Micro Plotters: Rates and Conversions

[SD51555]

Something dawned on me tonight. When dealing with micro plots and you're using a fraction of a bag of seed measured in bushels or pounds how does a guy go about metering out seed when you likely don't have a scale in the truck?

An example: If I've got a 1/5th acre plot and I want it to be 10% rye, how much seed do I need? Assume a full broadcast rate is 2 bu/a.

That's when I googled the "cups in a bushel" conversion. Did you know there are 149 cups in a bushel? I just learned that. So a full rate is 298 cups per acre. I have 1/5th of an acre, so 298/5=~60 cups for a full rate. 60 cups x 10% rate = 6 cups of rye into my blend measured with my handy quart bucket.

Precision restored.

I've been pondering how to meter out the appropriate amount of seed for the brassica plots this fall, and best idea I could come up with is to dump out the whole bag and see how many cups are in a 10lb bag and figure out the cups per pound so I can get it right. I don't want to end up with a thick stunted plot again.

Am I the last one to the party on knowing this?

 

[biglakeba$$]

I measure out my seed I need in micro plots on a digital scale and put it in a ziploc. Very easy.

I have been guilty of way overseeding and way underseeding.

I use google planimeter to figure out the size of all my plots and with that I am able to figure out my exact seed rate needed.

 

[tooln]

I have a 8 or 10lb digital scale that I weigh out smaller portions and zip lock them. For larger I'll take the scale along. Quick easy and accurate. The scale cost me less the $15.00 @ Fleet Farm

 

[wiscwhip]

Did you know there are 149 cups in a bushel?

Not so fast SD. I don't mean to p!$$ in your Cheerio's this morning, but a bushel is not just a bushel. It all depends on what seed that bushel consists of, some bushels are 56lbs(rye), while some are 32lbs(oats), so be careful using this conversion. Here is a good chart.

https://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/bushels.html

 

[MoLandOwner]

You guys get that anal about the exact amount of seed to plant.....for a food plot?:eek:

 

[sandbur]

For brassica like turnips, always seed about 10% of what you think you need.

 

[biglakeba$$]

You guys get that anal about the exact amount of seed to plant

Sure, why not. I dont want to replant because I screwed up.

I have done both too heavy and not enough seed before and its just wasted if you have to redo it.

You farmers I am sure dont just take a wild ass guess as to what you are putting in the ground.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i have a small old counter top scale that meters to 10 lbs. I only use it on the small seeds and I weigh out the seed an put it in freezer bags/brown paper bags. For the larger seeds like oats and rye I pretty much guesstimate based on the amount of seed in a bu bag. if i need about 30 lbs rye i just fill the hopper on the broadcast spreader with about half the bu bag's content. i've gone far too heavy on seeding rates in the past and it just doesnt work out. On a 1/3 acre plot 1lb of seed either way can make a big difference either way. I typically pace out the perimeter of the plot into squares or rectangles. One stride for me is pretty much one yard, so 30 paces = 30 yds = 90 ft. i then do the typical sq ft calculation L x W and come up with the approx sq footage. From there i divide my sq ft by 43560 to come up with the acreage or in my case fraction of an acre. then i calculate my seeding rates by dividing the seeding rate/acre by the fraction of an acre i'm dealing with. I do give some consideration to planting method and seed size being used when making my final decision on seeding rate. i have used a few online gps/gis resources to check my pace method of acreage calculation and so far its been very close.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Sure, why not. I dont want to replant because I screwed up.

I have done both too heavy and not enough seed before and its just wasted if you have to redo it.

You farmers I am sure dont just take a wild ass guess as to what you are putting in the ground.

You have no Idea how many guess!

 

[wiscwhip]

You have no Idea how many guess!

Aren't those the ones who go broke?

 

[MoLandOwner]

Aren't those the ones who go broke?

Not all of them.

 

[wiscwhip]

Not all of them.

I would guess in that case the old saying "better to be lucky than good" applies.

 

[MoLandOwner]

One of the reason's the industry changed soybean seed counts to 140,000 seeds per bag was because to many farmers could not figure out how many seeds were in a 50lb bag of seed. Many had no Idea how to figure 2,400 seeds per pound verses 3,400 seeds per pound. And would over seed or under seed all the time. Now the seed genetics are moving toward larger and larger seed. So we now see seed pushing 60lb bags in stead of 50lb bags. Further complicating things for the farmers that have been planting 50 lb bags of beans all their life! LOL

 

[MoLandOwner]

And then to further complicate things.......most plotters and farmers never research how much pure seed they are planting. Many different seeds are coming with coating on them, up to as much as 50% of the weight of the bag of seed is now coating on some seed. Makes there seed look cheaper than the competition. Some have no coating but yet they keep the seed setting on there drill the same from year in to year out. And then most plotters will look at price per pound of seed. They Will buy elsewhere when they can save .20 cents per pound not checking to see if the seed germ is 10% less than the more expensive looking seed and not checking if it is coated or uncoated seed. I just laugh when guys tell me seed is .20 cents cheaper somewhere else. LOL

 

[wiscwhip]

One of the reason's the industry changed soybean seed counts to 140,000 seeds per bag was because to many farmers could not figure out how many seeds were in a 50lb bag of seed. Many had no Idea how to figure 2,400 seeds per pound verses 3,400 seeds per pound. And would over seed or under seed all the time. Now the seed genetics are moving toward larger and larger seed. So we now see seed pushing 60lb bags in stead of 50lb bags. Further complicating things for the farmers that have been planting 50 lb bags of beans all their life! LOL

^^^^This is precisely why 149 cups per bushel doesn't work if you "want" to be accurate on seeds per acre. How many more of the 3,400 seeds/lb sized seed will fit in a cup vs the 2,400 count sized seed? This could end up being a big difference in the end. It can only really be done 2 ways to ensue proper seeding rates, 1) individual seeds per bag such as the way they do it with soys, or 2) fractions of a lb measured with an accurate scale, similar to what sidehillphil posted above.

 

[MoLandOwner]

^^^^This is precisely why 149 cups per bushel doesn't work if you "want" to be accurate on seeds per acre. How many more of the 3,400 seeds/lb sized seed will fit in a cup vs the 2,400 count sized seed? This could end up being a big difference in the end. It can only really be done 2 ways to ensue proper seeding rates, 1) individual seeds per bag such as the way they do it with soys, or 2) fractions of a lb measured with an accurate scale, similar to what sidehillphil posted above.

Right now at 140,000 seeds for soybeans in a bag, it should make it more understandable when I tell farmers they can plant a little over one bag per acre and be good. These are the same type of farmers I fill out their check for them, for their purchase amount, because they don't know how to read or write. And I am dead serious!

 

[wiscwhip]

Right now at 140,000 seeds for soybeans in a bag, it should make it more understandable when I tell farmers they can plant a little over one bag per acre and be good. These are the same type of farmers I fill out their check for them, for their purchase amount, because they don't know how to read or write. And I am dead serious!

My twin uncles were these exact guys Mo, so I know what your talking about. Farmhands their whole lives, never knew anything else. Never had drivers licenses because they could not read or write to take the test. Paid cash for everything, no checking account whatsoever. Could barely sign there own names on their SS checks after they got old enough to "retire".

 

[SD51555]

Not so fast SD. I don't mean to p!$$ in your Cheerio's this morning, but a bushel is not just a bushel. It all depends on what seed that bushel consists of, some bushels are 56lbs(rye), while some are 32lbs(oats), so be careful using this conversion. Here is a good chart.

https://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/bushels.html

I'm with ya Whip. What I was getting at was that whether your seed rates are expressed in bushels or pounds, I can't meter out either of them for our tiny plots if i don't have a scale. It'd be a simple fix to just get a scale, but I just don't want to have one more piece of equipment like that around my already cramped living quarters. So I got to work on devising my whacky conversion plan. When we seeded our soybean plot, I figured we needed a third of a bag to account for broadcast germination. The more-is-better bug bit brother Marv and he seeded an extra third and we got a very thick stand of soybeans. However, in hindsight, we may be ok given the pruners have been in there every day since germination.

 

[wiscwhip]

pruners

Nice....NICE!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i think on the micro plot scale figuring out the actual size of your plot is critical....i know so many guys that have a "1/4 acre kill plot" that is more like 6000 sq ft..and they seed it like its an acre because "its not good soil so all the seed wont germinate". I also was working with a guy that said he had a 3/4 acre plot in the woods...when he showed it to me it was just about a 1/3 of an acre, he was blown away when i told him he wasnt even close to 3/4 an acre so i paced it out and did the calculations.