fits the bill well. I used a Seed Hawk once for some wheat and that was a good machine. The problem with the hoe opener though is that it popped all the rocks up out of the ground, and I don't think it would handle heavy corn residue as well as a disc opener.

That part should get some opinions on both sides. My experience in corn is quite limited, but was not so great with a disk opener unless conditions were just right. Where the hoe was much less effected during changing condition. The best of both worlds would be a coulter blade in front of the hoe. A few manufacturers made them including Concord.

 

[rty]

I've had a great experience planting soybeans straight into wet and dry corn stubble with a Deere 1690 CCS, so that's what I'm going on. If the stalks weren't chopped well I envision a gang of tine openers to hold on to some of them and eventually plug up. When I used the Seed Hawk, it was in a dead ryegrass and clover cover crop. The machine worked fine, but in the places where the crop was taller and matted the tines would push material for a bit and let it go, leaving balls of residue.