Firminator....worth the cost

[UGAMike]

so I have been looking at several seeders to include getting a good look at several at the sunbelt ag show last week: the woods pss, firminator, kasco, and brillion.

Brillion till n go way out of my price range at a show price of $13500 for the 6'.
Kasco Eco drill 6' seemed ok but interesting design with straight discs for cutting show price of $9600.
Woods pss 6' was bout $7800 though had some great features it was mostly an implement that was bolted together.
Firminator seemed like it was solid, well built, and had those extra details like Cultipacker scrapers, powder coated, all welded with no open tubes(those areas where wasps like to build a nest) show price was $7800 for the larger 16" cultipackers. But it was also the simplest.
Plotmaster, not at the show but in the same price range as the firminator and woods pss.

To me it just seems the price point on these implements should be a few thousand less. I know there was talk about the firminator on the qdma forum, but wanted to get some opinions from the group since that info is now gone.

 

[Dennis Duffy]

Love my Kasco but i bought it used for 3k. it plants some awesome food plots for me so far! But those firminators look sweet!

 

[Paradise725]

I know that Steve bartylla is a big fan of the firminator, and he plants a lot of food plots. I also have no reason not to trust his word, which can't be said for all outdoor personalities.


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[Stonewall]

Ranews = quality. Get the firminator

 

[ZRB Land]

Im also curious about this. Love to hear more opinions

 

[Triple C]

I own the Plotmaster 600 tractor series. It weighs right at 1300 lbs. This is our 6th season using it. I like it a lot. But, after seeing the Woods seeder and the Firminator up close, if I had a do over, I may have chosen one of those just by looking at the design. The cultipacker on the Woods and Firminator is designed to use a lot of the weight of the implement whereas the Plotmaster culitpacker is a free floating system behind the unit. Since I can't speak to personal use of the Woods or Firminator, I'll tell you what I like about the Plotmaster. It does a great job of planting just about any kind of seed and firmly placing and covering it in the soil. It is very well constructed. Powder coating paint. Still looks great after siting out in weather since 2011. It is heavy. The dual seed boxes are fully adjustable to meter out the seed your planting. Electrical wiring is easy to attach to battery to operate the auger in the seed boxes. It has 2 rows of discs that are configured in front of the seed box. The front set of disc are larger than the rear set and fully adjustable. The rear set are smaller and cannot be adjusted. They are set at a slight angle. When planting, the cultipacker folds off the rear of the unit and floats behind the unit following a heavy screen drag.

One pass planting as advertised. If your field is properly prep'd, it is a one-pass planter. Spray the field with gly about 4 to 6 weeks prior to planting. The plant matter will completely die and matt down. Set the front discs on a fairly aggressive position and one pass opens the soil, real discs help level, seeder drops the seed in the furrows and the screen drag n cultipacker bury the seed and firm the seed bed.

If your plot has not been sprayed and is full of growing weeds, grass, plants, it is NOT a one-pass planter. I paid about $6K for it new. It has been a very durable implement. I would love to try the Firminator or Woods seeder but I got what I got so won't be doing that for a long time. Here's a pic of one of our plots we sprayed and then planted in one pass about 6 weeks later.


We got .25" of rain the day after and nothing since! Here's what plot looked like a week after planting and little bit of rain we had.

 

[UGAMike]

Thanks for the feedback triple c. I was curious how effective the cultipacking was on the plotmaster.

 

[Triple C]

Thanks for the feedback triple c. I was curious how effective the cultipacking was on the plotmaster.

I'd rate cultipacker mediocre because it lacks down-force weight and it's not notched. just a heavy steel tube that free floats behind the unit. Certainly better than not having anything but wish it were notched with more down pressure. Here's a pic of the Plotmaster with the cultipacker folded up on the unit for transportation to and from the field.

 

[UGAMike]

I found a pretty good price on a used 5 year old 6' Firminator and plan on picking it up on Sunday.

Triple C I see you are in North East GA. I am near Augusta.. maybe we could do a side by side comparison between the two this Spring and post the results and share with everyone?

 

[Triple C]

I found a pretty good price on a used 5 year old 6' Firminator and plan on picking it up on Sunday.

Triple C I see you are in North East GA. I am near Augusta.. maybe we could do a side by side comparison between the two this Spring and post the results and share with everyone?

I'd b all about it. I'm near Lexington. PM me sometime. LLC, Tenured Student n I will b getting together after season. The more the merrier!

 

[David]

reading through old threads and wanted to know if anyone has any thing new to add to this? i am thinking about adding a firminator to my arsenal of plotting weapons.


how does the operator take depth of seed into account? by raising and lowering the 3 point?

 

[UGAMike]

I have used mine for a full year and still working out some of the kinks. Overall, I really like the machine. Its a huge time saver. I did upgrade my cultipacker wheels to 15" since much of the soil I am in is very sandy. The larger wheels are a must if you plot in a sandy loam. I originally had the 10" cultpackers and sandy soil the smaller cultipackers would push the soil rather than rolling over it.

You want to apply full weight of the machine with your final pass. For larger seed, I will disc at 5 degrees drop seed and then cultipack......if I am doing small seed...I cultipack once after discing.....then go over again with no disc engagement, drop the seed, and the cultipack again.

Hope this helps.

 

[David]

UGAMike,

thanks

that does answer my question.

 

[SwampCat]

I have the 84” Woods. It is well made and heavy. It is a one pass seeder IF the ground is not thick with vegetation. It does well planting two seed types. It might actually function better in food plots in the woods than a no-till because there is probably less to break on the roots and rocks. Our NRCS rents no-till drills and he told me he wouldnt be excited about me using their no-till in my food plots. The Woods has a disk, a spiked roller, and a cultipacker - not a whole lot to tear up. The seed drop tubes are six inches apart. The slower you to, the more seed stays in that row. In my ooinion, wheat planted in rows six inches apart is too far apart. The faster you go, the more the seed spreads, giving more ground coverage. I like to run 4 - 5 mph when seeding. Takes 20 min per acre to seed. It does not fertilize - unfortunately.

Wheat seeding on semi clean ground

 

[UGAMike]

If you get a chance take time to go to the Sunbelt AG show in October. You will get a chance to tire kick the Firminator, Brillion, Kasko, and Woods. You will likely even get a nice discount on what is actually at the show.

That’s what I did before deciding on the firminator.

Below is an LC mix that we put out this past season.

 

[David]

If you get a chance take time to go to the Sunbelt AG show in October. You will get a chance to tire kick the Firminator, Brillion, Kasko, and Woods. You will likely even get a nice discount on what is actually at the show.

That’s what I did before deciding on the firminator.

Below is an LC mix that we put out this past season.

Thanks.


Can it seed grains into brassicas? Triple C was mentioning planting his oats/wheat at a later date than the brassicas.

Or are you simply broadcasting the grains on top of growing brassicas?

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[buckdeer1]

Theres a plotmaster on the wichita kansas craigslist

 

[UGAMike]

Thanks.


Can it seed grains into brassicas? Triple C was mentioning planting his oats/wheat at a later date than the brassicas.

Or are you simply broadcasting the grains on top of growing brassicas?

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I haven’t done it, but the manufacturer states you can set your disc straight and sow into clover.


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[David]

gotcha,

so to the folks out there who are adding grains as a nurse crop to an existing clover plot, and those adding grains to a 6 week old brassica plot......those who dont have a drill.....are yall using these plotting seeders? or are you broadcasting the grains before a rain event?

 

[SwampCat]

I haven’t done it, but the manufacturer states you can set your disc straight and sow into clover. The first pic is what I was planting into and the second pic is three months later after they ate it down. But you can still see some wheat. Early in season, you saw more wheat than clover.


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I was using a woods seeder last fall and I had a fairly good angle - maybe 12 degrees and seeded wheat into established durana. I think the little bit of disking actually sprurred some growth out of the clover.