Need an Education on Seeders and Drills

DRG3

5 year old buck +
I have never considered using a drill or a seeder, but am now- However, I don't know anything about them really.
Is there a difference between a drill and a seeder?
If I did make this purchase, I would be looking for one implement that I could plant basically any kind of seed- from CRP type of stuff, to corn, soybeans, brassicas, legumes and oats.
I do have a sprayer and traditional tillage equipment, so all options for no-till or conventional would be on the table. I have a 45HP to the PTO 4WD tractor to pull with.
My main requirement would be one implement to do all seed sizes- if there is such a thing.
Also, how much should I plan to spend on a new one.

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Check out my thread on review of the Firminator. It also comes in a tow behind model. Handles clover to corn. Being able to seed and cultipack is a real time saver.

 
Check out my thread on review of the Firminator. It also comes in a tow behind model. Handles clover to corn. Being able to seed and cultipack is a real time saver.

Great post- a couple of follow ups-
how did it work for you when you planted the smaller seed and also, how do you control seed depth?
 
There are several options, I guess. You get what you pay for, in general. I run a Great Plains no-till drill. It's a great drill, and can plant most seeds. If you are talking CRP warm season grasses, that is a pretty specific need that usually requires a drill with a native grass box. Most people I know find a way to get by without that. The big downside of my drill is cost and horsepower needed. I run a JD5400 that's quite a bit heavier and more powerful than a 45hp tractor, and I wouldn't want much less for my 3pt model. If you can use a pull-type, you may have enough power.
 
I've used a seeder since 2011. First 11 years it was a 6 ft Plotmaster. Sold it this year and bought the 8 ft Firminator G3. Planted 15 acres this past Saturday at the farm with the Firminator. I really like this seeder. Planted a fall mix of grains, brassicas, winter peas and clover. I added additional 25 lbs of brassicas to the fall mix. The seed box on the 8 ft model holds 250 lbs of typical fall mix.

For years I sprayed gly 2 to 3 weeks ahead of planting and planted right into the dead thatch. Past 2 years I discontinued spraying gly. Just mow a couple of weeks before planting. Then run a disc thru the plot followed by the seeder. The disk harrow on the seeder opens up a small furrow where the seeds drop, followed by a heavy cultipacker on the back of the implement to close the furrow and pack the soil. Cultipacker on Firminator is much better design than my old Plotmaster as the weight of the implement is directly over the cultipacker as opposed to the Plotmaster which has a free-floating cultipacker than runs a couple of feet behind the implement.

I posted a couple of pics in the Firminator review thread on here of my first run with the Firminator in a 1 acre plot I put in behind our home a week prior to planting the farm plots.

Let us know what you decide to go with. Here's a pic I took of that plot 8 days after planting. Grains are already 3 to 4 inches high. Peas and brassicas have germinated as well.
047FE697-0EC4-4129-81E2-0DBE1DEE4EBC.jpeg
 
How many acres do you plan to drill? Drill set them at a specific depth in a specific spot. There is a line between seeder and drill. It's gets blurry with some of these food plot specific models. To do any seed, you need a drill. You can set the discs to varying depths.

Are you mainly monocropping? Do you want the drill to apply fertilizer? A big line in the sand for drills is a fertilizer bin. Being able to provide extra nutrients early on helps alot in commercial farming. Putting the fertilizer near the seed.

Are you looking for a better stand? Are you looking to reduce the time you spend on food plots? How is your soil? Nice easy earth? Rocks? Wet mess during planting sometimes? Stumps still there? Shale spots?

Soil and water conservation districts often have seed drills you can rent. A seeder can do a great job with forgiving crops like rye and clover. But, if drought is serious issues, setting that seed at the right depth and having it covered well makes a huge difference. Also keeping that thatch cover more or less intact helps alot too. Sometimes that stuff can hurt you clogging up your disc or seed tube opening. planting after certain large bodies crops can be a problems. Heavy stalks like corn, or sometimes very dense stands of grains can bother some seeders.

An option too is to add a seeder to an existing implement like a st of discs. Sometimes that can be done for +/- $1500 vs much more. Most any seeder or drill you can use for a 45hp tractor has been reviewed on here by someone.

Buying a new seeder / drill has a decent set of options these days. What kinds of seed boxes. If you add a fetilizer box. A small fluffy seed box Some can plant blends, but some cant put smaller seeds higher up in the soil and put deeper ones in. Some can put corn and soybeans in nicely, but if you want to plant a stand of stuff that needs a 1/4" depth, you may have trouble in looser soils.

I'd pick 2 or 3 things you want to do and alot of and make sure what you buy can do it.
 
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Great post- a couple of follow ups-
how did it work for you when you planted the smaller seed and also, how do you control seed depth?

To adjust depth of disks, you adjust top link on the 3-Point. I put the tractor on a level cement pad with the disks touching the cement, and adjusted the top link measuring the height the cultipacker was above the cement. Smallest seed I have tried in sorghum and it went well.
 
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