How to correct twin disc pattern cock-up?

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
View attachment 766860
Been looking through this old thread. We have satellite images now for our farm in June 2018. Obviously something has gone wrong. I'm so disheartened with solid fertiliser. After we had SCS in 2016 I sort of put the issue to bed a bit. This image shows I was wrong to do so. I never really did explain all the rubbish tray tests I got compared to SCS getting a decent result. I think I'm going to get them in again and put my trays next to theirs and compare the two side by side. Wish I hadn't bought so much Nitram (only upside was we bought it at £204/t) and ordered liquid instead.
What are the lighter areas?
Looks a lot like my osr did the first year I got my 28 m slug pelleter.
The pellets didn't reach so had stripes on between tramlines that were thin.
Showed up dramatically.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
What did you tell me? You went back to mainly solid last year or the one before didn't you? Funnily enough our new (old) Omex tank has come from my uncle who is giving up liquid!
No we melt urea down into liquid sometimes depending on price. We did try and spin abit to 36 about 3 or 4 years ago but wasn’t very good.
 

jh.

Member
Location
fife
+1 for ringing SCS my Kuhn pattern looked a million times better than that.
I think machines should be supplied with trays so an operator can test himself . It's fine having the guy out but batches could change. Kuhn have a guide to follow in the manual how to do tray tests but don't know if other brands of spreader manuals show this?
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I've got a vicon coming this spring so tray tests are something I'd like to learn to do properly .
 
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jonnyjon

Member
All you need is a spreader with inward spinning discs, no trays needed in my experience, quad overlap, basically fool proof. I foolishly bought an Amazone, used to have a lely, worst machinery mistake ever
 
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Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
What machines spin inwards? Bogabelle? Very high disc speeds and short vanes on those.

@Feldspar - just get a professional tray tester out every year. For what you spend on fertiliser and your valuable management time analysing the process, you'd have comeback on someone if stripey plus you'd have peace of mind.

Here's what the wrong setting does at 30m. I tray tested and the operator then set the vanes to 24/48 instead of 18/48 as tested. OS24/48 Amazone discs... :banghead: I corrected it with liquid fertiliser by changing the nozzle sizes across the boom. The f***ing image is still saved for posterity on Google Earth! Luckily I've had 2 more images since then. The bare soil strips are newly established covers next to beetle banks.

upload_2019-2-14_17-48-50.png
 
Who thinks this is an acceptable tray test? Good enough or not? Readings taken at 0m (I), 3m (II), 6m (III), 9m (IV) and 12m (V)(didn't have five collecting things). Readings on the (non-linear) scale were I - 8.5, II - 8.5, III - 8.5, IV - 9 and V - 9.5.

This is better than I have got before, but it's still not perfect. 11% difference between high and low.

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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Why do you use solids when you have capability for liquid ? 11% out on the most important input wouldn't be acceptable to me ......... and that's before wind etc
 
Why do you use solids when you have capability for liquid ? 11% out on the most important input wouldn't be acceptable to me ......... and that's before wind etc

Because we are slowly ramping up liquid use each year. This year we are majority liquids, but doing solid on OSR for logistics reasons and Nitram on wheat as a last dressing due to sprayer pressure and scorch worries.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Because we are slowly ramping up liquid use each year. This year we are majority liquids, but doing solid on OSR for logistics reasons and Nitram on wheat as a last dressing due to sprayer pressure and scorch worries.

I would rather risk a bit of scotch than 11% variation

In reality scotch isn't really a problem if you understand the situations and limitations of equipment where it can happen
 

charlie81

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
South Wiltshire
Who thinks this is an acceptable tray test? Good enough or not? Readings taken at 0m (I), 3m (II), 6m (III), 9m (IV) and 12m (V)(didn't have five collecting things). Readings on the (non-linear) scale were I - 8.5, II - 8.5, III - 8.5, IV - 9 and V - 9.5.

This is better than I have got before, but it's still not perfect. 11% difference between high and low.

View attachment 767044
Looks perfectly acceptable to me, I doubt any further adjustment on the vanes would improve that.

Personally I'm very happy with my Amazone spreader with its trays and self calibration system, very straightforward and would rather be able to test if myself whenever and as frequently I want than pay someone else once a year.
 
Looks perfectly acceptable to me, I doubt any further adjustment on the vanes would improve that.

Personally I'm very happy with my Amazone spreader with its trays and self calibration system, very straightforward and would rather be able to test if myself whenever and as frequently I want than pay someone else once a year.

I find the vane change suggestions from the Amatron only seem to make things worse! Remember the fifth reading was the worst (not shown in the picture).
 

Fuzzy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
Who thinks this is an acceptable tray test? Good enough or not? Readings taken at 0m (I), 3m (II), 6m (III), 9m (IV) and 12m (V)(didn't have five collecting things). Readings on the (non-linear) scale were I - 8.5, II - 8.5, III - 8.5, IV - 9 and V - 9.5.

This is better than I have got before, but it's still not perfect. 11% difference between high and low.

View attachment 767044
I used to get results like those and found it difficult to correct, it was always over throwing the product, but by reducing pto rpm from 540 to 510/520 it is spot on! Amazone ZAM. @24m
 
I used to get results like those and found it difficult to correct, it was always over throwing the product, but by reducing pto rpm from 540 to 510/520 it is spot on! Amazone ZAM. @24m

Interesting. We run ours at 720rpm on the hydro machine. Could always wind it down. SCS are coming on Monday so need to resist the urge to do some spreading before then.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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