Today was (finally) a day to plant my GCC Summer Release and a Buckwheat / Sunflower Mix. I'm going to try to comment below each pic via an edit.....after I load the pics. Give me about 15 minutes.
So I bought a pair of long storage tubs at Mills fleet farm. I think these are made for under the bed storage....and figured they would work well for calibrating. They do. I was able to capture the seed from two openers in each tub....and that way I could easily see that they were throwing similar amounts. Quick way to double check your work.
I was planting a buckwheat and sunflower mix on some poor ground that just needs to get some biomass and green manure. Here is the seed in the hopper. Nothing important here. I also planted quite a bit of GCC Summer release after this seed. Used this to get the bugs our of my plans.
this simple block of wood saves me some time as I can place it in the floor of the hopper.....add a little seed.....and it prevents the seed from migrating to the other seed cups. Handy item.
I got a few different scales for different purposes. Always need to do some math when calibrating the drill. I like the small round scale the best for calibrating. Got if from Amazon for about $12 if I remember correctly. Has lots of good features....and weighs In lbs and oz or grams or ?? lots of choices. I use plastic Folgers cans for weighing and calibrating. Fit the scale nice.
Another guy gave me this tip on calibrating (I think on the Facebook site for Tar River Saya?).....
and it is a good one. Get a socket (I think its a #19 and turn that nut holding the rolling basket according to the distance needed in your calibration. The wheel is 45" in circumference......so you can then calculate the number of turns to go 200 feet......and do some math. I dont have my book with me....so do NOT trust my numbers given here....as my memory could be wrong. Do the work - write it down - and you can use the same math and factors over and over again. Far easier after you do it the first time. I am going to replace that sliding bar with a speed wrench next time I do this. I need to turn my wheel 52.75 revolutions to get to 200 feet.......in the direction shown by the arrow. grin.
Another pic of the socket and T wrench. Plastic pans are positioned to catch seed. May try to come up with a thumb screw to speed up cap removal and instal. I get impatient.
Here is my tractor and drill in the rye / clover planted last fall. Clover must have been weak here....but it's pretty good in most places. I got about 6 acres planted today....and hope to mostly finish tomorrow. I got some wet spots and some other seeds I plan to try....but I am not in a rush to get those done. I got good moisture in my sand now.....so I want to take advantage of that.
All winter....I was concerned about that cereal rye wrapping in my drill.....as I had a few issues with that in my tiller in time gone by. Worry was for nothing.....as I had ZERO. Zip issues with wrapping. that basket worked nicely. I did manage to lose one of those chain assemblies.....and I am rethinking a better method of covering. Tho they were mostly trouble free. The connection point on those flaps is not the best. Trial and error.
Hope a few of these tips are time savers for others too. This method of calibration would rival that of the much touted RTP Drills....smile.
