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| I am a big believer in using seed lubricant, e-flow from precision planting if you run e-sets, or straight talc if you have original deere equipment. The problem I have seen when we dumped it on top and went was, as we traveled down the field and that box bounced a few times, a good share of that talc shook down into the unit. I know this becasue we put a test plot in every year, and when we would clean out the first time, a whole lot of talc would just be sitting in the meter, gumming up the works. We just got a CCS machine this year and equiped it with e-sets. We used that planter to put the plot in using only the mini-hoppers. It worked great logistically with clean out being easier, however we didn't use e-flow due to the very small amounts of seed being loaded at a time. In my scouting that I have done in the plot so far, I have noticed far more erratic spacing, and, most notably, more skips than where we used the lubricant in the non-plot part of the field.
The key, I believe, is THOUROUGHLY mixing the lubricant and seed. We use a cordless drill and one of those mini-auger garden hole digger attachments. Think power post hole digger, only for a cordless drill. If you purchase one of those (Home Depot, Menards, etc.), grind the sharp edges off, set your drill to ratchet at a low level of resistance (protect the box), and use that to mix your lubricant in, I think you will like the results. You can dump it all on top and mix it in, or I prefer, in both CCS and individual box systems, to dump it in two or three times as you fill the box, then using the mixer. Last tip, I would NEVER use more than 1/4 per bag/unit! Less is usually more.
I can't take credit for this idea, I heard it from a guy named Kevin Kimberly at a planter/crop clinic a few years back. I think it works very well.
Good Luck! | |
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jd vac planter owners question
