Bulking out small seed in a SimTech (or other drills for that matter)

[neilo]

I have had a 3m T-Sem for several years and have been very happy with it, for both DD and drilling into cultivated ground. One issue I have always struggled with is getting a consistent seed rate with small seeds like swedes/maincrop turnips drilling at 0.5-0.75 kg/ac. Part of that is down to the calibration being so sensitive at the bottom end of the range, and part possibly down to the vibration of the tines causing erratic metering?

I have heard suggestions of bulking out the seed with something inert to allow a higher seed rate, but what have people used successfully? I'm not keen to put slug pellets in the slot to attract the little beggars to the seedlings, especially when pellets are often not even needed. Is rice an option, assuming you can get it in 25kg bags at reasonable cost from somewhere? Or what else?

 

[JD-Kid]

rice works ok if cheep
if spraying for grass weeds just drill with any grain as spray will take it out
most cases just the gearbox out of it's sweet spot only other fix is slow down input. drive so gearbox has a wider range to work in

 

[Bury the Trash]

Grass seed is perfect for the job, just needs to be clean dry cheap and dead.

 

[neilo]

rice works ok if cheep
if spraying for grass weeds just drill with any grain as spray will take it out
most cases just the gearbox out of it's sweet spot only other fix is slow down input. drive so gearbox has a wider range to work in

I found a supplier online that sells bags of rice at £1.20/kg, which is cheap enough if it works.

I suppose it wouldn’t cost that much to have a smaller cog made up somewhere, if I can’t get one from a bearing supplier. A simple way of slowing the drive down, just for use with those very low seed rates perhaps?

 

[Sharpy]

I have sown specialist wild flower mixes which were I was told circa £400 an acre at minute rates. We bulked it out with dried sand and mixed it in a cement mixer.

 

[hally]

Normally it’s that bloody wet around here I wouldn’t dare sow rice in case it took over.........but not this year

 

[Yale]

I‘ve just had a 15kg bag of slug pellets and a 25 kg bag of sulphur pellets/ball/hard granules.Off the top of my head the sulphur was only around £1/kg.

These two bags will be mixed with 7kg of swede seed to drill around 9 acre in the next couple of weeks.

The plan is to use the sulphur as an experiment as they should not be slug friendly however be good for the crop.

Never really thought about the slug pellets actually causing an issue attracting them into the slot.

 

[bobk]

Mix it with potash , can only do good

 

[Michael S]

I‘ve just had a 15kg bag of slug pellets and a 25 kg bag of sulphur pellets/ball/hard granules.Off the top of my head the sulphur was only around £1/kg.

These two bags will be mixed with 7kg of swede seed to drill around 9 acre in the next couple of weeks.

The plan is to use the sulphur as an experiment as they should not be slug friendly however be good for the crop.

Never really thought about the slug pellets actually causing an issue attracting them into the slot.

I have always been reluctant to put slug pellets in the slot just because I think that the slugs shouldn't be able to reach them, however I have also heard some Simtech users swear by putting 3-5kg/ha down the spout in arable situations.

 

[neilo]

I have always been reluctant to put slug pellets in the slot just because I think that the slugs shouldn't be able to reach them, however I have also heard some Simtech users swear by putting 3-5kg/ha down the spout in arable situations.

I wouldn’t consider it in ‘arable situations’, but maybe DD’ing into old turf when the slot has two flaps of turf on either side to keep slugs in their feeding channel?

 

[neilo]

I‘ve just had a 15kg bag of slug pellets and a 25 kg bag of sulphur pellets/ball/hard granules.Off the top of my head the sulphur was only around £1/kg.

These two bags will be mixed with 7kg of swede seed to drill around 9 acre in the next couple of weeks.

The plan is to use the sulphur as an experiment as they should not be slug friendly however be good for the crop.

Never really thought about the slug pellets actually causing an issue attracting them into the slot.

Mix it with potash , can only do good

Interesting ideas. Would Potash or Sulphur ‘down the spout’ acidify the soil around the germinating seed though? If not, it would certainly be easy (& cheap) to mix the seed with some fert.

 

[neilo]

I have sown specialist wild flower mixes which were I was told circa £400 an acre at minute rates. We bulked it out with dried sand and mixed it in a cement mixer.

That sounds easy.....and cheap as chips.

I like cheap.

 

[Sharpy]

That sounds easy.....and cheap as chips.

I like cheap.

And no side effects on seed or soil flora or fauna.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Have just used sawdust in the past Neil, but I don't think the Aitchison foam pads would like it much. Hard to beat on price.

Millet, lentils, rice are all easy to get, sulphur prills/lentils are often cheaper but not always as easy to just go and buy when you need to get a job done.

 

[cedric56]

Have used chick crumbs in the past

 

[scholland]

Drilled my beet mixed with fert this time @neilo through the Moore. It seems to have worked OK so far.

 

[JD-Kid]

know a lot of older drills small seeds mixed with lime and sowed in fert box

 

[spin cycle]

And no side effects on seed or soil flora or fauna.

hippy

 

[Sharpy]

hippy

Don't have the hair or the dress sense.......

 

[Bury the Trash]

Chick crumbs ? Blimey I bet the Birds would love that....




Let some westerwolds or some sort of grass go to seed on a couple of acres then combine it , pre harvest with gly. Cut it at highish moisture then put it through the drier a couple of times , supply for the job Would last for years , and germination would decrease also as time went on .....
That's sort of what I did last time I put lucerne through the fiona...

Wonder if I could get paid for all this sh.i.t I write , .......