Some advice please.

[moldengineer]

We have recently invested in a Krause no till drill. It has the wavy disc followed by a double disc opener. It's the pro till version so has a wheel in front of and behind the double disc opener.

We are wanting to drill spring beans into cover crops. The 2 situations we have are min tilled land drilled with either black oats and vetch or wheat stubble direct drilled (Amazone Cayena) with mustard. We had a drive around the fields with a spade and penetrometer (simple Vaderstad one with no dial) and found no real evidence of compaction other than headlands on the direct drilled fields and no compaction on the tilled soil. Was planning to spray off cover crops at least 2 weeks before drilling. Significant quantity of black grass on one field.

Going forward we will be drilling spring wheat into cover crops next year.

Was after some advice on do's and don't with this type of drill setup.

I believe the front disc is to cut through the trash and not to run at significant depth, is this correct?
Is anyone using guttler closing wheels on this type of drill?

 

[Simon Chiles]

We have recently invested in a Krause no till drill. It has the wavy disc followed by a double disc opener. It's the pro till version so has a wheel in front of and behind the double disc opener.

We are wanting to drill spring beans into cover crops. The 2 situations we have are min tilled land drilled with either black oats and vetch or wheat stubble direct drilled (Amazone Cayena) with mustard. We had a drive around the fields with a spade and penetrometer (simple Vaderstad one with no dial) and found no real evidence of compaction other than headlands on the direct drilled fields and no compaction on the tilled soil. Was planning to spray off cover crops at least 2 weeks before drilling. Significant quantity of black grass on one field.

Going forward we will be drilling spring wheat into cover crops next year.

Was after some advice on do's and don't with this type of drill setup.

I believe the front disc is to cut through the trash and not to run at significant depth, is this correct?
Is anyone using guttler closing wheels on this type of drill?

@SilliamWhale ?

 

[phil]

Could you post some pictures of the opener @moldengineer

 

[moldengineer]

 

[moldengineer]

Soil type is ranges from light to heavy, but no clay. Sandy clay loam is the description.

 

[Dan Powell]

Sounds a bit like a Kuhn SD, which we run, but @Jim Bullock would be the expert here having run one for years.

My experience is that you want to run the front wavy disc at about the same depth as you want to seed - the double disc coulters don't have brilliant penetration by themselves. A bit of speed (12 - 15 km/h) helps the wavy discs create a good bit of tilth and then the double discs do a better job.

You can drill through any amount of cover, and on sandy clay loam (which we have too) slot closure isn't too bad. Apparently it's no good at closing slots in wet clay but I would have no experience there.

 

[britt]

You will need to run the wavy disc deeper than the openers to allow for harder patches of ground.
You will get better seed coverage and slot closure if you set the front disc slightly off line from the openers so that the seed is put to the edge of the disturbed ground rather than dead centre (that was on our ground, your soil may give a different result).
Be carefull setting the depth of the front discs on tilled ground. If you put them too deep soil will be forced through the grease nipple and stuff the bearings.
Keep a supply of spare bearings and seals for the front discs, check them each morning before starting a days drilling.
If you loose a front disc while drilling carry on, you will bearly be able to see which row it was when the crop comes up.
The original round Krause scrapers are by far the best in marginal coditions.

 

[moldengineer]

@britt Do you run the drill on its rear wheels or set them so they lift clear of the ground? Therefore the drill runs on the coulters.

@ Dan Powell Funny you should mention Kuhn, they own Krause which may explain the similarity in their machine concept.

 

[britt]

I only put weight on the transport wheels when drilling in very soft ground. The more weight you can get on the press wheels the better, usually.
You could not lift them clear on my drill, they went into a float position (running a Big dics now). There were times the extra weight would have been usefull though.

 

[moldengineer]

Did you ever try or look at guttler press wheels?

 

[britt]

I didn't consider them, but given the design of the coulter arm I would think it would twist the whole thing to the side and would dig in too deep given the weight put on them.
When they are used on the JD drills they only follow the depth wheel with limited pressure.
It might be worth a try, but my guess would be that they are not suited.

 

[moldengineer]

 

[H.Jackson]

I only put weight on the transport wheels when drilling in very soft ground. The more weight you can get on the press wheels the better, usually.
You could not lift them clear on my drill, they went into a float position (running a Big dics now). There were times the extra weight would have been usefull though.

Do you get a percentage of seed flicked on the surface with the big disc? Or do I have it set wrong? What do you find are the improvements over the krause and lastly why not a 750A?

 

[moldengineer]

Found the previous picture on the wox website. The only reason for looking is to improve slot closure, an issue that can be the difference between success and failure of a crop from what I have read. I guess unitil we have used the drill it is an unknown, I may try and get one to try.

 

[britt]

Iv'e not had a problem with seed on the surface and can't think what would cause it.
Have you tried running the fan slower ?
In very dry soil the Krause was difficult to get deep enough. The bigdisc can get a lot more pressure as there is only one disc to push in. The wavy disc on the Krause carries a lot of weight. I had wondered about swapping them for plain ones. They went in much more easily when worn.
I like the big seed hopper and wheels on the Bigdisc as I am a one man band and have to do a lot of running about to outlying fields.
As far as anything JD is concered, our local dealer would not give me £30 odd quid credit on a hydraulic hose even though they said I had an account ??? So I have not been back since.
Can't fault our local Case dealer, so they get the bussiness !

 

[britt]

Found the previous picture on the wox website. The only reason for looking is to improve slot closure, an issue that can be the difference between success and failure of a crop from what I have read. I guess unitil we have used the drill it is an unknown, I may try and get one to try.

Wrong again (me that is).

 

[Jim Bullock]

Sounds a bit like a Kuhn SD, which we run, but @Jim Bullock would be the expert here having run one for years.

My experience is that you want to run the front wavy disc at about the same depth as you want to seed - the double disc coulters don't have brilliant penetration by themselves. A bit of speed (12 - 15 km/h) helps the wavy discs create a good bit of tilth and then the double discs do a better job.

You can drill through any amount of cover, and on sandy clay loam (which we have too) slot closure isn't too bad. Apparently it's no good at closing slots in wet clay but I would have no experience there.

The Kuhn and the Krause are very similar. But the Krause will not work when soil conditions get wetter..the scrapers do not work so well. We have used both. Do not compare a Krause (of any build) with a Weaving Big Disc. The Big Disc uses concepts from the Krause drill but from what I know is a much more "UK type" drill.
We visited Krause in the US on several occasions back in 1999/2000 and the reason why Kuhn bought into the company had nothing to do with drills it was a means of getting into the US cultivation market...
But have a look at Great Plains and Kuhn (drill designs) during the same period and had Great Plains been up for sale perhaps we might now see Kuhn-Great Plains. Talking to Kuhn drill specialists when we bought our SD 4000 it was a well known fact that Kuhn and Great Plains designers worked together. But my contacts from those days have all moved on from both Kuhn and Great Plains...
I am very sure that any problems you have with a Krause drill Weavings will be able to sort out for you. The company was very dedicated to the product and certainly knew more about operating the drills in European conditions than the manufacturers.

 

[moldengineer]

We have bought it from weaving machinery so will be in good hands. It is really for us to dip our toe into some direct drilling. The main idea is to deal with our cover crops, we have been cover cropping for several years for potatoes but didn't want to plough for spring drilling.

 

[H.Jackson]

Iv'e not had a problem with seed on the surface and can't think what would cause it.
Have you tried running the fan slower ?
In very dry soil the Krause was difficult to get deep enough. The bigdisc can get a lot more pressure as there is only one disc to push in. The wavy disc on the Krause carries a lot of weight. I had wondered about swapping them for plain ones. They went in much more easily when worn.
I like the big seed hopper and wheels on the Bigdisc as I am a one man band and have to do a lot of running about to outlying fields.
As far as anything JD is concered, our local dealer would not give me £30 odd quid credit on a hydraulic hose even though they said I had an account ??? So I have not been back since.
Can't fault our local Case dealer, so they get the bussiness !

Thanks for the reply.
Have played with fan speed may be being over picky emergence exelent and even as for disc pressure outside disc strayed onto a chalk track and have a row of wheat growing there.

 

[britt]

Should have put above that the double press wheel on the BD closes the slot better as the wheels are angled and each side of the slot rather than above.
Weavings have given excellent support with both drills, for advice and spares.