northcedar
Well-Known Member
What do you have already? I don't have a drill but do have a small sprayer and chopper. Along with a bag spreader I've been getting decent plots for the nearly decade it's been since I found Paul (dbltree) here on this site. Throw and grow, or mow and throw, or throw and mow. Sprayer and mower are what works for me.
bwese
Active Member
Do you mean for small seeds or for corn, beans, and sorghum?
If corn, beans, and sorghum, I have great success with an old john deere 71 planter, stock, no add ons. I use as much down pressure as I can apply, usually getting seeds in 2" for corn and beans and an inch for sorghum. I have heavy clay soil. I have pulled a drag after planting but saw know difference from what I didn't drag so I don't bother with that anymore.
If I do corn I have done light tillage but this next year I am just going to shred the stalks to the ground or as low as I can get them and no till beans into that.
MINIMAL TILL DRILL!!!!!! It cuts 1/2” deep, sometimes a little more shallow. Not gonna do soybeans with it for example but can do about any food plot stuff. Downside: they are old. Probably needs basic mechanical work (I’m talking in the hundreds of dollars).
Upside: cost about nothing. Very simple. Easy to fix or rebuild or update. Can do anything like: brassicas, clover, switchgrass, Dbltree mix (sure, not ideal depth for oats, peas, etc but work just fine). Look at auctions. Or sitting around. No farmer uses them hardly. I had an “extra” - I put maybe $500 into it. Gave it to a buddy last year for free. They are everywhere & just need to dig to find one. That’s best alternative if a guy didn’t wanna buy or rent a drill.
Upside: cost about nothing. Very simple. Easy to fix or rebuild or update. Can do anything like: brassicas, clover, switchgrass, Dbltree mix (sure, not ideal depth for oats, peas, etc but work just fine). Look at auctions. Or sitting around. No farmer uses them hardly. I had an “extra” - I put maybe $500 into it. Gave it to a buddy last year for free. They are everywhere & just need to dig to find one. That’s best alternative if a guy didn’t wanna buy or rent a drill.
Bassattackr
Well-Known Member
How big of an area you talking? Next best for what? Yield? Soil conservation? Outpimping the neighbors? Very open ended question..
T_Max
PMA Member
Doing a search for that, I'm not sure what I am looking for. Can you give an example of a min-till drill? Or is it just an old drill that you use with minimal tillage?
For Roundup Ready corn / beans, I actually use an old disc to break up the soil. Then I walk use a hand crank bag seed spreader to scatter the seed & fertilizer. Then I run the disc over the plot again. I walk and use my hand sprayer a time or two through the growing season as well. A little labor intensive, but super cheap. I think I picked my old farm disc up for like $150. The spreader was pretty cheap too.
Here’s example. 2 seed boxes. Deere used to make a Van Brunt way back in the day. There’s a hundred different models & brands that work same way…. 2 tires, 2 seed boxes & a hydraulic cylinder to raise & lower. They are very simple…. Lemme know if these examples make sense.