Rotary Hoe Wheels Strip Till Ridge

Rotary Hoe Wheels Strip Till Ridge TILLAGE EUIPMENT Rotary Hoes 19-3-29 "They help dry out the soil so that I can plant earlier and also help control weeds," says Mark Dallmann, Lake Lillian, Minn., who mounted two pairs of rotary hoe wheels behind each of the Hiniker horizontal rotating disc sweeps on his 8-row ridge till toolbar. Each pair of rotary hoe wheels float up or down independently on a bracket that pivots up or down on a single bolt that acts as a hinge. The wheels are spaced 6 in. apart, with the back pair offset so that there's 3 in. of space between every wheel. The Hiniker rotating disc sweeps are designed to shave soil off the top of ridges without loosening the ground. They're normally pulled ahead of a row-crop planter. Dallmann mounted a 3-pt. hitch on front of the toolbar and attached the hoe wheels on back to lightly till the cleared-off ridges. "It fractures the soil and makes a nice, clean seedbed that dries fast. I can often plant only an hour or two later," says Dallmann. "I had been using Buffalo Ridge Runners mounted in front of my Deere 7000 MaxEmerge 8-row planter. However, the furrow opener discs and gauge wheels often tended to plug up in moist soil. I eliminated plugging problems by making a separate pass through to strip-till. "They cost far less and work better than intersecting row cleaners which just shave off the top of the ridge without fracturing the soil. They also work better better than a conventional rotary hoe used in a separate pass ahead of the planter because the rotating disc sweeps scrape off the top of the ridge and throw weed seeds between the rows. "I've built some units for other farmers." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Dallmann, 21550 180th St. S.E., Lake Lillian, Minn. 56253 (ph 612 877-7543).

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