Claydon - Spring Drilling setup

[Fuzzy]

I am looking for recommendations for spring drilling Wheat and Spring barley.
Should i be using 3" spoons or 5" shares ?

 

[JD6920s]

I am looking for recommendations for spring drilling Wheat and Spring barley.
Should i be using 3" spoons or 5" shares ?

I’ll be going with 7” shares when the conditions are right.

 

[Rob Holmes]

What about worn 7 inch shares? 2 rows of green tines on rear

 

[Brisel]

7" A shares and splitter seed boot or twin tine kit. You need the row spacing as narrow as possible to make up for the fact that spring crops have less time to tiller out and fill in the space.

 

[Andrew K]

As Brisel says, I would only use 5" shares if there is a problem with smearing, they will give a band almost as wide as the seven inch share usually.

 

[Brisel]

As Brisel says, I would only use 5" shares if there is a problem with smearing, they will give a band almost as wide as the seven inch share usually.

Do the 5" shares make the band much narrower? Mine is about 4-5" with 7" shares and the splitter boot. Is there an option to make the splitter boots spread wider? I can't find a Bourgault boot wider than that. Has anyone tried the 1006 boots?

Seed Boots | Bourgault Tillage Tools

Seed boots match seed spread to opener width. Seven interchangeable attachments, each giving a different seed spread pattern.

tillagetools.ca

 

[Fuzzy]

7" A shares and splitter seed boot or twin tine kit. You need the row spacing as narrow as possible to make up for the fact that spring crops have less time to tiller out and fill in the space.

Thanks for reminding me about the tillering aspect. As it happens i still have the drill set up with 7" shares and i plan to up the seed rate 25-30% over my normal spring rates. I was also considering fitting some old style zig zag harrows !!

 

[Andrew K]

Do the 5" shares make the band much narrower? Mine is about 4-5" with 7" shares and the splitter boot. Is there an option to make the splitter boots spread wider? I can't find a Bourgault boot wider than that. Has anyone tried the 1006 boots?

Seed Boots | Bourgault Tillage Tools

Seed boots match seed spread to opener width. Seven interchangeable attachments, each giving a different seed spread pattern.

tillagetools.ca

Have never felt 5" shares reduced band width much but are helpful in wet going I feel.
Might be worth trying a couple of 1006,s adjacent to each other but it looks marginal. Most important factors are probably working depth and fan speed IMO?

 

[Brisel]

I run the fan pretty fast anyway. I'll try blocking up a few air bleeds to see if that helps blow the seed further.

 

[Simon Chiles]

I run the fan pretty fast anyway. I'll try blocking up a few air bleeds to see if that helps blow the seed further.

I’d be a bit cautious about that approach, I’d either block them all or none. With an air drill you need to have a consistent airflow down all the tubes otherwise the one’s with the highest resistance will get air stall and consequently block.

 

[Brisel]

I’d be a bit cautious about that approach, I’d either block them all or none. With an air drill you need to have a consistent airflow down all the tubes otherwise the one’s with the highest resistance will get air stall and consequently block.

Good point - unevenly restricted air flow would also reduce the seed rate down that spout from an Accord type distributor. It was just a trial really. There has been some talk about using 9" A shares for better seed widths but without better outlets in the boots I don't see how that would improve things.

 

[principal skinner]

I drilled wheat last week with the five inch share and splitter boot, went very well. Drilled some in the autumn and swapped from seven inch to five inch in the same field and you can hardly see the difference in row width. Will use fives more in the future I think on my chalk land farm as sometimes I think the seven inch disturbs too much soil.

In the spring I like to use well worn leading tines as well, may try a set if discs in place of the tine this year.

 

[JD6920s]

Good point - unevenly restricted air flow would also reduce the seed rate down that spout from an Accord type distributor. It was just a trial really. There has been some talk about using 9" A shares for better seed widths but without better outlets in the boots I don't see how that would improve things.

We use 9” and prefer them, obviously in the right conditions. Here are two pictures of Graham wheat sown on the same day at the same seedrate with just the shares changed from new 7” to new 9”, pics taken in Nov 18, wish we had wheat like it this year

 

[Brisel]

We use 9” and prefer them, obviously in the right conditions. Here are two pictures of Graham wheat sown on the same day at the same seedrate with just the shares changed from new 7” to new 9”, pics taken in Nov 18, wish we had wheat like it this year ☹

That's a very visible difference. Did you do anything else other than change the width of the shares?

 

[JD6920s]

That's a very visible difference. Did you do anything else other than change the width of the shares?

No nothing, literally changed them at the run next to the tree as we ordered them to see what they’d be like, they arrived by courier and dad brought them up the field where I swapped them and continued drilling.

 

[charlie@horizon]

@JD6920s looking good, were you able to measure yield? Any difference?

 

[Brisel]

@JD6920s looking good, were you able to measure yield? Any difference?

In a good tillering year, I doubt you'd see much on the yield meter. In a poor tillering year or late sown....