Making Strip-Till Work

Making Strip-Till Work PLANTERS Planters 26-2-11 Richard and Larry Martin, Lincoln, Ill., were pioneers in strip tillage, the "mini-till" system where only the row area is cleared. They believe strongly in the idea and have continued to find new ways to improve. Here are some ideas that work for them. Their latest new idea is to use a miniature TV camera to follow one of the strips on their 8-row, 30-in. planter. There's a monitor in the tractor cab. "We've tried this for two years and it really helps keep the planter on top of the ridges as much as possible," says Richard. "We bought the camera and monitor at Radio Shack for only about $300." The camera is powered by the tractor's 12-volt battery and mounts on a homemade metal bracket that bolts to the middle part of the planter toolbar. A piece of black tape on the center of the monitor's 6-in. screen serves as a guide mark. When planting in soybean stubble, the Martins had problems with finger wheel openers - normally designed to run in pairs - clogging up in damp conditions. To solve the problem they replaced one of the finger wheel openers in each pair with a notched disc opener. "It keeps bean stubble from wrapping up because there's nothing for it to catch on," says Richard. "The disc opener is the same size as the finger wheel opener so it bolts on with no modification." The Martins attached a length of 2-in. dia. PVC pipe (with a cap at each end) on back of their anhydrous applicator toolbar as a convenient way to carry field flags. "We use flags to lay out the field before we make the first pass through. We simply roll the flags up and place them inside the pipe. The pipe is attached to a metal bracket that bolts onto the toolbar." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Richard and Larry Martin, 542 1800 St., Lincoln, Ill. 62656 (ph 217 732-3349).

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