Cultivator Mounted Fertilizer Applicator

Cultivator mounted fertilizer applicator CULTIVATORS Cultivators (58C) 16-6-10 "It lets us sidedress nitrogen in corn while I cultivate and didn't cost much to build," says Paul Bartel, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, who mounted dry fertilizer boxes from an old Deere 7000 Max Emerge planter on his Koehn 6-row, 30-in. row-crop cultivator. Bartel removed the three fertilizer boxes from the 6-row planter and mounted them on the cultivator frame so he could load them from the rear. He put a hydraulic motor on one end of the fertilizer auger shaft and extended the driveshafts between boxes with pieces of pipe because the boxes are spaced farther apart on the cultivator than on the planter. He used 2-ft. lengths of fairly stiff yet flexible hose for down spouts and put a plastic pipe at the end of each hose, fitted with a 45 degree elbow that lays the fertilizer up close to the plants. "The extra boost of in-season fertilizer produces bigger ears," says Bartel. "Each box holds 500 lbs. of fertilizer. We usually apply about 100 lbs. per acre. By adjusting hydraulic flow and tractor speed, we can apply just about any amount of fertilizer we want. We spent $180 for the motor and about $250 total. "The flexible pipes won't break if they hit the ground and they're mounted to the side of the row so they won't break off corn plants. The length of the down spouts can be cut according to the height of the crop. When corn is small I cultivate and side dress at the same time. When side dressing at a later stage, up to tasseling time, I just raise the cultivator off the ground and extend the hoses as needed. After I'm done cultivating I put the fertilizer boxes back on the planter for the next season." The cultivator toolbar was a different size than the planter toolbar so Bartel made new steel brackets to clamp the boxes on. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Paul Bartel, Rt. 1, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada EOK 1VO (ph 902 657-3412).

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