zophy

When using a drill, how do you plant the seeds in rows without going over the same row that you planted. I've broadcasted seeds before and I would broadcast the amount of seeds for a acre all over until I'm finished, but how do you do that with a drill?

haystack

It will take a little practice, but using your drill will become very easy over time. First, planting in tilled ground is much easier to see where you've been and probably the best way to learn. Start out by making the first pass along the outside edge of the plot. Once you're at the end, just raise the drill, make a sharp turn and start planting again right beside the first pass, you should be able to see where the last "row" is. Just get it as close as you can without overlapping or veering off leaving a gap of unseeded ground.

Most drills are equipped with a seed metering system, which controls the seed drop rate. Once you determine what seed you're planting and how many #s per acre you want seeded, look either on the drill or owners manual for which gear or gearbox setting needed to achieve that rate with that particular seed.

It's a learning curve with a new drill and normally takes a bit to figure out what is ideal. Hope this helps some.

zophy

So if I have a bag of seeds for a acre and I'm planting a acre with a drill, when I start at one side of the plot and end at the other end, I should be finished with the bag of seeds?

haystack

I think we're on the same page. Here's a picture of a 2 acre field. I planted 96#s of oats per acre which came in 48# bags. Four bags was dumped in the drill and using the drills seeding rate diagram, found the correct gear and setting before starting to plant. Then starting on the left hand side of the picture, I planted from the edge to the middle of the plot, then went to the right hand side edge and planted to the middle overlapping in the process, which is not a big deal. As I would plant a couple passes, I would monitor the seed both in the drill and whats being sowed. Sometimes tweaking is needed to get the desired rate and ensure enough seed to finish the plot. When the whole plot was finished, I had just a bit of seed left over, so I just went back over the outside edge until all of the seed was used.

zophy

Thanks for the info.

haystack

Glad to help. It would have been much easier see it done versus me trying to tell ya. Hope I helped.

Here's the same plot today, no doubt a drill will do a good job.

North Texan

Haystack uses his drill like I would plant cotton or other row crops.

I plant wheat by simply starting at the outside of the field and working my way in, traveling in a counter-clockwise direction. Just before I complete the circle, I turn to where I am lined up with the outer edge of the drill sowing preferably 6-8" inside of the inside row of the previous round. I keep making circles until the field is covered. There will be a gap where corners are made, so I then proceed to cover the corners by starting in the center, driving to the corner covering the left side of the gapped area, turning at the corner, and then coming back covering the rights side of the field. In a square field, it resembles the shape of an "X". It's hard to describe, but if I can find an aerial picture of one, it would make a lot more sense.

hossdaniels

Is the problem seeing where you have been? If so, a foam marker helps me see in some no-till fields, and is a must for spraying. Just a cheap 12v air compressor(cut the cigarette plug and wire like any 12v), a plastic gas tank with a tire valve stuck in the bottom, and some hose run out to the edge of the drill. Put a couple oz of foam per gallon of water in the tank to about 2/3 full. Shouldn't take long to pay for itself. The air compressors dont last long(~60 hrs), but they are real cheap.

Usually the book will get you fairly close to right rate, but it just takes practice to get it right.

npaden

I run my drill more like North Texan does. Mainly because my drill is so old you have to raise and lower it manually, but also because my fields are irregular shaped and it's faster. I'm still figuring out my setting for everything I plant so sometimes I end up having to go over the field more than once to get all the seed out of the drill and other than wasting time, it's not a big deal.

haystack

I agree there's more than one way to plant a field/plot and with a conventional drill you can turn on a dime. But making a sharp turn while planting with a no-till drill isn't something I would do.

Here's the owners manual for a Kasco no-till drill, it also advises to raise drill before turning. Zophy had mentioned he had a Kasco no-till, not sure which model though.

http://www.kascomfg.com/_products/ma...ual%20done.pdf