Roller Crimper

[Foggy47]

So my dealer delivers my Goliath 6' roller crimper today. I bought this back in August.....but delays after delays prevented getting it until now. Thankfully they held the price on it (unlike the drill I had on order....whcih never really shipped - and I am out of that deal). I likely will not use the roller crimper for a few weeks.....but I am glad it landed and I think it will prove it's worth over time. I am told the price has gone up $1000 on current sales....which seems par for the course. My dealer has two more on hand.....and these are hard to get (.so if you are looking for one....send me a pm and I will tell you to contact Archery Country (MN) to buy one.....lol.).

Anyway .....without further ado....here is my 6 foot crimper. I appreciate the steel "pallet" they use to ship these things. I got my flail mower shipped the same way....and it seems to virtually eliminate damage as can happen with wooden pallets. (plus I get some "free" (?) steel to build other things. TANSTAAFL. (there aint no such thing as a free lunch.....grin)

Anyway.....I am glad to have this implement.....and I feel certain it will last all of my time on this earth.

 

[356]

Congratulations on the crimper. I've eyed these up as well, but will need to wait. For now I am using the tiller sans PTO, which is working.

 

[Foggy47]

Congratulations on the crimper. I've eyed these up as well, but will need to wait. For now I am using the tiller sans PTO, which is working.

I considered that....and I have a good 3 point cultipacker that could also potentially fill the bill....and some claim their flail mower is a good solution....but I think not. But last year I decided to get as totally committed to these no-till practices as possible.....and I know the price for this stuff is not going down.....and a drill and a crimper can last a long time. I think some of us could "get along" without a roller crimper.....but I have also heard, read and been told that to get the good lasting mulch we all want (and I desperately need) the roller crimper is the way to go.

And quite frankly, I wanted to compare the Goliath crimper I bought (a Rodale Institute design) against a novel design I contemplated to design and manufacture.

Myself and another fella had formed a casual partnersihip to develop a solution for a lower cost ....yet quality crimper. But early on we packed in our plans as our ultimate goal was rollers for big ag.....and we are not fully committed to that plan. (I'm too old - he's got other fish to fry). Maybe some other plan will evolve.....dunno....but I wanted a crimper one way or the other. Our novel ideas and design could be purchased by the right individual or company.... lol. I digress. I may at some point find the energy to work this plan for my old "partner's" benefit and to prove my sanity....grin.

In any event....a 5' 3-point Drill and a 6' roller / crimper go together like peanut butter and jelly (an old Paul Knox saying about clover and winter rye).

 

[MNAaron]

Would a sickle bar mower work for terminating rye and laying it down flat?


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[SD51555]

Would a sickle bar mower work for terminating rye and laying it down flat?


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If i could get my hands on one, I'd definitely use it. That's a 100% tool as well. They really lay the material down nicely too. You'd probably not get any volunteer rye outta the deal, but a clean kill nonetheless.

 

[MNAaron]

Bunch on Craigslist here in MN. I am thinking I will be getting one in the future cheaper route than crimper.


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[somich]

Bunch on Craigslist here in MN. I am thinking I will be getting one in the future cheaper route than crimper.


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I've been watching for one to cut down my miscanthus g.

 

[Foggy47]

Bunch on Craigslist here in MN. I am thinking I will be getting one in the future cheaper route than crimper.


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Somewhat high maintenance item from what I remember....a bit depending on the ground you operate on. Still....for relatively small acres....could be fine. Would be interesting to see a comparison.

 

[bigboreblr]

Mulch is good. but I think the crimper really shines in terminating. Pinching that stalk at one spot right to and against the ground.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I can't wait to give you an update when I sent mine after the barley this next month.

 

[SD51555]

I can't wait to give you an update when I sent mine after the barley this next month.

I'm looking forward to seeing this year's barley crop too. I am puzzled as to what will happen with the rye this year. I've never seen it so short this late into May.

 

[Foggy47]

I'm looking forward to seeing this year's barley crop too. I am puzzled as to what will happen with the rye this year. I've never seen it so short this late into May.

Yep, was somewhat surprised when I saw my rye abut 10 days ago....but it's coming on fast the past few days. I bet I won't roll it until late June tho. I'm planning to plant GCC Summer Release next week?

 

[MNAaron]

Yep, was somewhat surprised when I saw my rye abut 10 days ago....but it's coming on fast the past few days. I bet I won't roll it until late June tho. I'm planning to plant GCC Summer Release next week?

Foggy
Is that going into your rye? What you planting into?


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[Ben.MN/WI]

I'm looking forward to seeing this year's barley crop too. I am puzzled as to what will happen with the rye this year. I've never seen it so short this late into May.

My rye in SE MN is at least a foot shorter than last year at this time. It grows quickly though, so I think it can make up for lost ground shortly.

 

[Foggy47]

Foggy
Is that going into your rye? What you planting into?


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?? Last year / late August everything was toast at my place, and I had just bought the Saya grain drill. Nuked it all andI planted 100 lbs of Winter Rye and 34 lbs of 3 clovers and 4 brassicas, winter peas, even some Dealer Small Burnett.

Some of the small seeds came in ok....others did not as I think even with the timely rains that came.....some small seed was just planted too deep. (Thus my quest to improve this drill.) Anyway......I have some Green Cover Summer Release to put into some of my better ground and some buckwheat to put into some of the poorer soils. I intend to plant this green into whatever rye I have about June 10. I will then roller crimp the rye in late June (or sooner if it starts going to seed). Except at the buckwheat soils....where I may let that rye go to seed? Dunno.

On the GCC Summer Release, Hopefully the current rye will act as a nurse crop for a few weeks before I terminate it.

My plan is then to drill brassica into this crop in August (?) and again drill rye into these fields in Sept (?). Or possibly do it all in one pass? Dunno.

I'm speculating a bit as thing need to materialize and decisions will be based on crop success, rainfall and the normal other curveballs that come along. My hope is to create enough biomass in these first two years to establish decent mulch and build OM......and control that damn pigweed as well as possible.

In one area I already got some grasses that are too far established and I will need to nuke that and restart the process on about 1/2 acre. It's all a bit variable.....based on what is there at the moment.

Any other ideas Aaron? I'm still learning.

 

[MNAaron]

?? Last year / late August everything was toast at my place, and I had just bought the Saya grain drill. Nuked it all andI planted 100 lbs of Winter Rye and 34 lbs of 3 clovers and 4 brassicas, winter peas, even some Dealer Small Burnett.

Some of the small seeds came in ok....others did not as I think even with the timely rains that came.....some small seed was just planted too deep. (Thus my quest to improve this drill.) Anyway......I have some Green Cover Summer Release to put into some of my better ground and some buckwheat to put into some of the poorer soils. I intend to plant this green into whatever rye I have about June 10. I will then roller crimp the rye in late June (or sooner if it starts going to seed). Except at the buckwheat soils....where I may let that rye go to seed? Dunno.

On the GCC Summer Release, Hopefully the current rye will act as a nurse crop for a few weeks before I terminate it.

My plan is then to drill brassica into this crop in August (?) and again drill rye into these fields in Sept (?). Or possibly do it all in one pass? Dunno.

I'm speculating a bit as thing need to materialize and decisions will be based on crop success, rainfall and the normal other curveballs that come along. My hope is to create enough biomass in these first two years to establish decent mulch and build OM......and control that damn pigweed as well as possible.

In one area I already got some grasses that are too far established and I will need to nuke that and restart the process on about 1/2 acre. It's all a bit variable.....based on what is there at the moment.

Any other ideas Aaron? I'm still learning.

That is what we are doing on all our acres that aren’t clover or corn. We plant our rye heavier than you is the only difference. We go 120-150 lbs per acre since we broadcast our seed. Sounds like you are on the right track just need a decent growing season.


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[Foggy47]

Today I got my tractor and crimper ready to roll my rye.....soon. The closeup shows a stem of rye that is just starting to flower. I suppose I am within a week of being at the dough stage and will roll then. I decided to do a few test strips as some had debated the roller vs other methods of termination.

The first plot pic below is a strip I had killed with 2 Qt/ Acre roundup.....and mowed with the flail and then seeded some Egyptian wheat....for a screen. The next plot pic shows flail mowing with my woodmaxx flail mower. This seemed to work pretty good.....and I kept it about 4 or 5 inches off the ground to allow the clover and summer release to live. The right half of the third pic shows the results of the cultipacker pass.....not good at all......and the right side of the pic shows the results of the roller crimper. (I dont know why I didn't take a better pic?). The roller crimper looks to have done the best job of termination.....and mulching the crop below.....hands down. 2nd place is likely the flail mower.....will know more in a few days.

One thing about front mounting that roller/crimper.....is that it makes steering nearly impossible. I put the loader in the "float" mode and that part is ok....but that roller wants to go STRAIGHT in a big way. Even slight turns are dicey. The stop bolts on my plate were sliding on the steel. I think this would be impossible for me to plant and roller crimp at the same time for several reasons. Trying to time those two operations and driving under those conditions is not easy.

I'm going to mount my roller crimper on the three point and call it a day. I think it will be far better for the longevity of my loader and I am certain I can steer a bit better that way. Glad I did the tests....now I know how I want to roll in a few days.

 

[Foggy47]

Oops. I had meant to show this closeup in the above pics.....which shows the rye heads just starting to go to anthesis.....and shows the flowers. Soon it's ready to roller / crimp

 

[SD51555]

That split pic where you can see your rye and the edge of your plot. Do you have yellow hawkweed outside the plot, but none in the rye?

 

[Foggy47]

That split pic where you can see your rye and the edge of your plot. Do you have yellow hawkweed outside the plot, but none in the rye?

I'm not sure if that is hawkweed....but it is not in the plot nor in the rye. Lots of weeds outside my plots. (it's really not a split picture either....just the edge of my plot and a bit of camera angle makes it look like that. Notice the rye head starting the anthesis.