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Western Oregon | The tube zip-tied to the seed tube was an experimental version. I zip tied the tubes in the manner shown, with a couple inches of tube dragging in the furrow. They wore out pretty fast and tended to dribble fertilizer where I didn't want fertilizer dribbled. The steel tube solved that problem. Note how the plastic tube is held in the metal tube. Plastic is just 1/4" drip irrigation line from local huge hardware discount store.
I am applying 10 gallons of 10-34. My idea was to put down the elements that don't move well in the soil, right next to the seed. I then apply the N at a later date. This spring I broadcast the N and then planted through the fertilizer. This worked well except where we had huge amounts of rain before the plants were up.
The 10gal rate is not based in soil science, rather it is due to the fact that I have my drill set to do 10gal at 20lbs of pressure at 6.5 mph. I have a 200 gallon tank and I don't like to fill every ten acres. 10 gal of 10-34 is just about all I can afford with the way fertilizer prices are. I did see plant response to 20 gallons. That actually worked better than extra N. But, I'm in heavy clay, wet soils and it was not a very well controlled test.
Most of the people I planted for used the 10 gal rate as well. Later they made up the N with broadcast dry fert. Mostly planting wheat, oats and barley. Did some fescue and annual ryegrass and used a 6 gallon rate. The annual really liked the starter fertilizer.
Putting this set up on the drill was not as hard as actually figuring out what to do. You can mount a tank pretty easy on the heavy center backbone of the drill cart. I used a chunk of heavy tubing that I found before scrap prices hit the roof-and ran my top link leveling bar for the drill through that. I bolted my put to the tube as it was handy. I have the pump plumbed so I can fill the drill myself, however, the flow rate and pressure is low enough that you don't need a really high capacity pump get it to work. I have an electric valve which shuts off the fertilizer when the drill raises. It is hooked to what is basically a magnetic alarm switch so it cuts the power when the drill is raised. I scrounged parts for a year before putting it all together.
Here is a photo of manifold.
 (manifold.jpg)
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 manifold.jpg (77KB - 84 downloads)
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My Old drill vs My New Drill
