Muddy or pre-worked soil conditions can compromise performance of independent drills.
These drills are designed to function in a direct seeding environment: fields with a firm seedbed so the packer wheel can properly gauge the seed depth.
They are not designed to seed into muck, mush, mud or cultivated fields.
Bourgault staff agronomist Garry Meier said this spring will prove challenging for most producers, particularly for those with high performance, independent opener drills.
Meier farms more than 10,000 acres using two independent Bourgault 3310 Paralink drills. He has experience with Bourgault and other brands of independent and rigid frame seeding systems.
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Bourgault recently published a newsletter for producers that outlined how to adjust the 3310 Paralink Hoe Drill for wet conditions.
Meier said in the newsletter that much of the information is relevant to any independent depth seeding unit.
He said fields that went into the winter with ruts and rough surfaces should be levelled, especially before seeding small seeded crops.
Meier said producers who use an independent depth seed drill will need to use extra caution going into pre-worked seedbeds.
The packer wheel on drills such as the 3310 has two distinct functions: packing soil over the seed row and controlling the penetration depth of the opener.
Seeding into fields that have been totally tilled or totally untilled is less of a problem than fields where small areas have been tilled.
If depth is set in the untilled area, the openers will follow the packer wheels down when they move into a tilled area and seed will be buried too deep.
Use a narrow opener that moves less soil when working in loose soil. Less soil movement maximizes the gauging effect of the packer wheel.
Slowing ground speed is never a popular suggestion with growers, but speeds less than five m.p.h. are rec-o mmended if the opener width exceeds three quarters of an inch. In a cultivated field, slower speeds reduce windrowing or throwing soil onto adjacent rows.
Farmers could also consider planting cereals. They have larger seeds and are more tolerant to poor placement.
Wide packer wheels with a round tire surface are better in wet and worked conditions because they have more contact area, thus preventing them from sinking.
V-wheel semi-pneumatic packers operate differently. They have excel-lent mud shedding characteristics and typically require less packing force. Packing pressure should be set as low as possible to let the packer wheel gauge the depth more accurately.
It may be necessary to set the Paralink openers shallower than typical settings in more normal years. Try starting the seed depth one pin position shallower and then check if the seed is buried too deep.
The inner wing lift cylinders on the 3310 are designed to assist opener penetration by transferring weight from the main frame to the inner wings. Reducing the operating pressure to zero will maximize flotation of the inner wing in soft soil.
Pneumatic packers will allow for lower tire pressures that allow the packer wheels to better float over the surface of pre-worked fields so they can do a better job of gauging penetration depth.
In saturated fields, lower tire pressures causes the mud to drop off as the tires flex.
For more information, contact Garry Meier at 306-275-2300.
JD CONSERVA PAK
A common problem when seeding into muddy conditions is that wet residue, wet roots and accompanying mud all want to wrap around the seed and fertilizer tubes and choke off the airflow, said Jim Halford of Indian Head, Sask.
Halford, now retired after two decades as owner and chief designer at Conserva Pak, said it’s a bigger problem with crops such as peas that require more airflow.
Mud creeps in when the airflow plugs.
“For seeding into those conditions, we had developed seed openers with the opening higher up at the back so the air escapes,” said Halford.
This simple move stopped plugging, he added.
“Deere is now building all Conserva Pak openers with that feature as standard equipment on all single row openers,” he said.
“It doesn’t work like that on paired row openers, but if you’re seeding into muddy conditions, you’ll want to use a single row opener anyway. A paired row opener always gives you more trouble in the mud.”
Halford said he also developed a mud-proof fertilizer tube that uses an extra piece at the bottom to prevent mud from working it’s way up the back of the shank and into the tube. It can be retrofitted to older Conserva Pak drills.
Halford said he always used a spring mechanism on the openers to get rid of mud. When mud and residue built up to a certain point, the spring lets the opener kick itself free of the extra material.
He said it’s also important to keep mud off the packer wheel.
His company went to larger tires under the frame two years ago, which provided 44 percent more area on the ground than the previous 11L-15 tires.
Halford said soft soil is one reason Conserva Pak drills have a rigid hitch system instead of the more common floating hitch.
“With a floating hitch, all draft forces transfer down at the front of the seeder and to the gauge wheels. Your gauge wheels start to sink because of this force transfer.
“With a rigid hitch, draft force transfers to whatever is at the front of the frame. That can be the rear tractor tires or a tow-between cart.
“We noticed that in soft muddy soil, the seeder usually stayed up but the cart is what went down. So the simple solution was to put big duals on the cart if it’s a tow between.”
Halford said using a Conserva Pak on pre-worked fields isn’t a problem if recommendations are followed.
“Don’t seed 90 degrees to your tillage runs. If you run perpendicular with a drill, some packers and openers will always be down in a trench while the others are up. Seed at an angle to the tillage runs.”
For more information, contact a John Deere dealer.
SEED HAWK
Pat Beaujot of Seed Hawk in Langbank, Sask., said a conventional frame gauge style of drill behaves differently than an independent opener system when working in muddy conditions or on a loose cultivated seedbed.
“As the frame gauge drill starts to sink, so do the openers,” Beaujot said.
“That’s not a problem on a good firm seedbed, but a lot of guys will be seeding into mud this spring or into fields they tilled last fall. Independent openers can solve that problem, but only if you understand how to set them up.”
He said the depth of independent openers is gauged by the packer wheels rather than the frame. If the frame sinks lower, the openers remain at the correct depth as long as the packers continue to float.
He said locating the knife closer to the packer wheel also helps Seed Hawk maintain good depth control in soft conditions. Seed depth should be close to where it’s been set as long as the packer wheel is riding on the surface.
“There’s another big factor in the mud. We have the front of the cart attached directly to the toolbar. Then we put bigger tires on the rear of the toolbar. This eliminates the front castor tires on the cart. Castor wheels are one of the biggest reasons people get stuck. They’re nothing but trouble in the mud.”
Beaujot said operators can make two obvious adjustments to compensate for a soft seedbed: tire pressure and down pressure.
Mud buildup on the packer wheels will lift the openers out of the ground. Drop the pressure to eight pounds per sq. inch if using pneumatic packing tires. This causes the tire to flex more so it sheds the mud.
As well, lower the down force by about 50 percent to prevent packers and openers from running too deep.
“Getting the right down force is critical. On our drills, I suggest backing off the pressure until you see the chains start to loosen. Then turn the pressure up just a little.”
He said Seed Hawk does not have a hydraulic accumulator, which means an operator who feels he’s about to get stuck can move the hydraulic lever into the float position. This reduces hydraulic pressure to zero. The float position takes the pressure off so they still scratch the surface and drop seed into the trench.
Beaujot said operators who think they’re sinking should ignore their first instinct to totally lift the openers.
“Bad move. Your openers have been helping support the weight of the whole machine. If you lift them completely, you instantly put more weight on the packers.”
For more information, contact Pat Beaujot at 306-538-2221.
SEED MASTER
Millions of prairie acres were cultivated last fall, but much of the land went into winter with stubble cover and mud that didn’t freeze solid before snowfall.
However, the heavy snow pack may have done more good than producers realize, said Seed Master boss Norbert Beaujot.
He said the weight of the snow can firm up the soil, which means the seeding conditions farmers feared might not be that bad in some areas.
He advised farmers to look at the firmness factor before hooking up to a tillage implement this spring.
Beaujot said some fields will be soft because of excess moisture and others will be soft because of a fall cultivation pass.
“There are a few things you can do on a drill that relate to all those predicaments,” said Beaujot.
“Reduce pressure on the packer tires so mud releases. In heavy clay regions, our customers say they go down to five or six p.s.i. In sandy loam, it’s about 10 p.s.i.
“Of course, tires are more susceptible to getting flats at low pressures, so you’ll need tubes and spares. That’s just reality.”
Seed Master began offering a tire-in-tire option two years ago that carries no air pressure. As the name suggests, it’s a non-pneumatic tire inside another non-pneumatic tire with a half-inch space between the two.
Beaujot said the French-built tires are flexible enough to shed the mud but still provide good packing pressure and gauge wheel functions. About 80 percent of Seed Master customers now order the tire-in-tire option.
Seed Master also sells a lift kit.
The castor tires at the front of the drill frame are the first ones to go down when a seeding rig starts to get stuck.
Some manufacturers solve this by offering extra large castor tires, and some producers have fitted rubber tracks in place of the original castor wheels.
Beaujot said the Seed Master Lift Kit is a real-time active system that continuously transfers 40 to 50 percent of the front drill weight to the rear tires of the tractor.
“It’s a good way to reduce the number of times you get stuck.”
He said producers who are seeding into sloppy mud without the Lift Kit can reduce the drawbar pull by setting the openers shallower and reducing hydraulic down pressure.
“You should try to set it so you just scratch through the surface of the sloughs. Place the seed just slightly below the surface. Change one notch to go a half-inch instead of three-quarter inch. But keep in mind that as mud builds on the packer wheel, it becomes taller.
“With all this soil moisture available for the seed, it won’t go thirsty if you can just get it into the ground and covered.”
He said canola producers need to make sure they don’t create such a deep dent in the surface that the soil fills in behind the packer wheel.
“If a field is that soft, you may need to consider a harrow operation or something like that to firm it up. Our customers tell us that our drills do very well in muddy fields, but they’re better in a straight line. When you make tight turns to go around sloughs, the openers can back up and pack with mud.”
For more information, contact Norbert Beaujot at 306-721-3001.
Next week, the Production section will look at mud recommendations from drill makers CNH, Morris, Horsch Anderson and Amity.
