4-Row Earthway Planter

2014 - Volume #38, Issue #3, Page #03

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Steve Adams ganged 4 Earthway seeders into a single 4-row unit for seeding and transplanting. It provided a big boost in productivity for Adams and his wife, Gretel, who raise and sell fresh flowers at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm, Columbus, Ohio.
    “I was planting sunflowers in 300-ft. beds with 4 rows per bed for about 48,000 row feet of sunflowers in total,” recalls Adams. “That meant walking each bed 4 times. I had one seeder and was given another when I realized that for a few hundred dollars, I could cut out 3 trips on each bed.”
    Adams bought the 2 additional Earthways he needed. He removed the front and rear axles and replaced them with 4-ft. lengths of 3/8-in. all-thread rod. Pvc spacers gave him a consistent 10-in. space between rows. He then removed the handles, eliminating one and reattaching the other 3 so each handle spanned 2 machines. All 3 handles were then connected with a row-marker rod cut to fit.
    “Ganging the seeders made them more stable,” adds Adams. “With one, if you hit a rock or hard clump of dirt, it jumps. With 4 together, that doesn’t happen.”
    The couple wanted to move to cultivating with a tractor-mounted unit. The ganged seeder not only sped up planting, it left uniform spacing, making mechanical cultivation possible.
    “Since ganging the seeders, I changed everything over to 4-row beds,” says Adams. “I use the ganged Earthway seeders to mark the beds for transplants.”
    Finding low-cost alternatives like ganged seeders are just one reason the young couple have been able to create a full-time business growing fresh flowers. They currently farm about 7 acres of flowers. While old school growers tell them you can’t make money competing with imported flowers, they say they are doing fine. With heated hoop tunnels, they have fresh flowers from March to December.
    They sell to local florists, grocery stores and directly to customers at farmers markets, as well as provide bouquets for offices. They also offer several options for wedding flowers, including bulk purchase and limited arrangement design to full design services.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup,
Sunny Meadows Flower Farm, 3555 Watkins Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43232 (ph 614 361-5102 or 614 296-1637;  SunnyMeadowsFlowerFarm@gmail.com; www.oursunnymeadows.com).

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4-Row Earthway Planter PLANTERS Steve Adams ganged 4 Earthway seeders into a single 4-row unit for seeding and transplanting It provided a big boost in productivity for Adams and his wife Gretel who raise and sell fresh flowers at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm Columbus Ohio “I was planting sunflowers in 300-ft beds with 4 rows per bed for about 48 000 row feet of sunflowers in total ” recalls Adams “That meant walking each bed 4 times I had one seeder and was given another when I realized that for a few hundred dollars I could cut out 3 trips on each bed ” Adams bought the 2 additional Earthways he needed He removed the front and rear axles and replaced them with 4-ft lengths of 3/8-in all-thread rod Pvc spacers gave him a consistent 10-in space between rows He then removed the handles eliminating one and reattaching the other 3 so each handle spanned 2 machines All 3 handles were then connected with a row-marker rod cut to fit “Ganging the seeders made them more stable ” adds Adams “With one if you hit a rock or hard clump of dirt it jumps With 4 together that doesn’t happen ” The couple wanted to move to cultivating with a tractor-mounted unit The ganged seeder not only sped up planting it left uniform spacing making mechanical cultivation possible “Since ganging the seeders I changed everything over to 4-row beds ” says Adams “I use the ganged Earthway seeders to mark the beds for transplants ” Finding low-cost alternatives like ganged seeders are just one reason the young couple have been able to create a full-time business growing fresh flowers They currently farm about 7 acres of flowers While old school growers tell them you can’t make money competing with imported flowers they say they are doing fine With heated hoop tunnels they have fresh flowers from March to December They sell to local florists grocery stores and directly to customers at farmers markets as well as provide bouquets for offices They also offer several options for wedding flowers including bulk purchase and limited arrangement design to full design services Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Sunny Meadows Flower Farm 3555 Watkins Rd Columbus Ohio 43232 ph 614 361-5102 or 614 296-1637;  SunnyMeadowsFlowerFarm@gmail com; www oursunnymeadows com

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