Boom fert spreader- would this work ?

[cousinjack]

So, with the lack of available 24m boom type granular fert spreaders about, I've been thinking .... (always a dangerous situation!)

I've got some nice 24m alloy spray booms sitting in the bushes... all hyd fold etc.. and the frame that fits onto my SP sprayer..

And

An old Accord DL drill...

Could I somehow merge the two to give me a granular fert spreader ?

Presumably need a lot of wind to blow the fert along the tubes to the end of booms .... and a ground wheel metering system...

Would the accord system open up enough ?? Would I need two hoppers and distributors ?

Am I mad ?

Oh, and liquid is absolutely out of the question.... before you all start !

 

[yellowbelly]

We once had to drill some 0:20:20 3" deep, for a customer, with a 4m Accord DL. The metering roll was wide open to get to that rate - you'd have to gear the land wheel drive up a fair bit.
Even if you used 2 distributors, would the outlets on the manifold be big enough to cope with the volume

 

[David.]

I think it would block quickly with the least bit of moisture in the air, some days urea dust sticks to spreader vanes and needs scraping every load.

 

[Lincs Lass]

Over 24 metres, you will need pin point accuracy rate,,we ran a 20mtr cascad and trying to spread on a damp day was a nightmare as it cloged the feed rollers ,,an accord metering unit wouldnt get anyware near enough volume through it

 

[PSQ]

Having run a Kuhn Aero in the past there is no way you will get enough volume through an Accord metering unit. At a guess you’d need at least 4 per side, and easy access into each of them to sort out blockages.

 

[Robt]

You simply won’t get the rate and also the distance from metering unit I’m afraid

 

[Chae1]

You could possibly use it for broadcasting stubble turnips into standing crops, slug pellets? Grass seed.

Lower application rates

 

[cousinjack]

Not looking good then ...

The improved version was to use 4 metering units... one per section, so as to give a type of section control..

Not used urea before, so haven't heard about the dusting/blocking issues..

Not looking like a goer is it ?

 

[Lincs Lass]

Accord fans are built to blow light weight grains ,,heavy granular ferts need alot of draft to shift it ,,cripes we used spread 13cwt per acre of 13 13 20 for spuds ,,right down at 3mph to get that volume on ,,look like a snow storm and even dry ,the fan had to be at 540 before opening feed rollers

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What sort of rates are you thinking? Would be very light rates at 24m at higher rates, I had an APV unit and I could broadcast peas @300kg/ha @ 3 metres wide @7.5kmh at full bore

so that would equate to 37.5kg/ha over 24 metres at the same forward speed

 

[cousinjack]

What sort of rates are you thinking? Would be very light rates at 24m at higher rates, I had an APV unit and I could broadcast peas @300kg/ha @ 3 metres wide @7.5kmh at full bore

so that would equate to 37.5kg/ha over 24 metres at the same forward speed

Yeah... not really done my maths on this one....

Like all my "great ideas" , there's usually a fatal flaw ...
Tried to fabricate some multi purpose loader brackets the other day to fit both the JCB and the Eurohook loaders..

Turns out that it can't be done without trashing the tilt rams on the loader when you crowd back .....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

As a rough guide to the apeture you'd need for fertiliser, the hole in the back my lime-spreader bin is 16 inches wide, and closes to 80mm for things like urea, or DAP+seed mixes, up to 250kg/ha or so
For higher rates of lower testing fert (eg TSP) then I'd open it to 4-5 inches, and for lime open it to 8 inches, in other words the dimensions of a good big furrow.

But, I can spread at 25mph+ with granular fert only, and about 10mph at 2T/acre of lime

So back to your question, yes, but it would be very very slow to push a decent rate and you'd need a huge blower to get it there

 

[cousinjack]

Accord fans are built to blow light weight grains ,,heavy granular ferts need alot of draft to shift it ,,cripes we used spread 13cwt per acre of 13 13 20 for spuds ,,right down at 3mph to get that volume on ,,look like a snow storm and even dry ,the fan had to be at 540 before opening feed rollers

We tend to spread about 250kg/ha..

But you're right... across 24m that's a hell of a lot of weight !

Theory was that the drill will do 155 kg/ha comfortably on wheat.... that's more volume of product ..
So assuming 4 sections, each with a fan &metering unit .. it's a similar weight..

But the product is much more dense ..

I agree... more hassle than it's worth ..

 

[Exfarmer]

Unless the pipes are dead flat or vertical the fertiliser will drop out of the air and would block before you had gone any distance, even if you solved the other issues. You may just get away with Urea but I would think it unlikely

 

[cousinjack]

@Robt ... get sulky to design one... save me all this trouble ...

 

[cousinjack]

Unless the pipes are dead flat or vertical the fertiliser will drop out of the air and would block before you had gone any distance, even if you solved the other issues. You may just get away with Urea but I would think it unlikely

I'm now thinking it wouldn't even get to the pipes! Just sit under the distributor head !!

 

[cousinjack]

You could possibly use it for broadcasting stubble turnips into standing crops, slug pellets? Grass seed.

Lower application rates

Be great for Avadex..

Pity we don't use it ..........

 

[Robt]

@Robt ... get sulky to design one... save me all this trouble ...

No worries, please send me an order for 100 and i'll push it to the design department!

 

[cousinjack]

No worries, please send me an order for 100 and i'll push it to the design department!

Can't order till I know the price ...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

You could possibly use it for broadcasting stubble turnips into standing crops, slug pellets? Grass seed.

Lower application rates

A lot of the big combines in the US are getting set up with these type of things for seeding covercrops at harvest, seems a good idea compared to wearing out the drill.

It's a shame your public are so averse to aircraft, no soil is too wet for a helicopter to fly things on! Generally how it's done down here, nothing is too steep or rough for the helicopter either