He Converts Grain Drills Into Split Row Bean Planters

He Converts Grain Drills Into Split Row Bean Planters DRILLS Drills (42C) 30-3-18 "I came up with an easy way to mount row units designed for a Deere 7000 planter onto a Great Plains drill, converting it to a split row bean planter. It saved me the cost of a new soybean planter and results in a much better plant stand than I'd get with a grain drill," says Dave Friedrichs of Marysville, Kansas. Friedrichs and his brother made the conversion on a Great Plains 24-ft. grain drill. He bought planter row units from a local salvage yard that buys used planters and sells the row units, but notes you could also buy an old Deere 7000 planter and strip off the row units. He attached the units to the frame of the Great Plains drill by welding a length of 3 1/2-in. sq. tubing on top of a 3 1/2-in. length of tubing already on the planter frame. "I've used this rig for five years and am really happy with it," says Friedrichs. "The stand I get is comparable to what you'd expect from a Deere planter. However, my 24-ft. grain drill holds 50 or 60 bushels of soybean seed at a time which is much more than a 12-row planter of comparable width can hold. As a result, I don't have to refill seed as often." Eliminating the expense of a new planter saved a lot of money, he points out. "You can buy old Great Plains 24-ft. grain drills for about $3,000, whereas a new Deere 24-row split row no-till planter sells for up to $100,000. My total cost was only about $10,000 total. One of my neighbors has used my drill for the past two years, and he liked it so much that last year he asked me to convert his grain drill, which I did. Now five other farmers in our area have made their own conversions." Besides the cost savings, there are other advantages. "The Deere no-till planter is a rigid planter which doesn't work so well on terraces, whereas these grain drills are built in two sections so they flex," says Friedrichs. "Also, the 15-in. rows result in a quicker canopy for better weed control." Why not just use a grain drill to plant narrow row beans? The answer is poor depth control, says Friedrichs. "You can plug every other hole on a drill and try using it to plant beans, but they have a hard time getting a stand because of depth control problems. Planter row units do a much better job of controlling seed depth." For the past two years, Friedrichs has used his split row drill to no-till beans into milo stubble and had "tremendous success" with it. "We made special brackets that apply extra down pressure on each row. The bracket makes use of a spring that welds under the row units and pulls down at an angle." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dave Friedrichs, 675 Harvest Road, Marysville, Kansas 66508 (ph 785 744-3418).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.