Help me compare a Land Pride LP500 drill with a Genesis 5 Light drill

Just re-read this whole thread. MAN.....am I persistent! lol. I sold my Tar River 505 last night. Will pick up the GP 3P500 in a week or so. Still......I had to be home all day today.....and still no video or unbiased review by an owner of a LP or GP 3P500. Geeesh. I may be the first to do a video on this product. Even Tar River has LOTS of product reviews on their offerings.

Anyway.....took the plunge now that I saw one and found a slightly used one at a tolerable price. Things should not be this hard. Grin. Hope it works out as planned. Stay tuned.
You’re gonna be real happy with it my friend.
 
I made up this worksheet to use with the Tar River drill I have sold. After reading the GP set up manual I think I will NOT use the little baggies or cups they suggest and continue to use some Rubbermaid "under the bed" plastic storage bins to collect my seed when I calibrate. Thus my system is much like the Genesis drills.....I just do not have 'on board" storage of a collection tub. My "old" Saya has the same number of drop tubes and dimensions as the new Great Plains 3P 500.

What I do is hook up my drill and set it via the book or from past experience. Then I lift it about 6" off my floor and slip two of those clear plastic tubs under to catch the seeds. I make certain all the tubes are dropping seed through the openers.....then enpty the tubs and turn the drive wheel the proper footage as described In the math below. In the "new" GP drill I will need to figure our how many revolutions of their "crank" will get me the desired distiance. When I do it as said here.....I can see each row dropping seeds and somewhat compare uniformity across the drill as the seeds are caught in the tubs. (if something does not look right....stop! and figure out the solution)

Its then easy to tip the tubs to collect the seeds into the weigh container. I use empty plastic Folgers coffee containers to weigh the seeds on an electronic scale I bought from Amazon. (as I have collected so many of those Folgers plastic tubs). Fast , easy and precise.....and no hoses or bags to fumble with. I record the data and save it for future use. (I need to change my sheet slightly to provide more data to save).

Hope you can develop your own system like this. Works well for me.


worksheet 505 drill .jpeg
 
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Pretty good video comparing brands here. Interesting stuff. Listen to the voice of experience here.

 
Went to a dealer in Wisconsin today.....and look what followed me home. 😉 12 hours driving today. (Sorry Mike.....had no time to get together.....had to keep moving).

Finally! I will get a first hand, owner review on this product. lol.

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Went to a dealer in Wisconsin today.....and look what followed me home. 😉 12 hours driving today. (Sorry Mike.....had no time to get together.....had to keep moving).

Finally! I will get a first hand, owner review on this product. lol.

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Atta boy.
 
Re-configured a rolling cart to hold my drill.....so I can move it in my pole shed. Much easier to place the drill and to hook it up with this cart. (much of my machinery is on carts....if it has a gear box or needs to be under a roof.). This worked out pretty well. I did drill a "Pail -full" of sunflower seeds....jsut to do a shakedown cruise on Tuesday. Seemed to do the job correctly.tempImageg6xpty.jpgtempImagemwycea.jpg
 
Do you have any thoughts on the 7.5” 7 row spacing vs. 6” 9 row spacing for the 3p500? Was this your preference or just what was available?


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Do you have any thoughts on the 7.5” 7 row spacing vs. 6” 9 row spacing for the 3p500? Was this your preference or just what was available?


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The 7.5" row spacing seems to be most prevalent among farmers. Folks in orchards seem to be the most frequent buyers on the 6" spacing. IMO...You likely will not find many drills on a sales yard with the narrow spacing. I bought a used drill.....and I doubt I would specify a narrow row width if I were to buy new. Not much to base that on......just what I have seen offered. I dont think one or the other is inherently a "bad" choice. You likely put down less seed per row with the 6" spacing.
 
The 7.5" row spacing seems to be most prevalent among farmers. Folks in orchards seem to be the most frequent buyers on the 6" spacing. IMO...You likely will not find many drills on a sales yard with the narrow spacing. I bought a used drill.....and I doubt I would specify a narrow row width if I were to buy new. Not much to base that on......just what I have seen offered. I dont think one or the other is inherently a "bad" choice. You likely put down less seed per row with the 6" spacing.

OK thanks for the feedback. I just got my LP 3p500 this week and it is the 7.5” spacing, but I had actually ordered the 6”. I just assumed for foodplots maybe closer would be better than with row crops. I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned or just roll with it. Sounds like it isn’t a factor.


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OK thanks for the feedback. I just got my LP 3p500 this week and it is the 7.5” spacing, but I had actually ordered the 6”. I just assumed for foodplots maybe closer would be better than with row crops. I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned or just roll with it. Sounds like it isn’t a factor.


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I like the idea of narrower spacing. The same seeding rate would give each seed a little more real estate and in theory it should result in quicker canopy to block the sun and shade out weeds. The possible downside I could see on this drill that is already pretty light is that you’d get less weight per row if you have tougher to penetrate soil or residue. No idea if functionally there would be a notable difference between the two but I kind of doubt it on a foodplot level.

I’d hope they give you a credit on the price for giving you fewer rows.
 
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I like the idea of narrower spacing. The same seeding rate would give each seed a little more real estate and in theory it should result in quicker canopy to block the sun and shade out weeds. The possible downside I could see on this drill that is already pretty light is that you’d get less weight per row if you have tougher to penetrate soil or residue. No idea if functionally there would be a notable difference between the two but I kind of doubt it on a foodplot level.

I’d hope they give you a credit on the price for giving you fewer rows.

I did tell the dealer it wasn’t the exact model. He seemed concerned and promised to look into it to see what happened.
It has been on order since February and was supposed to be here at the end of April but delay after delay and I couldn’t tell if it wasn’t actually ordered or someone made a mistake. Almost thought maybe he found it at another dealership and just wanted to get the sale completed. I am planning to use it this weekend and hope it does good for me. I have silty clay so maybe more weight per row might be better. I did think tighter spacing would have its benefits.


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I did tell the dealer it wasn’t the exact model. He seemed concerned and promised to look into it to see what happened.
It has been on order since February and was supposed to be here at the end of April but delay after delay and I couldn’t tell if it wasn’t actually ordered or someone made a mistake. Almost thought maybe he found it at another dealership and just wanted to get the sale completed. I am planning to use it this weekend and hope it does good for me. I have silty clay so maybe more weight per row might be better. I did think tighter spacing would have its benefits.


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Since the 3p500 was discontinued I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the order then scrambled to get whatever they could.
 
I revised my worksheet that I will use to calibrate my 3P500 drill. This would be similar with a 3P600.....but the math needs to be altered. Thought it could be useful to others.
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I did find a video that gives a fair review of the 3P 500 and 600 drills. The model used in this video is a 3P500V- which has 9 openers. A bit different than mine but similar principals and gives a good review of the workings of these drills. I find it strange more YouTube videos are not available on these little drills. For my purposes with the light soils I have......I gotta believe this is the best choice. Time will tell.

In the beginning of the video he explains how to detriment a mixes bushel weight. Good into. Anyway.....good, short video presentation.

 
^ Important Lesson to learn from this video? Need to write down this formula for future use. To determine the bushel weight of a seed mix......take one level cup of seed and get the weight in grams. Then multiply the weight by .328 to get one bushel pound weight. Find similar output in charts and set the drill. Easy / peasy??
 

^would be of interest to me if I had a little wider access to one of my plots.
Cool looking drill wind. I say widen the access and go for it!

I love spending other people’s money.
 
Cool looking drill wind. I say widen the access and go for it!

I love spending other people’s money.

there are other issues.
1. Access is through a neighbors property so I’d need to cut his trees.
2. Might be too much drill for my tractor
3. Can’t fit it on a trailer or in shipping container for storage.
 
I revised my worksheet that I will use to calibrate my 3P500 drill. This would be similar with a 3P600.....but the math needs to be altered. Thought it could be useful to others.
View attachment 53497
When my 3p600 shows up this winter and I start to tinker with it, your cheat sheet will come in handy! Thanks!
 
Foggy not to hijack your thread but I have been going thru all the gyrations you have gone thru and we are even the same age ..one has to admit we don't likely have the years left in us to amortize out the cost of a GP/LP or even a Genesis ..that is one reason a Greenscape 750 keeps creeping into my thought process ..I too cannot find anywhere on the web the GS 750 being discussed let alone video and review ..but the Greenscape 750 has everything price, S & L seed boxes (especially like small seed discharging on a splash tray rather than dump in a deep furrow), front coulters, double seed openers, 1800+ lbs, ....but ..BUT uses a cultipacker which drives the mechanisms and not a press wheel system as closers ...then again the cultipacker is maybe a plus for the small seed??
The option of no coulters is likely not an option as I am in Southern Missouri gumbo heavy ground ..so such a quandary ..I will plant in September my beginning fall plant of the Grant Woods Buffalo system which I have covered with a Soil District 706NT no till rental ..( the thing is huge and it will not fit in to half my plots and I am now sawing down 30" white oaks just to throw some seeds
This is asinine that I have never laid eyes on ANY of the drills this thread has encompassed ..all the dealers around here are big row crop dealers where a 30 foot implement is what hobby farmers use so good luck to me finding a 5 or 6 foot no till drill to look at within 200 miles ...
So my next move I guess is to find the nearest dealer / or dealers in proximity of each other that have the 3 brands on my mind and take the boss of me on a little road trip and get some nagging questions answered ..

I know you are thinking take my wife to go look at farm implements right?? ..all I have to do is let her nose into a few quilt shops here n there and she is golden ..she needs airing out anyway as she is finally fully recovered from a knee replacement..

Good luck to all you guys who have bit the bullet on your equipment decisions and just find the good in them and enjoy!!

Bear
 
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