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

[neilo]

@neilo could've given reasons before possibly ? .....but anyhow it could just be down to cost, ...the reason (s)why he doesnt or rather didn't get an air drill version

What’s not to love about a simple box drill, that can cope with a few awns in the seed if needs be? The pneumatic version of the Simtech adds complication, weight, and about £4K at the time iirc. The only issue with it is when trying to drill small seeds at less than 1kg/ac.

 

[KennyO]

@neilo could've given reasons before possibly ? .....but anyhow it could just be down to cost,maybe because the option isa fair bit dearer...the reason (s)why he doesn't or rather didn't get an air drill version

Didn't mean get a different drill. I was just suggesting getting a small airseeder and fitting it to his drill in addition to the standard box. The type that are on grass harrows and osr drills.


Something like this.

Probably not enough outlets so I will shut up now.

 

[ploughman1963]

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?

We tend to use prilled lime as it can only be if benefit?

 

[ploughman1963]

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?

The other issue that is helped by bulking is the small amount of seed means that if you have long runs on sidling ground, the seed wells on the higher side of the drill can empty as the seed runs to the lowest point.

 

[ploughman1963]

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?

I'm afraid we differ in opinions here Neil - the slugs are in the slots hiding anyway - much more chance of hitting them where they are rather than trying to entice them out of the slot - if they have seedlings to munch on are they going to be tempted out?

 

[steveR]

Those ‘specialist’ shops only offer French polishing I understand. ?

Bet he has to go the big town for that.... Newtown anyone??

 

[steveR]

If it is a regular problem is it worth fitting a small air seed box. Bet there are a few lying about on arable farms now that don't (can't) grow osr anymore.

Although to be honest, it's not really an issue, just makes calibrating the drill accurately, just a little bit easier at very low seed rates of tiny seed.

 

[steveR]

The other issue that is helped by bulking is the small amount of seed means that if you have long runs on sidling ground, the seed wells on the higher side of the drill can empty as the seed runs to the lowest point.

Not a problem on the flatter bits of the County..... ?

 

[steveR]

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?

Got a small job to put 5ac of Stubble Turnips in a knackered 1 year ley tomorrow, lightish land, is it worth putting a few pellets in as well?

 

[ploughman1963]

Got a small job to put 5ac of Stubble Turnips in a knackered 1 year ley tomorrow, lightish land, is it worth putting a few pellets in as well?

Ive been round our turnips today checking and they are about - ours are flying out of the ground so fast the slugs wont keep up so I wont bother with any more - we did mix some in with the seed and lime prills

 

[steveR]

Ive been round our turnips today checking and they are about - ours are flying out of the ground so fast the slugs wont keep up so I wont bother with any more - we did mix some in with the seed and lime prills

OOI, how much lime did you put in the seed mix?

 

[neilo]

Ive been round our turnips today checking and they are about - ours are flying out of the ground so fast the slugs wont keep up so I wont bother with any more - we did mix some in with the seed and lime prills

Yesterday I put some more pellets on the ryegrass/Crimson Clover I DD’ed into old grass. They’ve cleared the 2kg/ac I put on after drilling and there are still huge numbers of the little grey buggers about. Crop still at a vulnerable stage, but turnips that went in at the same time will outgrow them now I think.

 

[ploughman1963]

OOI, how much lime did you put in the seed mix?

I think my son put the prills on at about 150kg/ha? We spread the rest of it on with the spinner after. Mainly about reducing the pH in the immediate area of the seed to avoid any problems with germination. It was a very old sward that we will put into wheat after the turnips are grazed off.

 

[steveR]

I think my son put the prills on at about 150kg/ha? We spread the rest of it on with the spinner after. Mainly about reducing the pH in the immediate area of the seed to avoid any problems with germination. It was a very old sward that we will put into wheat after the turnips are grazed off.

Cheers.

Yesterday I put some more pellets on the ryegrass/Crimson Clover I DD’ed into old grass. They’ve cleared the 2kg/ac I put on after drilling and there are still huge numbers of the little grey buggers about. Crop still at a vulnerable stage, but turnips that went in at the same time will outgrow them now I think.

Think I will suggest that I put 2-3kg/ha of pellets in as well.... if he has any in stock!

 

[Philip Hedeng]

I was involved in a conversation today about seeding grass and clover for seed production, so much smaller amounts of seed per hectare. A tip from a clover grower was to mix seed with grain seed in a small amount which is what has been suggested here. But a positive side effect that was mentioned by him was that this method also seemed to make it possible to drill deeper as the grain seedlings pave the way for the smaller clover seedlings. This sounded very encouraging as we have some problems with placing OSR seeds too deep with our Simtech. The grain plants would then be terminated anyway shortly after they've done their job.

 

[Kevtherev]

If sowing clover with the Duncan I always put in a few kg of grass as a delivery media.