Tar River SAYA-507 No Till Drill

Planted 500# of mixed seeds over about 3.5 acres. Went fairly well but did have some seed on surface of trench. Ran a cultipacker over everything and now waiting for more rain - hoping tomorrow's forecast is accurate. The larger untouched green areas are groups of milkweed - we are trying to get a nice stand of milkweed for the Monarchs. Have only seen a few this year. IMG_1152.jpg
 
Planted 500# of mixed seeds over about 3.5 acres. Went fairly well but did have some seed on surface of trench. Ran a cultipacker over everything and now waiting for more rain - hoping tomorrow's forecast is accurate. The larger untouched green areas are groups of milkweed - we are trying to get a nice stand of milkweed for the Monarchs. Have only seen a few this year. View attachment 45410
That’s beautiful land my friend.
 
I have a Saya 505. Just finished drilling Winter Rye, A.W. Peas, and GH Radish in the large box....and put them down via the openers. But in the small box I routed the drop tube to my mod plastic drop tubes that are right BEHIND the openers.....thus sprinkling the clovers (2 varieties) and brassica (PTT, DER) low on the ground and followed by the rolling cage wheel and flaps.

This is my first attempt at using this mod. Gonna find out how this works as compared to placing these small seeds in the trench with the larger seeds. Will know more in a few weeks.

This arrangement allows me to choose the factory drop location for the rear box.......or to drop the seeds behind the trench.
IMG_0555.JPGIMG_0558.JPG
Edit.....the last pic below likely best illustrates the alternate seed drop I used this fall. I got 1.5" of rain immediately following this planting......so I feel I should get a decent germination.
 

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I have a Saya 505. Just finished drilling Winter Rye, A.W. Peas, and GH Radish in the large box....and put them down via the openers. But in the small box I routed the drop tube to my mod plastic drop tubes that are right BEHIND the openers.....thus sprinkling the clovers (2 varieties) and brassica (PTT, DER) low on the ground and followed by the rolling cage wheel and flaps.

This is my first attempt at using this mod. Gonna find out how this works as compared to placing these small seeds in the trench with the larger seeds. Will know more in a few weeks.

This arrangement allows me to choose the factory drop location for the rear box.......or to drop the seeds behind the trench.
View attachment 45411View attachment 45413
Edit.....the last pic below likely best illustrates the alternate seed drop I used this fall. I got 1.5" of rain immediately following this planting......so I feel I should get a decent germination.
Looks like one of my winter projects - love the idea (and I would have never thought of it, ever). Thanks for posting all those pics.
 
How and with what are you all lubricating the chains?
Thanks.
 
How and with what are you all lubricating the chains?
Thanks.
I'm not sure I did it right, but we just used penetrating oil before we got going.

We've planted close to 20 acres with a 6' drill this year. if you'd had to till, prep, plant, pack, etc all of that with "deer hunters" equipment (ie no big farm equipment) we'd be nearly dead by now
 
After calibrating, and before drilling, make sure you lock the calibration handle with the screw, and tighten the nut. If you don't lock it, vibration makes the calibration handle move in the "close" position, which reduces your seed output. Its a real bummer.......
 
4ft 2x4 ripped about an inch deep from end to end. Seated cutting coulter into slot with end of board just in front of openers. Used to align everything. Frustrating when tightening clamp nuts and openers shift to side, but gets job done.
 

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4ft 2x4 ripped about an inch deep from end to end. Seated cutting coulter into slot with end of board just in front of openers. Used to align everything. Frustrating when tightening clamp nuts and openers shift to side, but gets job done.
That's a great method to align coulters. Mine are not "perfect" and I may try that next spring. (provided I can remember that long....grin).
 
4ft 2x4 ripped about an inch deep from end to end. Seated cutting coulter into slot with end of board just in front of openers. Used to align everything. Frustrating when tightening clamp nuts and openers shift to side, but gets job done.
JonJ - I like your idea. How do you ensure that the board is square with the drill?

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Turnip and clover are too small in my opinion to even attempt to plant by itself. Asking the drill to drop out 3-4 lbs / acre is a very tall task to ask of it. Now I understand there are some drills that can do it. They're not anywhere near this price point either.

I think an easier way to think about it is lbs / acre rather than seed size. I believe the drill can accurately put down 10-12 lbs acre if not a little less. I originally tried to plant PTT by itself and learned a ton with that effort!

Save yourself the frustration and simply use something to dilute it. I used pelletized lyme for some and it worked great. For most of my plots I mixed my Greens / Turnips with a 50 lb sack of cereal rye. Super easy to calibrate this way and the rye is a great addition to the mix.
breddick - So let's say you're planting an acre of brassicas at 6 pounds per acre. You just mix the brassicas in with a 50 pound bag of rye grain and then calibrate to, say, 50-55 pounds per acre (I'd rather have some left over than run out)? Second question: What's a reasonable application rate range to calibrate to? 5 pound range? 10 pound range? Thanks.

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breddick - So let's say you're planting an acre of brassicas at 6 pounds per acre. You just mix the brassicas in with a 50 pound bag of rye grain and then calibrate to, say, 50-55 pounds per acre (I'd rather have some left over than run out)? Second question: What's a reasonable application rate range to calibrate to? 5 pound range? 10 pound range? Thanks.

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I have ran as little as 8 lbs out of the small seed box (white clover, red clover, PTT, DER mix) while running 100 lbs of rye, 8 lbs of winter peas, and 5 lbs of GHRadish in the fromt box.). I used a setting of 3/4 of the 1. (or less than 1 when calibrating and it was spot on for seed delivery). I did not use the factory seed delivery method....instead placing these small seeds behind the seed trench as shown above.

AS this is such a small setting........Your calibration may differ due to the position of the clamps fastened to the seed cup. Also those gaps need to be uniform (in the seed cups) to deliver these small quantities uniformly in the rows. Look at them before you put seed in the hopper.

I did get a nice rainfall after the above planting.....and have a good result going using this method. I suppose I should run a test plot both in and out of the trench using this method......maybe next year.
 
JonJ - I like your idea. How do you ensure that the board is square with the drill?

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I am contemplating doing this next spring to better align my coulters.....and wondered a bit about "square" too. I really think a long board like that should be fairly easy to visually set square.....but attaching a second board at one end of the slotted board to act as a T-square may be better? That should work.
 
I don't know how you guys are calibrating your drills but I found an easy rainy day way to do it in the shop. You can raise and level the drill, then remove the plastic axle cap, and place a 21mm socket on the end of the axle and rotate the basket with a breaker bar to achieve your calibrating distance.
ACCman - Maybe a dumb question, but why not just spin the basket by hand?

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ACCman - Maybe a dumb question, but why not just spin the basket by hand?

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I've tried both ways....but only turn the wheel by hand now. I think I do 26 (?) revolutions to get the needed yardage. I quit using plastic bags......and now use low (under the bed) plastic storage trays to collect the seeds from all the drops. Works well......the only issue is you need to do the front hopper separate from the rear hopper. <----has not been a big issue for me.

At this point I have pretty good reference materials for setting the drill. It's normally easy to dial it in with just one calibration. Keep records!

EDIT: Attached is a worksheet I made for use with my 505 to calibrate. I SAVE those worksheets for the following years.
 

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I am contemplating doing this next spring to better align my coulters.....and wondered a bit about "square" too. I really think a long board like that should be fairly easy to visually set square.....but attaching a second board at one end of the slotted board to act as a T-square may be better? That should work.
T-square theory makes sense. I found that the slot was tight on the outer edge of the coulter. If you let the drill down on the board it seats and stays on when you raise again. With board just off ground it points square to the coulter and only as square to the drill as the coulter is square. There is some slop in the coulter mounts as they are mounted with pin into drilled holes, not precision bearings. So, this board method is as precise as the engineering of coulter mounting. It sure looks good when done and with help from wife raising and lowering drill only took an hour.
BTW, loosen the down pressure rods/springs to openers and place directly over openers as aligning. If offset they tilt openers to side when hanging loose, then when you tighten clamps things are out of alignment and unhealthy words come out of your mouth.
As far as coulters, I aligned the first one to center of seed cup, then measured using outer edges of mounts one at a time across the drill for even 7 1/2" spacing. Note which side of arm the coulter wheel is placed. I had to flip one.
 
JonJ - I like your idea. How do you ensure that the board is square with the drill?

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See my response to Foggy, it's only as square as coulter itself.
 
ACCman - Maybe a dumb question, but why not just spin the basket by hand?

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I've done it that way also. I've also used a electric impact wrench with the socket. In my feeble mind keeping the basket moving at the same rpm for the 26 revolutions should give you a better calibration, but thats just a guess. After all, we are dealing with early 1900's technology. When I was a kid we would take the old drill to the field and on the woods road lower the drill with the openers flush with the road , and travel a few feet then look at the the amount of seed in the pinestraw, and if it looked like enough seed, we drilled, if not, made an adjustment and tried again. If the 2nd adjustment satisfied the farmer we lowered the openers and drilled, and always got great stands. Sometime I think we overthink things and know I am guilty of that.
 
I've done it that way also. I've also used a electric impact wrench with the socket. In my feeble mind keeping the basket moving at the same rpm for the 26 revolutions should give you a better calibration, but thats just a guess. After all, we are dealing with early 1900's technology. When I was a kid we would take the old drill to the field and on the woods road lower the drill with the openers flush with the road , and travel a few feet then look at the the amount of seed in the pinestraw, and if it looked like enough seed, we drilled, if not, made an adjustment and tried again. If the 2nd adjustment satisfied the farmer we lowered the openers and drilled, and always got great stands. Sometime I think we overthink things and know I am guilty of that.
^. Yep....Understand what your saying here. Grains are not so critical. But I strive to get a proper amount of brassica seed down. Not too much or too little.....'cause that can ruin a plot pretty fast. Some of the others are not as important......but I also normally buy just enough seed to get the job done over about 10 acres. Hate to come up short, and some of those seeds are expensive too. (Like alfalfa.) Times change.

Then too.....this is my first real experience with a drill.....so I suppose we try to glean all the "right way" to do this stuff. I find myself taking more shortcuts as I understand the machine better.
 
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