No Till Bean Drill Built Out Of Air Planter

No Till bean drill built out of air planter PLANTERS Planters 17-2-21 "It lets me seed beans in 10-in. rows without spending the money for a new no-till drill," says Jerry Demmer, Clarks Grove, Minn., who mounted three International 500 Cyclo planter units on a 20-ft. planter toolbar. Demmer bought two used IH 500 Cyclo planters - an 8-row and a 16-row. He mounted the seed drum, hopper, and blowers from the planters (the 16-row planter had two seed delivery systems) on the 20-ft. toolbar from the 16-row planter. An orbit motor, powered by a pto-operated hydraulic pump, drives each blower, and a ground driven wheel, taken off the 8-row planter, controls seed metering. He clamped 24 new Yetter no-till coulters designed specially for soy-beans onto a 4-in. sq. steel bar mounted behind the toolbar. The coulters are spaced on 10-in. centers. "I tried it on 900 acres of untouched corn stalks last spring and it worked great except in peat ground where the fluted coulters tend to plug up. They wouldn't keep rolling in the soft ground," says Demmer: "I had been using my conventional 12-row planter, which I use to plant corn no-till on 30-in. rows, to plant both conventional and no-till soybeans. However, I wanted to switch to solid seeded no-till beans without spending the money for a new no-till drill. My `air planter' no-till drill cost about $12,500 to build which is about half the price of a new 20-ft. no-till drill. I can plant 20 acres before I have to refill. Each hopper holds 11 bu." Demmer bought new Yetter row markers and mounted them on the toolbar. The lift assist wheels are off the 16-row planter. Demmer installed new bearings on the lift assist wheels, drive wheels, and blowers. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jerry Demmer, Rt. 1, Box 164, Clarks Grove, Minn. 56016 (ph 507 826-3286).

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