Planters Built To Order

Planters Built To Order SPECIALTY/SERVICES Specialty/Services 26-1-9 Deere's Max-Emerge may be the most popular planter ever introduced, but if you want something other than a standard 4-row or larger unit, don't bother asking a Deere dealer. You'll need to search out a custom builder like Gideon Stoltzfus, a former farmer from Gap, Pennsylvania, who has been custom building planters using Deere parts since 1977. "We do a lot of business with vegetable and produce growers," says Stoltzfus. "We also do a lot of business with researchers for seed companies, chemical companies, university and USDA researchers. Anyone who does plot work." What started as a farming sideline, producing one or two planters a year, has grown into Pequea Planter, a full time business producing 80 to 100 planters each year. Stoltzfus turned over his dairy and farming operation to his sons and concentrates on building 2 and 3-row planter frames fitted with the latest Deere technology. The largest planter frames he has built hold 9 row-units. Most are 2-row, but all are designed for simple row adjustments from 15 to 38 in. or anything in between and seed spacing from 4 to 12 in. When USDA researchers at Beltsville, Maryland needed a planter that would accurately plant 15, 20, and 30-in. rows of corn and soybeans, they came to Stoltzfus. He put together a planter that would plant 4, 6 or 7 rows at a time, depending on desired row width. He has since built the Beltsville researchers a second planter with the same multiple row-width configuration option. "We make a lot of one-row pumpkin planters," says Stoltzfus. "Growers need more accuracy than they can get with either a finger system or a plate system, due to the odd seed size. Deere's vacuum system works very well for them." Stoltzfus offers the full line of Deere seed handling systems - finger pickup, feed cup seed metering or VacuMeter systems. Even the new Radial Bean Meter is available. Planters come as pull type or 3-pt. mounted and with either dry or liquid fertilizer attachments. A full line of options, including chemical applicators and conservation tillage components, are also available. As more and more farmers have moved away from 8-row planters, Stoltzfus has begun buying up the used planters, rebuilding the row units and mounting them on new frames. "We can sell these planters for considerably less than all new planters," he says. Stoltzfus sells a standard 3-pt. hitch, 2-row planter with fertilizer attachments for $5,875, while a pull-type planter goes for $5,975. Optional equipment and custom designed units are extra. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gideon Stoltzfus, Pequea Planter, 5621 White Horse Road, Gap, Penn. 17527 (ph 717 442-4406).

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