Thinking of a no-till grain drill for next years plots

[alldaysit]

Thinking outside the box here. As this year was my process for food plots:

0. Brush mow
1. Spray
2. Disc
3. Disc again
4. Cultipack
5. Spread seed
6. Disc lightly
7. Cultipack
8. Spread clover or brassicas
9. Cultipack again

I bet I have a solid dang week into just planting plots this year, and I still have stands to hang and shacks to build!

Would a no-till grain drill help me accomplish this faster next year?


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[Bill]

Yes, but...
I think you went overboard. When I was disking as a main planting method I only ever sprayed, disked, broadcast and cultipacked. I have disked several times a summer to exhaust the weed seed for a fall clover or brassica planting. But usually it's disc, broadcast, pack.

 

[yoderjac]

Not only is that overboard, depending on how deeply you disked, it may have been counter productive in the long run. My little Kasco certainly saves me time over traditional tillage even at only 4' wide. However, I don't always use it. I use it primarily for planting beans (with a light mix of corn) in the spring. I'll then use it in the fall to drill radish (and I'm trying small burnet this year) into suppressed clover. For planting clover or cover crop seed like WR, CC, and PTT, I still surface broadcast. There is not much faster than that. My boom sprayer covers a 10' swath and I use WR as a carrier for small seed so I can use a 3-pt broadcast spreader for seeding.

By the way, have you ever looked at the recipe for building a good dirt road? It involves breaking the soil up into as fine of particles as possible and packing it. Not much grows on a well built road. The finer we disk and till the closer we come to that recipe. I used to use a 2-bottom plow followed by a tiller. I loved the fine fluffy seed bed it produced. Plants grew OK at first, but after a few years I had issues. After digging deeper into the subject I finally realized the damage I was doing to the soil both with the plow and then tiller. Now when I use a tiller, I set it so high the tines only engage in the top inch of soil at most and I travel much faster. Vegetation is chewed up and a little soil is thrown around. The field still looks much more green than brown when I'm done with it.

If you can afford a full size no-till drill, they can't be beat. My little Kasco is takes some time to figure out how to use and it is more of an art than a science, but even it can be very effective for me.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[BobinCt]

Ask around and see if anyone in your area has a no-till drill seeder. I got lucky this year that a guy close by did and he only charged me $40 an acre. How can you beat that. Normally he charges more , but he's close by. As long as I have this farm to plant and hunt, I'll have him drill every time. You might be surprised who has one near you. Ask farmers and local co-op. I know u said u wanted to purchase, but this is always another option.

 

[WTNUT]

Bill is right. I would skip 6 and 7. Moving on, no till drill saves a ton of time. However, it is not the end all magic bullet. I prefer to mow if grass and weeds are too high in the summer, then drill after the thatch dies down a couple weeks, drill and spray then all done.




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[Boll Weevil]

I found an old 15ft Tye drill with double disk openers that is HEAVY. I spray, wait till everything is dead and crispy, and drill right through it. The previous owner sold it at a "scrap iron" price and I put a little elbow grease into getting it field ready. It has more than paid for itself in time, seed, and fuel savings. I get a more reliable stand of whatever I'm planting and don't need 3 or 4 other pieces of equipment to get a job done.

 

[alldaysit]

I found an old 15ft Tye drill with double disk openers that is HEAVY. I spray, wait till everything is dead and crispy, and drill right through it. The previous owner sold it at a "scrap iron" price and I put a little elbow grease into getting it field ready. It has more than paid for itself in time, seed, and fuel savings. I get a more reliable stand of whatever I'm planting and don't need 3 or 4 other pieces of equipment to get a job done.

Thanks all for the replies. I disc one direction, then the other. My disc sucks too. So I don't see much dirt either, but that's not the point. The point is that I have to drive over the dang land MANY times each year with my current process.

I have a 12ft 3pt sprayer that works awesome.

There has to be something out there that I can put together that eliminates the discing and I would love to eliminate the cultipack if. I was thinking of trying to find a drill with press wheels.

I would love to find a 4-6' drill of some kind. I'm not far from buying a 10' drill to unbolt one half and make it into a 5' 3pt.

I will prolly just end up buying a 3pt poly cone spreader but without much seed to soil contact some of my plots haven't been that successful when attempting the spray, spread and mow.

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[JCU Delt Ox]

You never mentioned how many acres of planting you do a year. The greater the acreage, the more beneficial eliminating all those steps can be. We justified a 606NT purchase and we do about 30-40 acres per year. This includes spring and fall as well as some CIR switchgrass and others. We have a three step process, sometimes only two: 1.) Mow (if required) 2.) Spray 3.) Drill.

 

[alldaysit]

You never mentioned how many acres of planting you do a year. The greater the acreage, the more beneficial eliminating all those steps can be. We justified a 606NT purchase and we do about 30-40 acres per year. This includes spring and fall as well as some CIR switchgrass and others. We have a three step process, sometimes only two: 1.) Mow (if required) 2.) Spray 3.) Drill.

That process is beautiful.

I have about 12 acres between three properties. I worked hard on establishing clover on a new property this year, for next year and the following so I don't have to do so much tillage so to speak.

Since using a cultipacker my plots are much more successful.

I have been debating on buying a Brillion type Seeder/cultipacker and fastening two landscape rakes in front of it to scratch up the surface enough for seed to soil contact. I'm sure I could rig up an automatic clean out process with a 3 point mounted system.

I guess maybe my goal should be to eliminate the discing and combine the cultipacking into one step.

I bet if I sprayed and waited long enough for a complete kill, I could use the rake and cultipacker/seeder for an effective planting.

***And this has been your daily random thoughts about deer management from a former mechanical engineer.

 

[j-bird]

Thinking outside the box here. As this year was my process for food plots:

0. Brush mow
1. Spray
2. Disc
3. Disc again
4. Cultipack
5. Spread seed
6. Disc lightly
7. Cultipack
8. Spread clover or brassicas
9. Cultipack again

I bet I have a solid dang week into just planting plots this year, and I still have stands to hang and shacks to build!

Would a no-till grain drill help me accomplish this faster next year?


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What where you planting? I see what might be some extra steps in there as has been mentioned as well. Larger seed I would spread after final discing and then pack. If applying a much smaller seed in the same plot then broadcast that seed at that time. I have had decent results broadcasting soybeans and corn into a well worked seed bed without doing nothing more than pushing the seed into the dirt with my tractor tires. I typically don't pack small seeds either - I let the rain do that. There is nothing wrong with using a drill - just realize that they too have limitations.....particularly with seed sizes and mixed seed blends of various sized seed. Drills can also be heavy and expensive.....they have significant advantages as well.....especially in soil moisture retention and disturbing the seed bank.....but you don't get something for nothing as they say.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

We use a tiller for working ground. My process is about as simple as it gets.

Large seed: spread fertilizer, spread seed, till, walk away.

Small seed: spread fertilizer, till, spread seed, walk away.

Cereal: spread fertilizer,till, spread seed, drag, walk away.

 

[alldaysit]

I get that, and I'm trying to establish some options. I don't feel like spending a boatload of money, I'm trying to eliminate some steps in this process so I don't feel exhausted by the time hunting season rolls around.

I'm open to suggestions.

I typically plant in a new plot Rye, oats, beans, radish and clover.


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[Boll Weevil]

I don't feel like spending a boatload of money, I'm trying to eliminate some steps in this process so I don't feel exhausted by the time hunting season rolls around.

Believe it or not that old drill cost me $1400. Might take you a little while but hunt around till you find what you can afford and what meets your needs. Yeah it's older equipment but it gets the job done with an efficiency that just can't be matched vs. running back and forth to pick up different pieces of equipment on a big piece of property.

Good luck to you!

 

[alldaysit]

Believe it or not that old drill cost me $1400. Might take you a little while but hunt around till you find what you can afford and what meets your needs. Yeah it's older equipment but it gets the job done with an efficiency that just can't be matched vs. running back and forth to pick up different pieces of equipment on a big piece of property.

Good luck to you!

That's not bad at all!


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[alldaysit]

We use a tiller for working ground. My process is about as simple as it gets.

Large seed: spread fertilizer, spread seed, till, walk away.

Small seed: spread fertilizer, till, spread seed, walk away.

Cereal: spread fertilizer,till, spread seed, drag, walk away.

That makes a lot of sense!


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[S.T.Fanatic]

That makes a lot of sense!


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When planting corn or beans some of the seed might be to deep some might be to shallow but i still get very good results. It's not production ag.

With my acreage, habitat, and deer numbers I still have food left over come spring green up so it works for me.


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[WTNUT]

That process is beautiful.

I have about 12 acres between three properties. I worked hard on establishing clover on a new property this year, for next year and the following so I don't have to do so much tillage so to speak.

Since using a cultipacker my plots are much more successful.

I have been debating on buying a Brillion type Seeder/cultipacker and fastening two landscape rakes in front of it to scratch up the surface enough for seed to soil contact. I'm sure I could rig up an automatic clean out process with a 3 point mounted system.

I guess maybe my goal should be to eliminate the discing and combine the cultipacking into one step.

I bet if I sprayed and waited long enough for a complete kill, I could use the rake and cultipacker/seeder for an effective planting.

***And this has been your daily random thoughts about deer management from a former mechanical engineer.

As I look at that picture, it is first and foremost a beautiful spot! Anyone would be proud to sit in a tree there! However, that is not farm land. Keep in mind that rolling ground and debris can make a 3Pt no till not work as well as you would like. So when weighing your options keep that in mind too.


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[alldaysit]

Would a no-till like this work for my applications?

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[alldaysit]

As I look at that picture, it is first and foremost a beautiful spot! Anyone would be proud to sit in a tree there! However, that is not farm land. Keep in mind that rolling ground and debris can make a 3Pt no till not work as well as you would like. So when weighing your options keep that in mind too.


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That's a good point. I better just nut up schedule the planting time and have fun with it.


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[nchunter1989]

That's a good point. I better just nut up schedule the planting time and have fun with it.


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By no means am I an expert at this, & I'm planting a quarter of the acreage. But have you tried a mow,spray & spread routine? or some variation of that?? Basically more of a "throw & mow" then discing? From my viewpoint there's alot of extra steps your doing that could be eliminated. Also, how much rye is left going into spring? I know you are alot farther north then I, but unless you are terminating for spring plots, seems like you could keep some rye going into spring & help to keep some of the weeds down. Where you simply come in,spray & spread.

EDIT* I reread & saw you're trying to get clover established, so possibly letting the rye go wouldnt be a option. But still like jack said, seems you are possibly hurting more then harming with all the discing, I'm sure its not helping the OM.