Cover Crop Planter Also Chops Stalk Tops

Cover Crop Planter Also Chops Stalk Tops CROPS New Techniques Dan Shelliam spreads his cover crop seed between corn rows mulches it with chopped stalk tops and opens up row centers for more light all in one pass His 9-row modified detasseler does it all “The stalk tops protect the seed and hold moisture but once it germinates more sunlight is let in on the seedlings ” says Shelliam “I go into a standing corn crop about the first of September which gives the cover crops a longer window to get established before we get a hard freeze ” Shelliam got the idea after driving by a farm where a detasseler had been parked for several years Driven by hydraulic wheel motors it was still in good shape for being an older machine “It was ideal both height-wise and row-wise ” says Shelliam The detasseler had a front boom with cutter boxes to remove tassels on female seed corn plants He kept the cutter boxes but added seed delivery tubes and a Gandy air seeder By the time he was finished he estimates having invested from $15 000 to $20 000 in the machine Shelliam replaced the weighted framework on the rear of the machine with a new framework to hold the Gandy system The 4 by 5-ft platform was fabricated from 1/2-in by 4-in angle iron Initially he tried using the detasseler’s hydraulics to also run the Gandy but he needed more flow “I bought a remote drive pump and crankshaft from Northern Tool ” says Shelliam “We sized it up with pulleys to run it off the motor’s driveshaft Northern Tool provided the pulley sizes for the needed flow ” The Gandy air system required a slight downward angle in the tubes delivering seed to the front toolbar To ensure the correct angle Shelliam split a length of 6-in hard plastic water pipe to make a trough for the tubes This was mounted alongside the cab between the Gandy and the diffusers To make full use of the finished machine Shelliam had to adjust field boundaries “We made all the fields square even if that meant running some end and beginning rows uphill ” he says “In some places we eliminated end rows replacing them with cover crops or alfalfa ” He also has to take care to adjust the cutter box heights above ears He begins work with the unique system when the kernels reach dent stage So far he doesn’t believe the change has had a negative impact on yields Use of the cover crop seeder in 2015 and 2016 paid off this past summer After a very dry spell with only 1 in of rain in 29 days the area was hit with 9 1/2 in of rain on July 22nd “I walked the fields afterwards and we had no runoff no erosion ” says Shelliam “Some neighbors had ditches washed so deep they couldn’t cross them ” He notes that trying something different like his system can require a thick skin “Every neighbor who drove by while I was using it that first year was thinking I had lost my marbles ” says Shelliam Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Dan Shelliam P O Box 308 Hazel Green Wis 53811 ph 563 451-2052; shelliam4@gmail com

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