An Iowa corn-soybean farmer's no-till attachment that mounts on older conventional planters for planting in trash and sod has caught on fast with farmers throughout the Midwest since our July-August issue.

Greg Hohl, Donnellson, Iowa, says his "no-till" planter attachment eliminates the need for buying an expensive no-till planter "which can cost thousands of dollars per row". His device, which he is patenting, sells for mere hundreds per row. He uses a converted IH Cyclo on his own 800-acre farm.

"My framework serves to transfer weight of the older conventional planter from the lift wheels to the coglters, over-coming the problem of not having enough weight to penetrate through trash," explains Hohl. He adds that converted planters will plant at 4 to 6 mph.

The attachment is designed to fit IH 400 air planters, 4 to 8-row, and Deere 7000 series planters. Due to demand, Hohl has also developed attachments to fit  Deere 494 and 495 series, the Deere 1240 series, and International's 56 series.