New 6ft landpride drill 3P606NT
- Thread starter WKyGasDoc
- Start date
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
I used the seed rate book for the first year or two to get an idea of what setting to use for various seeds but I have rarely looked at it since then. Your journal or notes book is the best reference I think - I know it is for me. For example, the seed rate book does not give you any settings for blends or mixed seed which I plant often so the best way to find out for sure is to just mix up the seed and calibrate the drill for the #/acre that you want to plant. Also, some seed isn't listed in the manufacturers seed rate book, some seed varies a lot in size depending upon the coating, etc, so the only way to know for sure is to calibrate the drill to plant the amount of seed you want to cover your acreage.
Calibrating the drill can seem like a daunting task for someone who has never done it before but once you do it a couple of times it can be done fairly quickly by catching the seed, weighing it, doing some calculations, and adjusting the settings. Like many other things in life, the key to success is keeping good notes.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
There is actually only one depth setting for the drill which pretty much controls the depth of the seed trench for the large seed box. The small seed box spills the seed out near the soil surface and the closing wheel behind the small seed tube closes the trench and packs the soil down right behind it. It actually works pretty well. I am not sure exactly how this is accomplished with the less expensive drills that only have one seed box?? Should have taken a closer look at the Genesis drill when I toured Grant Woods' farm.
Edit: Swat1018 just brought this to my attention that you can also control the seeding depth by adjusting the “T” handle on the press wheel bar. Moving the T handle forward provides a shallower depth of the double disc openers while moving the T handle rearward provides for deeper seeding. I was not previously aware of this and merely left the T handles all the way forward and controlled seeding depth by adjusting the frame down force with the hydraulic stop. Now that I know that you can get more precise depth adjustments by using the T handles I will enjoy experimenting with this next year.
Thanks swat1018 For the enlightenment.
You can see the hydraulic cylinder on the left side of the drill (above the wheel). This controls the depth.
You adjust the hydraulic stop to get the desired depth...
I carry two 1/2" wrenches on the tractor to adjust the depth depending upon field conditions and then later on I usually measure the height of the stop and make note of it, but, truthfully, I am almost always somewhere between 3 1/2 - 4 inches up to the bottom of the stop.
The large seed box dumps the seed down a large flex hose between the double disc openers behind the coulters...
Small seed is spilled out from the small seed box a foot or so behind the openers through this small tube where the seed hits the soil near the surface...
The closing wheels behind the small seed tube close the trench and pack down the seed...
Press wheel tension is adjusted by the springs and an adjustment T handle above the press wheels - forward for more down pressure - rearward for less down pressure. For shallow seeding, slide the T handles all the way forward, toward the drill. For deeper seeding, slide T handles backward, away from the drill.
That may sound a little confusing but it actually works pretty slick. The large seed gets planted near the bottom of the seed trench and the smaller seed is planted closer to the surface.
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WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
calibrated a bit yesterday with WW, the chart at 50#/ac actually turned out to be 15/acre. That was a big discrepancy. Will try higher drive rate again today and recheck. How do you calibrate a blend? Given I want to plant say 70#/ac of blend “A” ? Work backwards in the calculation to determine how much I want to disperse per channel? That’s the easy part but which variable to adjust first? Drive rate? then Seed Rate?
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
I think we can get you where you want to be pretty easily WKyGasDoc:
If you look at the seed rate charts for wheat in the owners manual (page 16 in my book) it will get you in the correct general vicinity of where you want your settings.
Remember - for the large seed box there are 3 settings which adjust your planting rate:
1) Drive Rate Gear type setting
2) Seed Rate Handle setting
3) Seed Cup setting
Looking at my notes for settings (bottom of this page), it tells me the first thing I want to do is select the Drive Rate Gear which is closest to 50 on the Seed Rate Handle.
In your case you want to plant wheat on 7.5" rows at a rate of 70#/acre. The chart tells you that:
Drive Gear Type 1 at Seed Rate Handle Setting 50 will get you 40#/acre
Drive Gear Type 2 at Seed Rate Handle Setting 50 will get you 82#acre
Drive Gear Type 3 at Seed Rate Handle Setting 50 will get you 122#/acre
Drive 4 would be 199#/acre
So you would want to start by setting the Drive Rate Gear to #2 as that will be the setting to plant most efficiently (the rate you want which is Closest to 50)
Once you have determined the proper setting for the Drive Gear you want to then select the proper Seed Rate Handle setting. Again, looking at the chart you see that Seed Rate Handle setting #45 will get you in the neighborhood of 72#/acre so that would be a good starting point.
Now, you want to plant a blend of Wheat and AWP and, of course, there is no chart for blends so this is where your drill calibration comes in (and this is really pretty simple also once you have done it once or twice).
Let's say you want to plant a blend of wheat at 70#/acre and AWP at 10#/acre. Go ahead and mix up enough seed to plant an acre (or 1/2 acre if that works better for you). I weigh my seed and mix it together in a 5 gallon pail (for small seeds) or a Rubbermaid tub like this for large seed:
This is what my 5 or 6 seed blend looked like this year after I mixed it:
Now you will need a few pails to catch your seed and then weigh it. You will also need a scales, some scratch paper and a calculator (unless you are an engineer
)
Refer to your notes on calibrating the drill:
Fill the large box hopper up enough to catch seed from 3 tubes (I usually just use the first 3 tubes closest to the left side of the drill where the calibration crank is).
Raise the drill all the way up.
Place 3 pails under 3 double disc openers where the large seed is dropped
Set the Drive Rate Gear to the #2 setting (as determined from the chart in the owners manual)
Set the Drive Rate Handle to #45 (as determined from the chart in the owners manual)
Set the Seed Cups to the #1 (closed) or #2 settings. You will get a feel for this as you gain experience depending upon the size of the seed. Even though it looks like the seed cup is closed on setting #1, seed still comes out.
Ensure that the lockout hub on the wheel is disengaged.
Adjust the clutch to fully engage.
Crank the jackshaft counterclockwise 102 turns
Weigh the total weight of the seed you caught in the pails and divide by 3 to get the average weight per tube.
Multiply that number by 9 since you will be planting with all 9 tubes.
This will give you the weight of seed you would be planting per 1/10th acre (102 turns on the crank = 1/10th acre)
Multiply that number by 10 to get the total weight per acre.
EXAMPLE:
Let's say the average weight of the seed per tube from your first cranking and catching of the seed comes out to 0.7# per tube...
Setting #45 = 0.70 X 9 = 6.3 x 10 = 63# - You don't want 63#/acre - you want 70#/acre so just increase the setting on the seed rate handle and try it again...
Setting #46 = 0.73 X 9 = 6.57 X 10 = 65.7# - You still aren't there so increase the setting again until you find the setting which gives you 70#/acre.
OR....as you mentioned, you can extrapolate backwards to find the number (weight per tube) you are looking for....
70 divided by 10 = 7 per 1/10th acre - divided by 9 = weight per tube:
70 / 10 = 7 / 9 = 0.777#/tube.
I know this sounds complicated but once you have done it a couple of times the Big Light Bulb will turn on and you will have it down pat for the remainder of your planting life
Get your planting done and enjoy your vacation!!
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swat1018
5 year old buck +
You're saying the "T" handles don't adjust depth? Interesting, they do on my 3pt.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
That is interesting Swat1018. Just checked my owners manual and learned something new. I have left my T handles in the full forward position for years and just controlled the seeding depth with the hydraulic stop. The full forward position produces the most down pressure on the closing wheels for packing the soil down, but I see now that the depth of the openers can also be controlled by more or less pressure adjustments using the T handle. It does make sense that more pressure on the closing wheels would make it harder for the openers to go deeper. I will have to play with this in the future.
Thanks for the enlightenment.
WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
I just did this today, I put them all forward. As mentioned by WT. I could not get a deep cut in our west Ky clay ground , finally ended up with them moved back with 4 holes left which resulted in a 1.5-2inch trench in soil. IT varied depending on the soil , bumps, hills etc. And yes it is in the book. I am re reading it tonight.
WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
I did learn a valuable lesson tonight. Put More seed in the hoppers than what u thiink you will need. I made a mixture for my 1 acre plot. Calibrated it and was happy with myself. Loaded it up and away I went. Well my hopper was empty, so I wonder how much I missed at the end. Next time I will have More than I need.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
yep - Always nice to have more than you need. Can‘t tell you how many times I stopped at the end of row to get off the tractor and guide more seed towards the funnels. Eventually I learned to fill the boxes with more seed than I needed
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
How do you manage the "T" handles on the 3pt ?
Any tips for small seeds,large seeds,mixes?
thanks,
bill
WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
the T handles adjust easy if no pressure is on the drill. You can see how much “more” or “less” pressure is needed while drill is in the dirt. Just pick up on the rear packing wheels if you can and you can gauge where you need to be, relative to how deep the furrow is, how well is trench being covered up. Each increment adjusts seeding depth by 1/8 inch. Shallow move forward, deeper move back. If this doesnt achieve desired depth, adjust the down force. (I copy from Manual)
WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
Question WT, what coulters do you have? I am running the Turbo, because that was what I was told was most popular in our region (I think) but I did notice it really tears up the soil . Now we just had a rain and our clay soil had formed like a moist crust that was easy to rip up in chunks. This was in a really well burned down field. The Turbos are supposed to cut thru trash better. Seems the more soil disruption the more release of noxious weed seed from the soil bank.yep - Always nice to have more than you need. Can‘t tell you how many times I stopped at the end of row to get off the tractor and guide more seed towards the funnels. Eventually I learned to fill the boxes with more seed than I needed
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Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
I wouldn't say the dirt in your photo looks too awful bad after planting. Once you start planting into cover crops which have more sod in them, you won't even notice the dirt is disturbed much.
I have the turbo coulters also WKyGasDoc. We have pretty rocky soil here so that was a must. Once you get the rocks out it is actually pretty good dirt - a Clay/Loam. I have not noted that my drill tears up the soil unreasonably or that I get any abnormal weed growth from disturbance while planting.
Here is a photo from the last year I turned my dirt and the first year I started no-till planting. Not torn up at all after planting...
I typically will drill winter rye into my perennial clovers in the fall to get some extra forage and the drill has never damaged my clovers...(I have perennial clover strips planted around the outside edge of all of my food plots)
I have planted into a variety of different types of cover crops...
With the soil looking no worse for the wear when I'm done...
The heavy duty coulters work just fine for me on my dirt.
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swat1018
5 year old buck +
I just do a lot of trial and error. I strive for about an inch of depth on larger seeds, rye, oats, etc. I still get a good stand from smaller seeds in the small box. Another tip guys have told me about that I haven't really tried is to take the tubes off at the bottom on the small seed box and let them just swing around free. Some guys swear that's the way to go, never tried it, myself.
