One-Pass Planter Turns Cover Crop Into Mulch

One-Pass Planter Turns Cover Crop Into Mulch PLANTERS Planting into heavy cover crops is no problem for Charles Martin He doesn’t even have to spray a burndown first His patent-pending planter attachment opens row spacings crushes the cover crop and crimps the plant stems Then it plants corn and applies liquid fertilizer It does it all in a single pass that pays benefits throughout the summer     “We definitely saw a difference last summer in side-by-side comparisons where the cover crop seeder had skipped some rows ” says Martin “It held the moisture We also had very few weed or insect pest problems with the crushed cover crop ”     Martin and his sons previously built an in-crop high boy cover crop seeder Vol 34 No 5 They also use post harvest no-till drilling of cover crops Recognizing that the longer a cover crop grows the more benefits it provides Martin wanted to be able to plant into standing material not spray or crush it in advance     “I wanted a way to clean the row so the sun could get to it yet leave a heavy mat of plant material between the rows ” explains Martin     Martin modified an older Deere 7000 conservation planter Each row cleaner is attached to the toolbar with parallel linkage ahead of the planter units The 13-in heavy-duty row cleaners are mounted on equally heavy-duty bushings used on Deere 7200 marker blades     “The discs are mounted at a hard angle and beveled so they scrape rather than dig ripping the above-ground plant parts off and out of the way ” says Martin “I wanted the row cleaners out in front of the rollers It’s easier for them to push through standing cover crop than through matted plant material ”     A combination of hydraulic pressure and springs allows the row cleaners to flex with the terrain Front vertical links consist of lower square steel tubes sized to slide into upper steel tubes Bolts mounted to the two tubes provide manual adjustment of maximum row cleaner depth     Down pressure on individual row cleaners is maintained by 2-in dia 6-in stroke single action cylinders hooked in series The series connection equalizes pressure across the cylinders as individual row units flex     Two 2-in springs are attached to each set of row cleaners and to a 3 by 3-in steel tube that runs in front of and parallel to the planter toolbar and inside the parallel linkage of the row cleaners When hydraulic pressure on the cylinders is released the springs retract the row cleaners     “The cylinder and springs let me adjust pressure on the go ” says Martin “With the added down pressure of the planter and the weight of the fertilizer tanks I can apply enough down pressure to dig ditches with the row cleaners and cut up the stems with the crimping plates on the rollers ”     Crushing rollers between and just behind the row cleaners are connected to the lower horizontal links with bushings The bushings let them flex as the row cleaner flexes The exception is the end rollers which are connected by a solid shaft running through a bearing to tie them to the adjacent between row rollers     The rollers themselves are fabricated from 6-in schedule 40 steel pipe The crimpers are pieces of 2-in by 10-in 1/4-in thick steel welded to the pipe in a pattern like a tractor tire tread     “At first I had the crimper plates in a spiral direction but that tended to flip the mat back across the row at one end ” explains Martin     The tread design tends to pull the mat of green material away from the rows while the rollers act as depth controls for the row cleaners The combination of row cleaners and rollers leaves a clean planting zone and a weed-smothering mat Martin says the actively growing cover crop tends to pull moisture out of the soil in the spring leaving a better planting bed     While the rollers could be set to cut the stems that’s something Martin does not want He notes cutting can result in regrowth     Another advantage to the rollers is their effect on corn stubble Martin says the rollers crush them flat along with any weeds that grow in fields without cover crops As a result he says he no longer uses a preplant burndown     “We will do a single pass with a burndown after planting if we see some goosenecking with small grain cover crops ” he says “Depending on how thick the mat is we often don’t need a second spray ”     Martin and his sons are testing the planter again in 2012 One change he’s making is to move the fertilizer application drops In 2011 the drops were mounted ahead and just to the side of the row cleaners This year they will be mounted behind the row closers     At this point Martin is unsure if they will produce the cover crop planter for sale or what the price would be     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Charles Martin 989 Montour Rd Loysville Penn 17047 ph 717 789-0062

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