Revolutionary New Row Crop Planter

Revolutionary New Row Crop Planter PLANTERS Planters 18-6-2 "It's the first new-from-the-ground-up row crop planter in 30 years," says Jim Bassett, president of Dawn Equipment Co., about the company's beefy new planter which was introduced at the Farm Progress Show this fall. It features heavy plate steel row units specially designed to handle add-on equipment and lots of trash. Dawn Equipment is best-known for its row clearing Trash Wheels. Problems with mounting the wheels, together with other miscellaneous add-on equipment, led Bassett to develop the new planter. "Today's row crop planters were de-signed for use in conventionally-tilled ground with no attachments added to the frame. We've been adding more and more equipment the past few years that they just aren't equipped to handle," says Bassett. As a manufacturer of one of the most popular add-ons for planters, Bassett says he was continually dealing with breakdowns and other problems related to mounting trash clearing wheels on planters. Heavy-duty row units made out of 1-in. thick plate steel are key to success of the new planter.. They mount on a 7 by 7-in. toolbar. "Plate steel gives you the strength to handle planter add-ons and added weight for down pressure needed when you've got extra components and trashy conditions," Bassett explains.. The new 6-row looks more like a drill than a planter because it's fitted with a single 4,000 lb. capacity seed hopper and a 12,000 lb. fertilizer hopper up front. Both hoppers are lined with stainless steel inside. Seed feeds by gravity to air-powered metering units beneath the hopper. Manufactured in Europe, Bassett says the system is the simplest and most effective seed metering system he's ever seen. Each unit has just one moving part - a metering wheel. Air is used to pick up seed and blow it through plastic tubes to the row units. "When changing from corn to soybeans or another crop, you just change the single plate," notes Basset. Air power is provided by a pto-driven fan mounted on the planter tongue. Air is carried inside the toolbar back to the metering units. The row units have heavy-duty Timken bearings on all pivot points and wheels, and easy-to-use hand crank adjustments for depth control on planter units, Trash Wheels, and closing wheels. You can mount trash wheels ahead of or in back of a coulter, or both. "Some farmers like to have two sets of Trash Wheels. They set one to just barely skim the surface to get rid of bigger residue and set the other deeper to work the soil," says Bassett. One unique feature on the new row units is a chain-driven solid-steel press wheel. "One of the biggest problems with current planters is that press wheels can drag and lock up, digging up the furrow. This press wheel can't lock up and always presses seed firmly into place." Dry fertilizer is placed by openers mounted on the planter's front toolbar. It can be set up to plant 2 in. to the side and 2 in. below the seed. Two hydraulic cylinders make it easy to adjust the fertilizer toolbar up and down to adjust for field conditions and to keep plenty of down pressure on the rear planter units. Two 150 gal. tanks on the planter hold starter fertilizer. " For planting soybeans in 15 in. rows, you mount row units on the front toolbar spaced between the rear 30-in. rows. A 6-row sells for $24,000. Units can be added to either end to make an 8-row. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dawn Equipment Co., P.O. Box 497, 370 N. Cross, sycamore, Ill. 60178 (ph 815 899-8000; fax 815 899-3663).

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