Salvaged Add Ons Convert Planter Into Ridge Planter

Salvaged add ons convert planter into ridge planter PLANTERS Planters 9-4-7 "I had 650 acres of corn to plant. Stalks from the previous year were still in the field and time was running short," says Dick Harken, Decorah, Iowa, who went to work in his farm shop to modify his International 800 4-row planter into a one-pass till and ridge-plant machine. In one operation, he prepares a 6-in. wide seedbed in the stalks, applies fertilizer and herbicides, and plants. To his planter he added up-front row cleaners that skim the stalks off last year's ridge, leaving a clean seedbed for fertilizer and seed placement. "With row cleaners attached to the front of the planter, I clear trash before the fertilizer units so I know fertilizer is placed correctly. Plus, the row unit isn't bouncing over trash so it rides level for even seed placement," explains Harken. He figures he has right at $150 invested per row in the add-on units. The add-on row cleaners were salvaged from a 8-row IH 400 planter and other machinery. The framework for each row is from the old planter and attaches to the 4-row planter's 2 by 6-in. front toolbar. On the front of the row units is an 18-in. gauge wheel followed by 14-in. row cleaning discs (salvaged from a Buffalo planter) which clear off the old row of stalks. Harken connected hydraulic rams to the add-on cleaners and teed them into the planter's hydraulics so both the base planter and the add-ons operate with the same lever. He feels the modification could be adapted to most any pull-type planter. Turning radius isn't seriously affected. He'd like to talk to interested manufacturers. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dick Harken, Rt. 6, Decorah, Iowa 52101 (ph 319 382-8877).

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