How do I calibrate a seed drill ?

[F1 657283]

Can someone please tell me the maths to calibrating a seed drill ? The basics , I know it changes from drill to drill but if someone can give me it in the simplest that would be great! Thanks !

 

[stuart]

The maths? Meter 1/10 of acre into a bucket 75kg acre you want 7.5kg in the bucket

 

[Clive]

if land wheel driven work out distance traveled per 1 revolution of the wheel in meters

multuply by width of drill to get area coveted per revolution

divide 10,000 by the area covered per rev and thats how many revs per Ha

turn wheel that many times and collect seed and weigh it - thats your kgs /ha rate


that will probably be a lot of revs and weight so turn wheel 1/10th of the revs / ha then multiply the weight of seed you collect by x 10


if you have a control box ... .. get the instructions and follow them, all brands have different procedures

 

[Drillman]

Or if your bone idol like I am do it for 1-20th of a hectare then multiply by 20

 

[Phil P]

Or if your bone idol like I am do it for 1-20th of a hectare then multiply by 20

Or if your really lazy, put bucket under metering unit, press calibration button then weigh what you have in the bucket. Put weight into screen and away you go. Just tell it how much you want to put on.

 

[F1 657283]

We don’t usually do any drilling but we have a greenseeder for cover crops so it’s fairly simple , on modern drills can you just input your desired amount per ha ?

 

[forblue]

Is it the same with a fiddle...

 

[yellowbelly]

...............and don't forget to factor in, "One for the slug and one for the crow, one to wither and one to grow."

 

[nick...]

Tell us what model drill you got and you may get an easier outcome.my amazone ad303 I turn wheel I think 20 times for 1/40 ha.
nick...

 

[yellowbelly]

Tell us what model drill you got and you may get an easier outcome.my amazone ad303 I turn wheel I think 20 times for 1/40 ha.

..........or, if you've an Accord, and you still work in 'old money', 1/10 acre = 41 on the clock

 

[bravheart]

You guys are talking like it's a walk in the park, the amount of cockups I've had over the years it ain't easy.
The easy bit is catch some seed in a bucket and weigh it, the hard bit is getting the grey matter to work out what the bucket full actually means.

 

[mf7480]

..........or, if you've an Accord, and you still work in 'old money', 1/10 acre = 41 on the clock

I always made it 40.5

 

[Hilly]

I had a full day calibrations on Fiona for grass seed lol

 

[Matt77]

I used to find with the accord, you could calibrate it all you want but it wasn't ever right in the field, gave you a starting point I guess, I ended up with year's worth of settings in my drill book, pick a starting point out of there, do a bag out in the field and adjust accordingly. My Mzuri now though is spot on, weigh the bit it chucks out, input into the box, job done!

 

[Kildare]

I find that the chart on the box of the accord is very acurate

 

[yellowbelly]

I always made it 40.5

Our vintage clock doesn't do decimal places

The nearest 0.5 will be near enough for agricultural purposes anyhow, you only want a field with a lot of garings in it to mean you won't have enough seed anyway

 

[KB6930]

I used to find with the accord, you could calibrate it all you want but it wasn't ever right in the field, gave you a starting point I guess, I ended up with year's worth of settings in my drill book, pick a starting point out of there, do a bag out in the field and adjust accordingly. My Mzuri now though is spot on, weigh the bit it chucks out, input into the box, job done!

Only ever once calibrated an accord it was a mile off . Just used to go off the chart on the back if it was shiny runny seed 5mm less and dry sticky dressings 5mm more fire a bag through and go from there

 

[thesilentone]

Small tip to make everyone rich If you have a new'ish drill, once you have calibrated cut the seed rate by min 10, up to 20%.

You will get better plant establishment, less disease, stronger plants and a higher yield.

Does anyone measure '000 grain weight ?

 

[thesilentone]

I used to find with the accord, you could calibrate it all you want but it wasn't ever right in the field, gave you a starting point I guess, I ended up with year's worth of settings in my drill book, pick a starting point out of there, do a bag out in the field and adjust accordingly. My Mzuri now though is spot on, weigh the bit it chucks out, input into the box, job done!

There is a bit of science in the whole issue. A full hopper v nearly empty changes the loading on the seed roller/mechanism, and hopper angles. Then of course terrain, going up hill and down dale affects seed rates by the difference of the shifted center of gravity. I find using a small denomination when calibrating the least accurate.

 

[nick...]

Small tip to make everyone rich If you have a new'ish drill, once you have calibrated cut the seed rate by min 10, up to 20%.

You will get better plant establishment, less disease, stronger plants and a higher yield.

Does anyone measure '000 grain weight ?

Tgw is normally printed on the bags
nick...