Vaderstad Rapid for direct drilling?

Duosig

New Member
Location
Norway
Hi. I live in Norway and i am very intested in starting direct drilling. there are not alot of farmers direct drilling here, so theres practicaly no used drills for sale. but there are alot of vaderstad rapids. ive read about some people using theese as direct drills, but also alot of people saying its not working well.

does anyone have any real experience with the rapid and direct drilling in different conditions? is there any modifications that could make it better? something to help problems with hairpinning and closing the seedbed maybe?
 

Persa

Member
Location
Saleby, Sweden
Hi. I live in Norway and i am very intested in starting direct drilling. there are not alot of farmers direct drilling here, so theres practicaly no used drills for sale. but there are alot of vaderstad rapids. ive read about some people using theese as direct drills, but also alot of people saying its not working well.

does anyone have any real experience with the rapid and direct drilling in different conditions? is there any modifications that could make it better? something to help problems with hairpinning and closing the seedbed maybe?
Rapid does not close the slot when wet. If using it for DD you need to use the front tools to get loose soil that can cover the slot.
There is a long term DD test from Finland with Rapid compared to some other brands. Search for it for more information. I have not seen it myself, only heard about it.
 

marrebarre

New Member
Location
Sweden
Yep slot closure is a problem, a friend of mine used our carrier to close the slots wich worked well, but then it's not direct drilling more of min-till. But if you have light soils it maybe can work with direct drilling?
 

Persa

Member
Location
Saleby, Sweden
What's the difference between a rapid and a spirit?
Almost everything.
Spirit has the coulters after the wheels and has less downforce. Double disc coulters and individual gauge wheel for each coulter.
Rapid has the coulters before the wheels and each wheel controls the seeding depth for two coulters (at least in theory...) Single disc coulter.
 

newboy

New Member
Location
Midlands
Slot closing is a problem with a lot of the direct drills.
Weeds grow in this country without disturbance so its key to control the weed seed before drilling hence direct drilling is already dying off. It will be dead if the slug pellets do get banned.
Even Claydon is now promoting pre cultivations and even rotational ploughing. Stick to the Vaderstad min till drill it's versatile and direct drill in the right condition but is able to adapt when difficult.
 

juke

Member
Location
DURHAM
Don't think claydon are advocating ploughing at all. agrovista did some trials that suggested ploughing in rotation was a good idea, it didn't take much to put holes in what they were saying in their video about it..
 

suffeks

Member
yes i was thinking about the rapid for DD, because i wanted a drill with isobus and fertilizer placement

so i was curious if you used a rapid without the front toolbar, it would basically be a 750A + fertilizer placement?
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I occasionally use my rapid as a direct drill. Usually after maize on some very sticky silt ground where culivation can easily make planting impossible. I have 20 ac this year which does look good. If I was going full time dd a vaddy is not the right machine. The slots don't close well enough if the soil is wet. I think it really needs more pressure on the coulters. Maize trash can build up very quickly the stalks will hook up on the links around the coulter. 3 rows of seed coulters and no level bar may improve this. I always drill slowly when dd not more than 12kph and probably less. I also increase the seed by 5% to counteract the slot closing.

Bg
 

Tompkins

Member
Location
NE Somerset
I've used our rapid to DD stubble turnips, it usually works well if rolled down tight. Was going to try some OSR but never have got around to it. Perhaps a pass with stubble rake and/or paddle rolls would fill the slot enough?
 

tealdog038

Member
Location
New Zealand
have a rd300c with system disc on the front which is our main direct drill, it replaced a duncan enviro (triple disc setup). we have successfully drilled turnips, kale, grass, clover, lucerne, oats, maize and even fertilizer into pasture. soil types here are sand peat and silt and a mixture of these together. penetration on harder soils is a problem but not so much with the extra weight of the system disc. slot closure is always going to be hit an miss unless the drill has closing wheels but it has never been much of an issue for us. seed depth does vary slightly on differing soil moisture content as there are no gauge wheels but the rapid linkage to the rear tyre packer do work well. it does a good job for what it is and every drill has good points and bad points but for us the extra options you have on a rapid like light cultivation, the ability to drill in no till and ploughed ground with little adjustment and to sow fert, seed and small seeds/granules in 1 pass with 125mmm spacings just suited our operation best.
 
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