What Planter to Get

[Brokenbear]

You guys are just killing me ...I have a 12' John Deere VB drill that cost less than a high power rifle, a 2 row Ford 209 planter with fiber glass ferilizer box for about the cost of a shotgun ... depending on the year's rotation plant 20 to 40 acres ..weekend 1 bushhog and spray ..2 disc ..3 plant ...
Just say
Bear

 

[Rickey]

Sounds like you either buy some super expensive weapons or got some hellacious deals. Explain further please.

 

[l8_apexer]

You guys are just killing me ...I have a 12' John Deere VB drill that cost less than a high power rifle, a 2 row Ford 209 planter with fiber glass ferilizer box for about the cost of a shotgun ... depending on the year's rotation plant 20 to 40 acres ..weekend 1 bushhog and spray ..2 disc ..3 plant ...
Just say
Bear

You've been lucky. Equipment like that where I'm at-- is (1) very hard to find (2) what is available is very expensive junk. My farm is a 4 hour drive from where I live- so time is a huge element. Have little time or patience for broken equipment, things that don't work, etc. Having a good equipment that will do the job efficiently was a big consideration. And the new equipment-- was lust a little bit more than having multiple pieces of 50 year old broken down stuff.

 

[Brokenbear]

You've been lucky. Equipment like that where I'm at-- is (1) very hard to find (2) what is available is very expensive junk. My farm is a 4 hour drive from where I live- so time is a huge element. Have little time or patience for broken equipment, things that don't work, etc. Having a good equipment that will do the job efficiently was a big consideration. And the new equipment-- was lust a little bit more than having multiple pieces of 50 year old broken down stuff.

I understand being an absentee owner ...but spraying still needs to happen ...fertilizer still needs to be fully incorporated INTO the ground which I have observed some, but not all, DOB planters don't do well ...as far as junk equipment ...there just is not much to fail on the old mechanical planters and drills ....I admit I did have to air up a tire on my drill last year ...just saying fellows there is still lots of great old farm equipment to do food plotting ...yes a tad slower but still very effective

Bear

 

[Wild Thing]

Well, you convinced me Bullwinkle:

Drill - Tried to get the dealer to paint it green when I ordered it but he just couldn't go there:



Beans:



Sugar Beets:



Corn:



Also drilled cereal grains and clovers with it the first year. Will be planting all of these again this year. I think I am going to try drilling my beans into the standing corn stalks also BW. We will see what happens.

Forgot to mention, I already sold my conventional drill and my JD-7000 planter. The new drill doesn't plant corn quite as well as the planter did but it is plenty good enough for deer corn.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Well, you convinced me Bullwinkle:

Drill - Tried to get the dealer to paint it green when I ordered it but he just couldn't go there:



Beans:



Sugar Beets:



Corn:



Also drilled cereal grains and clovers with it the first year. Will be planting all of these again this year. I think I am going to try drilling my beans into the standing corn stalks also BW. We will see what happens.

Forgot to mention, I already sold my conventional drill and my JD-7000 planter. The new drill doesn't plant corn quite as well as the planter did but it is plenty good enough for deer corn.

Wild Thing - holy cow did you do well. Those plots look amazing

Curious how you did the sugar beets

 

[Wild Thing]

Hey Bullwinkle - Good to see you are alive and well! I migrated over to the Michigan-Sportsman.com forums when the QDMA forum went down. So did Osceola who is also from Michigan. Anyway, Osceola contacted me and said a lot of the guys from the old QDMA forum were over here so I decided to check in.

Here is a link Sugar Beets at 44 days to a thread I started on my sugar beets with the no-till drill. It has plenty of photos in it, as well as the recipe I used (on page 2) with the 606NT. I planted two 0.5 acre plots of RR sugar beets. When I was done, I had 1/4# of seed leftover so I need to plant them a little thicker this year and will make that adjustment. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the results I got from the new drill. I am sure as I gain more experience with it the results will be even better.

I also have to agree with the the guys who questioned planting 4.5 acres/hour. It sure didn't happen here. I know it was well after dark (probably after midnight) when I got done planting my beans and corn last year.

 

[mattpatt]

We looked at purchasing a drill at one point then after pricing them we just rent one from the local farm implement place here in town. They charge us $10/acre with a 10 acre minimum. Works out great for us.


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[Wild Thing]

That's great mattpatt. I wish we would have had that option here but you can not rent a drill anywhere near us. The NRCS office in our county doesn't even own any equipment.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Wild thing - thanks for sharing your thread.

My recipe is

14" spacing. Seed cup 1, setting 10 and I think I planted them a little thick. I hit them hard with slow release N as well about 1 month in

In middle space(just fill up the seed cup so I don't get mixing) I put soybeans. I read how planting soybeans with beets takes the pressure off the beets since beans are so much more attractive when young

My beets were the size of baseballs not softballs like yours

I also rotate the beets every year and don't plant the same plot every 3-5. They take a lot out of the soil

The deer don't hit mine till December then the field gets all torn up

I need to think about your spacing and recipe

So this year you're going to seed cup two and setting 10?

 

[Wild Thing]

"So this year you're going to seed cup two and setting 10?"

No - I only had 4 oz of seed leftover last year so the only thing I will change this year is changing the seed rate from 9 to 10. Seed cup will still be at 1.

The snow has been melting pretty good here the past few days so I took a hike up to the north this morning. I found 5 shed antlers in the one 1/2 acre sugar beet plot! None of these deer are likely to make B&C this year but it is nice to know they have made it through most of the winter. Still too much snow and ice in the other sugar beet plot but I'm hoping to find more sheds there. Still a lot of snow left in the corn as well but will be checking there soon.

 

[Bullwinkle]

"So this year you're going to seed cup two and setting 10?"

No - I only had 4 oz of seed leftover last year so the only thing I will change this year is changing the seed rate from 9 to 10. Seed cup will still be at 1.

The snow has been melting pretty good here the past few days so I took a hike up to the north this morning. I found 5 shed antlers in the one 1/2 acre sugar beet plot! None of these deer are likely to make B&C this year but it is nice to know they have made it through most of the winter. Still too much snow and ice in the other sugar beet plot but I'm hoping to find more sheds there. Still a lot of snow left in the corn as well but will be checking there soon.

I am very impressed by your work.

 

[Wild Thing]

Thanks Bullwinkle ... and thanks again for helping me out with the new drill.

 

[Stevieray]

I picked up my Golden Valley planter.

 

[Buck268]

I picked up my Golden Valley planter.View attachment 6154 View attachment 6155

Nice looking unit..

 

[Smallplot]

I picked up my Golden Valley planter.View attachment 6154 View attachment 6155

Not to look down on your purchase but I see some places for oblivious improvement. The drill box sits way back there on a couple small looking braces. Even cheap disks have better looking frames than that. There should be some more support going to the rear. I bet that thing bounces real nice in transport mode.

Good luck with the purchase I hope it does you well, I really do. Don't expect to get anywhere near the 4 acres per hour and honestly 3/4 of an acre is likely more realistic as you will be having quite the tug with the disk gangs and the ripper teeth following behind. Hope you have enough ponies to pull that consistently at operating speeds.

Again good luck with your new purchase.


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[Stevieray]

Not to look down on your purchase but I see some places for oblivious improvement. The drill box sits way back there on a couple small looking braces. Even cheap disks have better looking frames than that. There should be some more support going to the rear. I bet that thing bounces real nice in transport mode.

Good luck with the purchase I hope it does you well, I really do. Don't expect to get anywhere near the 4 acres per hour and honestly 3/4 of an acre is likely more realistic as you will be having quite the tug with the disk gangs and the ripper teeth following behind. Hope you have enough ponies to pull that consistently at operating speeds.

Again good luck with your new purchase.


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I will be happy with 3/4 acre per hour as compared to what I get currently with a broadcast spreader and then a Packer Maxx cultipacker pulled behind my ATV.

I plan on preparing my seed bed with a tractor and tiller, then run the disk gang shallow when planting.

I am confident that this unit will work better than what I currently using. The unit is Dr. Deer Approved "Dr. James C Kroll" which means he and his staff tested the equipment and provided an unbiased review and approval.

 

[cutman]

I will be happy with 3/4 acre per hour as compared to what I get currently with a broadcast spreader and then a Packer Maxx cultipacker pulled behind my ATV.

I plan on preparing my seed bed with a tractor and tiller, then run the disk gang shallow when planting.

I am confident that this unit will work better than what I currently using. The unit is Dr. Deer Approved "Dr. James C Kroll" which means he and his staff tested the equipment and provided an unbiased review and approval.

Please let us know how it does. I'm sure your experience will help others with future purchases.

 

[Stevieray]

Please let us know how it does. I'm sure your experience will help others with future purchases.

I will be planting 5 acres of buckwheat the end of April first of May, until then who knows if it was a good decision or not. I have talked to several people who own this unit and they provided their opinions and all were positive. One person I spoke with has the 5 foot version like mine, liked his so well he has purchased the 6 foot version so he could expand his planting capability.

 

[Smallplot]

I will be happy with 3/4 acre per hour as compared to what I get currently with a broadcast spreader and then a Packer Maxx cultipacker pulled behind my ATV.

I plan on preparing my seed bed with a tractor and tiller, then run the disk gang shallow when planting.

I am confident that this unit will work better than what I currently using. The unit is Dr. Deer Approved "Dr. James C Kroll" which means he and his staff tested the equipment and provided an unbiased review and approval.

As long as you are happy, that is all that matters. You asked opinions and you received some very good opinions from some people with knowledge and experience to back their opinions.

At this point it really does not matter, as you have the unit in your shed. I will only give one opinion, not that I have anything against Dr Deer Approved but just remember this, I have likely worked way more acres in my life than dr deer and I don't have anyone giving me $ for any endorsements to persuade my recommendations when it comes to equipment.

I honestly do hope this is the best investment you have ever made and it functions as well as expected. I will be hanging around and waiting to hear how it works out for you.


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