Doubled Up Planters Let Him Switch To Narrow Row Soybeans

Doubled up planters let him switch to narrow roy soybeans PLANTERS Planters 15-1-8 You don't have to spend $15,000 or more for a new planter to switch to narrow row soybeans, according to Ron Hastings, Ashville, Ohio, who along with father Jim and brother Brett hitches two 12-row 30-in. planters together, one behind the other, and splits the rows to plant 24 15-in. rows at a time. Hastings built a hitch from 2 by 6-in. sq. tubing that bolts onto toolbar of the front planter - a front-folding Deere 7000. The rear planter is a 7000 straight beam planter that Hastings modified to fold forward manually. He lengthened the tongue of rear planter by 6 112 ft. so the planters clear each other on turns at end of field. "I built it for $7,500 while commercial add-on planters cost about $15,000. The problem with the commercial rigs is that you have to modify your existing planter to mount them, making it difficult to change from planting one crop to another. It takes only 10 minutes to unhook my rear planter. All I do is pull the hitch pin and unhook the hydraulic hoses and monitor wires." Hastings positioned the hitch so that the rear planter is offset 15 in. To compensate for the wider planter, he slid one of the front planter's markers in 15 in. and ex-tended the other marker out 15 in. He cut the frame of the rear planter and installed hinges so he can transport both planters hooked together. He lengthened the wiring on the monitors so he could monitor both planters and extended the hydraulic hoses to lift the rear planter. He's pulled both planters with a 170 hp Deere 4430 tractor for two seasons. Last year he switched to a 295 hp Deere 8650 tractor so he could increase speed to 6 1/2 mph. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ron Hastings, 5370 State Route 316 W., Ashville, Ohio 43103 (ph 614 983-2810).

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