Weaving GD user thread

[Julian Swift]

Thought it would be useful to gain some knowledge from other weaving GD users out there to share experiences / problems / solutions.

I'll start.....anyone else had problems with blocked coulters? I've had a lot. It's been on the wetter side of ideal, but still good drilling conditions. It's got drier, and I've still had issues of rape stalks blocking the coulter tubes. Anyone else found this? When it's wetter than ideal the solution would be a redesign and put the coulter tube in front of the bearing, rather than behind it, but that won't happen in a hurry. Just wondered if there was anything else to try, or just not be so impatient?!

Thought it would be useful to gain some knowledge from other weaving GD users out there to share experiences / problems / solutions.

I'll start.....anyone else had problems with blocked coulters? I've had a lot. It's been on the wetter side of ideal, but still good drilling conditions. It's got drier, and I've still had issues of rape stalks blocking the coulter tubes. Anyone else found this? When it's wetter than ideal the solution would be a redesign and put the coulter tube in front of the bearing, rather than behind it, but that won't happen in a hurry. Just wondered if there was anything else to try, or just not be so impatient?!

Thanks for your replies. How wet a soil condition will it handle.? With hoe coulter we can drill as long as the soil is not building up on the press wheel . This has been especially so this wet spring and having to lower the press wheel tyre pressure to get flexing.
The weaving looks to handle straw well in the videos without to much hair pinning, but their was one post of difficulty in pea hulm so how was that overcome?

We run an 8m and this is the second season and we are getting more used to the drill now. Results are good with the close rows seeming to bring a yield benefit. We have had issues but we’ve worked through them. Year 1 we had the wrong discs on and after Weaving changed them back to the original version foc the drill is working well now. It also has benefited from RTK implement steering as its heavy and hard to keep straight on slopes, RTK has fixed this well. Like all disc drills if you use it in the wrong conditions you will not get a good result in that you have to have a friable surface, right moisture conditions and not too much surface straw. If you drill saturated clay you get the obvious result as you would with any drill !

On balance we are very pleased with the drill and it’s impressive how much cover crop it will drill into. We used it into 4ft high Mustard linseed mix at 13kph with no issues at all.

 

[kiwi]

We run an 8m and this is the second season and we are getting more used to the drill now. Results are good with the close rows seeming to bring a yield benefit. We have had issues but we’ve worked through them. Year 1 we had the wrong discs on and after Weaving changed them back to the original version foc the drill is working well now. It also has benefited from RTK implement steering as its heavy and hard to keep straight on slopes, RTK has fixed this well. Like all disc drills if you use it in the wrong conditions you will not get a good result in that you have to have a friable surface, right moisture conditions and not too much surface straw. If you drill saturated clay you get the obvious result as you would with any drill !

On balance we are very pleased with the drill and it’s impressive how much cover crop it will drill into. We used it into 4ft high Mustard linseed mix at 13kph with no issues at all.

Thanks Julian. What are the issues with high straw loads? Does the straw have to be dry to handle it? With our seedhawk Tyne we find we need to wait for the dew to come off before we can handle the 10 to 14 tonne to hectare wheat crop straw . We are running into issues this spring with the straw holding the ground to wet , due to a very wet spring. Surprising how well the crop establishes in these conditions though. Maybe if we had been able to get in a covercrop after the harvester with a weaving gd, we wouldn't be having the issue to the same extent.

 

[SorenIlsoe]

Thanks Julian. What are the issues with high straw loads? Does the straw have to be dry to handle it? With our seedhawk Tyne we find we need to wait for the dew to come off before we can handle the 10 to 14 tonne to hectare wheat crop straw . We are running into issues this spring with the straw holding the ground to wet , due to a very wet spring. Surprising how well the crop establishes in these conditions though. Maybe if we had been able to get in a covercrop after the harvester with a weaving gd, we wouldn't be having the issue to the same extent.

Tomorrow will a new GD 6m drill arrive here. It will be a part of a research project for 3 years, where we will test weed germination a low disturbance drilling (www.gmsr.dk). I will be able to test the Seed Hawk/Dale drill against the GD drill - this will be exiting. Here it is a problem with cold soils in the spring. It causes too poor tillering in Spring Barley, and I think we should raise the seed dose. But with the Seed Hawk openers the grains will be very close, as it is narrow rows at 25cm space! So kiwi: how many seeds/m2 do you drill in spring? Good cover crops is really good for SB yields.

 

[kiwi]

Tomorrow will a new GD 6m drill arrive here. It will be a part of a research project for 3 years, where we will test weed germination a low disturbance drilling (www.gmsr.dk). I will be able to test the Seed Hawk/Dale drill against the GD drill - this will be exiting. Here it is a problem with cold soils in the spring. It causes too poor tillering in Spring Barley, and I think we should raise the seed dose. But with the Seed Hawk openers the grains will be very close, as it is narrow rows at 25cm space! So kiwi: how many seeds/m2 do you drill in spring? Good cover crops is really good for SB yields.

hi Sorenllsoe, sounds exciting that you will be comparing the two drills and systems. I would be most interested to how you get on , whether you post here or I could private message you. We typically sow about 90 to 100 plants per square metre of barley. Normally sow about 85 to 90 kg/ ha of barley and wheat . We sow a reasonable amount of fertiliser in the spring crops only , which amounts to 250 kg/ ha of our crop master 20 which has NPKS of 20,10,0,12.5 so we get about 50 kg of N and 25 of P. My concern was of going to the weaving, is getting the fertiliser on but then I was hoping to covercrop and drastically reduce the use of commercial fertiliser.

 

[SorenIlsoe]

That was not very much!!! Normal here in DK is 250-275 plants/m2 and typically 150 kg/ha. That is 60-70 plants/meter by the 25 cm rows. This spring the tillering only produced 650-700 ears and I think that is too little. Cold weather in april is a problem for DD and it creates cold soil and that does not give many ears.
I place 50-60 kg N on 27-3-5 NPK and supplies with liquid or granular fertilizer on surface up to 130-140 N. The Weaving here is without double tank. Seed and fertilizer ends anyway in the same row it in the fertilizer model. So the plan is to mix fert and seed before drilling as many farmers do here.
Cover crops with legumes is the way forward! One trial here in DK with 3 years CC and following spring crops showed, that the last year plots with CC and no fertilizer yielded more than no CC+160 kg N/ha! That was amazing.
You will be able to follow the project on www.gmsr.dk and on my blog (if I get it updated....) : http://ilsoe-dk.blogspot.dk/

 

[kiwi]

That was not very much!!! Normal here in DK is 250-275 plants/m2 and typically 150 kg/ha. That is 60-70 plants/meter by the 25 cm rows. This spring the tillering only produced 650-700 ears and I think that is too little. Cold weather in april is a problem for DD and it creates cold soil and that does not give many ears.
I place 50-60 kg N on 27-3-5 NPK and supplies with liquid or granular fertilizer on surface up to 130-140 N. The Weaving here is without double tank. Seed and fertilizer ends anyway in the same row it in the fertilizer model. So the plan is to mix fert and seed before drilling as many farmers do here.
Cover crops with legumes is the way forward! One trial here in DK with 3 years CC and following spring crops showed, that the last year plots with CC and no fertilizer yielded more than no CC+160 kg N/ha! That was amazing.
You will be able to follow the project on www.gmsr.dk and on my blog (if I get it updated....) : http://ilsoe-dk.blogspot.dk/

Thanks Sorenllsoe. We are having great difficulty this year with a wet spring getting through our high straw loads with the Dale seedhawk. If we don't have the sun out and dampness on the straw I can't drill , which when it rains every few days is putting us behind. The weaving Gd maybe a lot better in those conditions but for us to make the move to a weaving needs to be quantified in terms of 1. Handling lots of residue on dull days without compromising establishment.2. Reduced herbicide costs from low disturbance. 3. Ability to drill through covercrops or land that has had stock grazing covercrops.
I will be most interested to see how you get on so will follow your links with interest. The Dale drill has given us great crops but as with most drills their are compromises that have to be weighed up.

 

[SorenIlsoe]

Thanks Sorenllsoe. We are having great difficulty this year with a wet spring getting through our high straw loads with the Dale seedhawk. If we don't have the sun out and dampness on the straw I can't drill , which when it rains every few days is putting us behind. The weaving Gd maybe a lot better in those conditions but for us to make the move to a weaving needs to be quantified in terms of 1. Handling lots of residue on dull days without compromising establishment.2. Reduced herbicide costs from low disturbance. 3. Ability to drill through covercrops or land that has had stock grazing covercrops.
I will be most interested to see how you get on so will follow your links with interest. The Dale drill has given us great crops but as with most drills their are compromises that have to be weighed up.

I don't use 2. year wheat because of higher costs and lower yields. So Wheat is after WOSR, Beans and SB. But the real challenge is WOSR after wheat in lots of straw (and slugs). Some help can be RTK autosteer and drilling between the old rows. This allows much higher stubble and it gives less straw and chaff on the surface. This is possible on 25cm row with the Dale drill.But maybe it is also the solution with the Weaving GD drill? High stubble should not be a problem for the discs and by drilling in an angle of the old rows, and it may be better than a thick layer of straw creating hairpinning?
Lot of tests to be done in the next years......

 

[Richard III]

My biggest challenge is WOSR too, the rape has to get out of the starting blocks quick to get away from slugs in my cool, damp conditions. The Weaving just doesn't move enough soil to do this, a tine is much better. Two farmers local to me have had problems with establishing OSR this autumn with disc drills, whereas mine with a tine has ended up too thick!

I had problems establishing OSR two years ago though, very high wheat yields left very little residual N and the rape just wouldn't grow. I ended up with bare patches in all the highest yielding areas, the best bit was where I experimented with higher N on the previous wheat crop.

The GD excels at low disturbance with minimal weed germination, it also leaves the trash virtually undisturbed and no contamination with soil, so improving soil cover. It has done a fantastic job here this autumn, drilling wheat into soaking wet soil. I don't think any other disc drill on the market would have run in soil so wet and a tine would have left a slot for slugs to have a field day in.

The GD drill has always done a great job of putting spring beans in here, but I remember how poor the Weaving big disc did on your farm @SorenIlsoe a few years ago.

 

[SorenIlsoe]

My biggest challenge is WOSR too, the rape has to get out of the starting blocks quick to get away from slugs in my cool, damp conditions. The Weaving just doesn't move enough soil to do this, a tine is much better. Two farmers local to me have had problems with establishing OSR this autumn with disc drills, whereas mine with a tine has ended up too thick!

I had problems establishing OSR two years ago though, very high wheat yields left very little residual N and the rape just wouldn't grow. I ended up with bare patches in all the highest yielding areas, the best bit was where I experimented with higher N on the previous wheat crop.

The GD excels at low disturbance with minimal weed germination, it also leaves the trash virtually undisturbed and no contamination with soil, so improving soil cover. It has done a fantastic job here this autumn, drilling wheat into soaking wet soil. I don't think any other disc drill on the market would have run in soil so wet and a tine would have left a slot for slugs to have a field day in.

The GD drill has always done a great job of putting spring beans in here, but I remember how poor the Weaving big disc did on your farm @SorenIlsoe a few years ago.

Hello Richard! About OSR: I like the fertilizer placement on the Dale/Seed Hawk system, but this year 30 kg N was not even enough - it clearly should have been more, because it has been terrible wet and cold and with the highest number of slugs I have ever seen! When I shall try the GD drill next year (drill has no fert. placement), my plan will be to apply fertilizer before harvest, so it will be dissolved in the soil BEFORE the chopped straw hits the ground (and no immobilisation) and it will be active when the OSR is drilled. And maybe also mix the seed with some N-fertilizer so it will be in the row.
Interesting to hear about your drilling in wet conditions!
The Big disc here in 2013? I am sure they had much too high and unnecessary pressure on the discs, so the two closing wheels worked too hard. The soil was wet, and when it was packed with that high pressure, it lost temperature and oxygen and therefore the germination was late and poor.

 

[Richard III]

Hello Richard! About OSR: I like the fertilizer placement on the Dale/Seed Hawk system, but this year 30 kg N was not even enough - it clearly should have been more, because it has been terrible wet and cold and with the highest number of slugs I have ever seen! When I shall try the GD drill next year (drill has no fert. placement), my plan will be to apply fertilizer before harvest, so it will be dissolved in the soil BEFORE the chopped straw hits the ground (and no immobilisation) and it will be active when the OSR is drilled. And maybe also mix the seed with some N-fertilizer so it will be in the row.
Interesting to hear about your drilling in wet conditions!
The Big disc here in 2013? I am sure they had much too high and unnecessary pressure on the discs, so the two closing wheels worked too hard. The soil was wet, and when it was packed with that high pressure, it lost temperature and oxygen and therefore the germination was late and poor.

Hi Soren, yes it was 2013.

Your idea of fertilizer before combining is interesting and I'll look forward to hearing how you get on with that and the GD drill.

Do you use P in your placement fert? I use DAP @ 40kg/ha on 450mm row width, you would need over 70kg/ha to get the same effect on your spacing. I find this about the optimum to use here, any more induces transient mineral deficiencies as the rape grows faster than it can pick minerals up for a short while. If I am lucky enough to get very high yields again I will add extra N, perhaps before harvest!

The experience I had two years ago made me think that maybe your problems with slow growing OSR are partly due to the strict N rates you have to live with in DK? Wide row spacings and plenty of fert down the row would may be help with this? I just mix the seed and fert and sow together.

 

[Cutlerstom]

That was not very much!!! Normal here in DK is 250-275 plants/m2 and typically 150 kg/ha. That is 60-70 plants/meter by the 25 cm rows. This spring the tillering only produced 650-700 ears and I think that is too little. Cold weather in april is a problem for DD and it creates cold soil and that does not give many ears.
I place 50-60 kg N on 27-3-5 NPK and supplies with liquid or granular fertilizer on surface up to 130-140 N. The Weaving here is without double tank. Seed and fertilizer ends anyway in the same row it in the fertilizer model. So the plan is to mix fert and seed before drilling as many farmers do here.
Cover crops with legumes is the way forward! One trial here in DK with 3 years CC and following spring crops showed, that the last year plots with CC and no fertilizer yielded more than no CC+160 kg N/ha! That was amazing.
You will be able to follow the project on www.gmsr.dk and on my blog (if I get it updated....) : http://ilsoe-dk.blogspot.dk/

That's very interesting work. I've really been struggling to get a benefit behind cover crops in spring. Very poor establishment, and poorer yields than behind plough based system. I'm wondering if it's the cover crop, or the direct drilling itself. We typically aim for 300 seeds/m2 of spring barley, so this could mean drilling 400-450 on the heavier land. Last spring I only managed around 50% establishment behind cover crops. I'm wondering if it's a destruction date issue, or the oats in the mix. I don't thing its direct drilling itself, as we've shown that winter cereals actually have yielded better DD than behind a tillage regime.

 

[yellow belly]

I now destroy cover in dec jan feb as if it is left till drilling and it. Is dry the cover dries the soil to much especially in April
This was the case in 2011 and 2017

I am also concerned about take All carry over for following wheat crop when the spring crop is a break crop

 

[SorenIlsoe]

I am looking forward to the day where a no-till soil is too dry in the spring! Think I will never see it......

 

[clbarclay]

I am looking forward to the day where a no-till soil is too dry in the spring! Think I will never see it......

I seem to see it most years in that by the time the wetter parts of feilds are just dry enough, some parts are getting too dry. Its makes chosing the right time to sow and depth control with a Unidrill a headache. I keep looking at newer drills wondering if any cope well with variations from too dry to wet in the same run.
Its probably wishful thinking to expect the variation across fields to improve anytime soon with no-till.

Maybe I could stagger the termination of any cover crops to try to balance up the soil conditions at spring drilling.

 

[yellow belly]

If the cover is left till drilling time it can dry out the soil too much if a lot of acres need to be drilled

This happened in 2011 and 2017

 

[BSH]

I found that covers that had been grazed but that regrew this spring dried out the soil too much by late april in 2017. In fields with the same cover that hadnt been grazed that i ran a flail topper over I did not have such a problem. Conversely I had one field which i drilled into standing green cover (1Half) and grazed cover( the other half of the field) there was much poorer establishment in the ungrazed half because the moisture held under the cover crop meant the soil was too wet in that half of the field and the slots didnt close as well as I wanted and then the dry weather after opened them up.
Given the above, I will plan to top off covers that are too thick a while before drilling. I hope I can mitigate this by managing the grazing better and the type of species in the cover crop. A lot to be learnt!

 

[Cutlerstom]

A few of us have a weaving GD whatsapp group to share info and tips. If anybody wants in, DM me your number

 

[kiwi]

Has anyone had experience with the JD 750 A and the weaving Gd to beable to give an idea of the running costs between the actual drills? Not worried about tractor costs but just maintaining one of the drills.
Thanks

 

[kamloops]

Whats the weaving like for drilling winter beans? I want to drill them in behind spring barley. Is this safe to do without cultivation straight into stubble?

 

[Badshot]

Has anyone used the gd into chopped Linseed straw? Or does it wrap?