The ultimate throw and mow rig

[txbowman12]

Put a hitch on the back of my trail mower, and hooked the cultipacker up to it. Short of buying a tractor, this is about as easy as it gets! The nice thing is no guess work on where the cultipacker has been, if it’s mowed, it’s been packed down.

Planted one plot with this method, and the other one I crimped down. I hate Johnsongrass, but it crimps down nicely. Will see which one turns up better if I can get some rain in the next week or so.

 

[matinc]

TX did you broadcast seed before you made this concoction. Have any pics of your field to share. One pass per field is the goal.

 

[txbowman12]

TX did you broadcast seed before you made this concoction. Have any pics of your field to share. One pass per field is the goal.

Yes, broadcasted with a shoulder spreader first. Here is a picture of a small section of it. About an acre total in this spot. Not including broadcasting seed, was just one pass

 

[matinc]

This is my forward facing seeder for clover and next year I will be pulling my broadcast agri fab with rye behind for half pass seeding. Can you please show a pic of how you fab the cultipacker to the mower

 

[txbowman12]

This is my forward facing seeder for clover and next year I will be pulling my broadcast agri fab with rye behind for half pass seeding. Can you please show a pic of how you fab the cultipacker to the mower

Got one of those rv bumper hitch receivers and bolted on

 

[txbowman12]

This is my forward facing seeder for clover and next year I will be pulling my broadcast agri fab with rye behind for half pass seeding. Can you please show a pic of how you fab the cultipacker to the mower

I wish I could use a machine mounted broadcaster, live in hog country so one crater and half your seed is launched out of the hopper. Plus speed is limited to a few mph with the mower and cultipacker, would probably work if you mixed seed in with fertilizer to thin it out for the slower speed

 

[matinc]

Very ingenious. Do you like your packer max

 

[txbowman12]

Very ingenious. Do you like your packer max

Been very impressed with it, didn’t think the crimper would work as well as it does. Always lays down a ton of thatch

 

[matinc]

I see you bought the 4 foot crimper attachment with the packer max. I'm curious how much it weighs and works. Did you see my crimper in my picture.

 

[txbowman12]

I see you bought the 4 foot crimper attachment with the packer max. I'm curious how much it weighs and works. Did you see my crimper in my picture.

Weighs 400 lbs with water, the crimper cylinder blades are angled so that only a few inches are making contact with the ground at any time, and because it’s small, you get a lot of contact on the same stalk.

I’ll use it in place of my mower sometimes it’s so effective on all sorts of stuff. Only thing it won’t help with is woody stemmed weeds like goatweed

Like I said, didn’t expect it to be as effective as it is.

 

[bigboreblr]

Nice setup. Almost think crimp then mow could be better. Seed gets pressed before mower thrashes some around.

Hot rodding a tire drag to include a rpundup spray nozzle. Some of mu plots just too rocky for a cultipacker.

 

[txbowman12]

Nice setup. Almost think crimp then mow could be better. Seed gets pressed before mower thrashes some around.

Hot rodding a tire drag to include a rpundup spray nozzle. Some of mu plots just too rocky for a cultipacker.

Problem is you wouldn't get a cut on a lot of the existing growth, as some would be laid down. We have been very dry in the last month, so spraying wouldn't have worked very well, so I needed a good cut to terminate what's there. Field was primarily 5-6 ft tall johnson grass with some millet and sorghum still holding on. Seeds were already on the ground given how vertical all the growth was, just covered them with a lot of mulched up grass and pressed it all down to hopefully form a nice mat to protect the seeds while we wait on the fall rain.

Broadcast about 150-175% of seed called for to buy some time if the rains don't come through next week.

Could have crimped and then cultipacked most likely, but that doesn't give you the one pass action the mow / cultipack rig does

 

[matinc]

Big bore. I really am believing the easiest way way to do it the fastest is forward facing clover seeder and rear agri fab seeder with rye on the first half pass. Next crimp and if you have good rye thatch no need for mowing. If not then i pull the rough cut acreease and mow whats standing. That's 2.5 passes per year. For all at 4 feet or less per pass on a 1 acre field it equates to 2 miles per lap around the field. Reducing field time is my goal

 

[Foggy47]

Put a hitch on the back of my trail mower, and hooked the cultipacker up to it. Short of buying a tractor, this is about as easy as it gets! The nice thing is no guess work on where the cultipacker has been, if it’s mowed, it’s been packed down.

Planted one plot with this method, and the other one I crimped down. I hate Johnsongrass, but it crimps down nicely. Will see which one turns up better if I can get some rain in the next week or so. View attachment 69553

The Ultimate One and Done:....Add a seeder to the front of your UTV, and a Herbicide Sprayer in the bed......and you will have allot to watch over.....lol.

 

[matinc]

TX I'm curious why not have the crimper first and then mower behind it.

 

[Foggy47]

TX I'm curious why not have the crimper first and then mower behind it.

He is not really showing a crimper.......rather he is following his mowing with a cultipacker.......which has an alternative crimping feature available.....and would be ineffective after mowing......IMO. The culitpacker may be of benefit tho.

 

[matinc]

Exactly foggy you are correct. However what I'm saying is to reverse it and put the crimper first and pull the mower behind the crimper. This way the crimper actually does push seed down as it crimps.

 

[txbowman12]

Exactly foggy you are correct. However what I'm saying is to reverse it and put the crimper first and pull the mower behind the crimper. This way the crimper actually does push seed down as it crimps.

If i crimped first, the grass would be laying flat, and the mower wouldn't cut anything but air. The crimper probably pushes seeds into the soil some, given the weight on the biomass pressing down on the seeds, but it's not going to do the same job as the cultipacker.

So you can just broadcast and crimp (which I did on one field), or you can broadcast, mow, and cultipack. Crimping and mowing are effectively accomplishing the same thing, so wouldn't make sense to do both, either the crimper will do nothing (if behind the mower), or the mower will do nothing (if behind the crimper).

 

[bigboreblr]

Some people mentioned the roll then mow on here. Might be a no tiller seeder, then mow afterwards. Whch is quite different than what were doing.

matinc, I sometimes mix clover with rye and spread all together. Think with smaller lots, you dont get as much clover settling to the bottom.

Going to take pics this upcoming weekend on my little plots. Had 4-5ft tall goldenrod in my foodplots. Skipped a year to see what the clover could withstand far as cover goes. Had to knock it down with a tire drag before spreading. Only had my handheld spreaders this year. Spread seed, then knocked it back down the other direction. Entrance to one plot was too muddy to bring anything in with me. I brought my new tow discs to try out up there. Some plots got sprayed with roundup, some didn't. Upexpected rain that weekend. Everything seemed rather decent mid spetember about a month after spreading. Not sure If I got any pics on my phone from then.

The crimper was talked about last year with a member wanting to buy the cultmaxx cultipacker. IF you need more cultipacking, you can fill with sand. I do believe no-till no seed drill folks need a more agressive cultipacker. Not deling with loose fluffy stuff traditional tillage cultipackers were designed for. Think that cement filled cultipacker is close to perfect. Or a heavy duty one with additional weight. Thats what I have.

 

[matinc]

TX here's my question at 400 pounds and 4 feet your crimper has 100 poinds per foot pressure. Which as I research you need closer to 200 pounds per foot to level to level the duff. Can you show me a picture of your crimped ground. This is mine after crimping rye I'm July in one pass. The reason I said to mow is mine still easily has duff above 4 inches that could be mowed in my first try with my crimper without water. Next year I will be adding water for another
200 pounds to get my crimper closer to 150 pounds per foot which may flatten it even more and no need for mowing. Curious on everyone's ideas. I think this is a great path forward for all. Big bore did you drag the clover to knock it down? I totally agree on the clover and rye combo and SD always says their like peanut butter and jelly.