Basics of using a grain drill

[Reid1650]

Will be doing 30 acres maybe an additional 75 depending on things. Will be rentin a 7 foot frontier no till from a local place. What tips can you guys give to a first time user? How to make passes and get the spacing right and all that stuff?

 

[Anonymous-0]

Make a couple passes first around the "headlands" of the field. How many? as many as it takes to turn your tractor and the drill around. First round, find some way of making a mental mark, how much overlap you want to have, to make the spacing equal to the planter row spacing. Once you get the headlands done, go along the longest run you have straight, then start doing 180 degree turns at each end , working from the longest run towards the shortest run. If you have hills that are steep, run the contour, not up and down, or the seed rows become potential gullies. Oh, and make sure its in gear, not transport mode!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Plant at half rate and cover the field twice. Once going north and south, the second time east and west. Then your misses and skips wont show much. I tried to put the outer most opener in the previous passes' tire track.

Gerald J.

 

[justanothercase]

i work the headlands last to smooth out the tracks from turning around. and like diydave said go the long way and turn around and do it again till yer done. i wouldnt seed it twice. if your renting it your either paying by the day or it has an acre counter no point in doing something twice when once gets the job done.

 

[Don-Wi]

We have an old rope trip Van Brunt drill, so we always go round & round with it.

I don't see thge point in planting at a 1/2 rate and going over it 2x. You may have a few skips here & there, but like justanothercase said, those drills either have an acreage counter or you pay by the hour/day. Either way, it'll cost you a whole heckuva lot more to do it 2x over.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[Anonymous-0]

DiyDave's recommendation sums-up how everyone in this area, and nearly all those back home plant or sow. Only a very few plant the headlands last and none are trend setters.

 

[Anonymous-0]

This was a more common practice with a trip drill. After completing the continuous looped rounds and ending in the middle, many will make a run from the middle to each field corner. This adds a sown "X" pattern to the field which helps fill in the areas usually missed when turning around each corner.

 

[JMS/.MN]

Overlapping by running the opener in the wheel track will not necessarily give uniform spacing. Watch the opener, and run it close enough to the last opener track- depending on the drill, may need to run a bit inside of the wheel track. Weeds tend to grow in that space if your lap is too wide. THAT shows up all summer for all to see!, while a tight overlap does not. I would not run 4 sides of the field, around and around. Wheel tracks across the length of the field make for a rough field to harvest. Learned that the hard way, and was stuck with it for three years.

 

[thurlow]

Some good (and not so good) advice already; just 'eyeball' it for spacing; should be able to get it close enough. I've run round and round over thousands of acres (irregular shaped fields) with a conventional drill, but personally, I'd stick to 'back and forth' with a no-til. If you turn very sharply, the seed will not be in the furrow.

 

[usetob]

don't go really fast, stop ever once in awhile and check you depth

 

[RayP(MI)]

Previous owner of my drill didn't take care of it. No way to change setting for rate of seeding. Have to double drill. Get about the right rate that way. I go 'round and round. Second pass, I straddle the wheel marks from the first pass. That covers any gaps between pretty well. Outside round doesn't produce much anyway, especially since you're running it down with the first pass of the binder or combine. So that outside row is haf a pass not doubled, but, oh, well.