Owner's Report On Best, Worst Planters

Owner's Report on Best, Worst Planters PLANTING EQUIPMENT Planters 11-3-26 Are you satisfied with your corn-soybean planter? How could it be made better? What steps have you taken to cut down on the number of trips through the field? Have you modified your planter in any way? What methods have you come up with to simplify filling seed, fertilizer and insecticide boxes? These are some of the questions we asked planter owners in an effort to highlight those planters that perform with flying colors, and to pinpoint the "lemons" that fail because of poor performance, or failure of the dealer or company to provide service. Here's how the survey shaped up: "It penetrates better than the Deere 7000 it replaced," says Daryl Alger, Palmyra, Penn., pleased with his 1987 New Idea 900, 6-row 30-in. spaced planter. "The staggered disc openers for fertilizer are also a big improvement over the Deere. Overall the planter does everything we expected of it but it is a little unhandy to change the vertical position on the no-till coulters. We do about 30% no-till, 30% once over and plant, and 40% twice over and plant." Jimmy Barnes, Glen Allan, Miss., is happy with his Deere 7100 12-row planter. "I have eliminated most tillage trips by using chemical burndown and planting right into it. I disk once if there are combine ruts, but I disk early so the seedbed will be firm." "We're generally satisfied with our Deere 1240 plateless planter but I have had some trouble with seed pickup units freezing up and shearing pins. Also, it's hard to tell from the tractor when one of the planter units stops working," says Luther Buhite, Reynoldsville, Penn. "There isn't much to improve on our IH 295 6-row planter. However, I did make a modification on the press wheel frame so bearings can be changed easier. I simply made a notch in the frame below the bearing," says Richard Morrison, Lumpkin, Ga. He says his next planter with be either a Deere Max-Emerge or a KMC. "Our Case/IH 800 4-row is the best planter on the market except perhaps for the new 900 series the company recently introduced," says Larry Breech, Danville, Penn. "It plants excellent whether in conventional till, minimum till or no-till. Final stands vary only 100 to 400 plants from the planter seeding rate. Does everything well, including seed placement, population, fertilizer metering, insecticide placement, and so on. Works so well we don't have to overplant like with some planters. The nice thing about this planter is that you fill one hopper and it lasts 70 acres and fertilizer fills only take 3 min. to complete. We no-till 95% of our ground. Our only modification was to install staggered closing discs from Case/IH that stop stones from getting stuck between discs." Stuart A. Glover Jr., Wilson, N.C., is happy with his Deere 7000 Max-Emerge 4-row. "I've never owned a planter that planted so uniformly. I can't think of a single improvement." "Our 1979 Deere 7000 6-row was a big improvment over our old shoe-type planters. Perhaps newer models have been improved but our planter needs a better no-till fertilizer coulter and new seed cups for better soybean placement. We also had to add marker weights for no-till work," says Paul Garrett, Easton, Md. "I've planted all no-till since I bought our White 5400 Plant-Aire 4-row in1974. Depth control, seed placement, and seed population are all very good. The only thing it's needed is added bracing on the dry fertilizer hoppers," says Charles J. Flynn, New Milford, Conn. "Our International 400 Cyclo 4-row planter works great just the way it is. I wouldn't change a thing," reports Harold Ashley, Brownsville, Kent. Abe Willems, Paris, Ark., owns a Deere Max-Emerge 7100 6-row. "Does a good job planting and produces a good stand but it could have a more variable range of planting speed and amounts.. We have a lot of black gumbo. The Deere V-wings we added move the clods so you have firm soil to plant in." "It sure beats the Deere Max-Emerge in terms of initial cost and operating maintenance," says Tom Hofferber, Fairmont, Neb., about his International 8

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