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| Has anybody switched from a notill drill to a split row planter and regretted making the switch? I am getting tired of the uneven depth control on my Great Plains 1500 notill drill. The drill is in good repair.
Do you regret using 1 planter for corn and soybeans? Any concerns about the extra weight for notilling corn?
Thanks, Jim |
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S. IL | Search this site, that is a common question asked!
We drill most of our beans on 7.5" rows because we get better weed control and yields compared to planters, but every area is different. We have compared yields to 15" planters in the same field with the same variety of beans in a side by side trial and the 7.5" rows were better by 2-4 bu in most comparisons. It depends a lot on how the drill or planter is set up I think. |
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Schlegel Farms, Hagerstown Indiana | Switch, you will never regret it unless you need it for small grains or some other crop.
I had a Gret Plains drill (hated it), have had a White and now a Deere splitter planter since.................much happier. |
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Michgan-Saginaw river basin | I really like planting 15 inch beans with a planter. Seed singlation and planter units are the best. But I have two planters so I can switch between corn and soybeans quickly. Each planter is hooked up to it's own tractor. |
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SC WI | I'll never go back from a planter. I love the Cyclo for beans set the population & it planted exactly that population, at the exact depth I set it for and have even emerging beans instead of beans emerging over a 1 month period with a drill. Trying to drop 140,000 with a drill was a headache trying to set it, just to get it set then go from 2800 per lb beans to 2200 per lb beans. I don't have to worry about any of that anymore. |
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LaSalle Co. Illinois | We had used a Great Plains drill in the past, owned a 5400 IH minimum till drill for several years after that. Had the same problems as far a depth control among other things. Ended up buying a 750 John Deere drill for beans and the difference is night and day. You couldn't pay me to use either one of those other drills again.
Don't have any experience with split row planters though.
Edited by ncilmike 6/6/2017 18:18
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West Central IL | We used to drill all our beans with two Deere drills, had two 750's, then traded one for a 1560. Ended up selling the other 750. We rarely get the 1560 out unless we decide to plant some wheat to bake for hay. This year we went all 15" row beans. Have planted 30" in the past with no yield difference. |
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west central indiana | you wont regret it seed savings and accurate for all seed size a big plus tried 15 in. wheat last fall find out how well it does in couple weeks |
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| I switched to 30" and never regretted it. |
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| We went from a split row planter to an old Tye drill and now to a 15" air drill. I liked the accuracy of the split row planter but the yield monitor didn't show an advantage to dragging around a much heavier and higher maintenance planter. Our air drill doesn't make as pretty of a stand as a planter but yields the same and is dirt cheap to operate.
I don't want the weight of splitter units on my corn planter and I want to be able to plant both crops at once.
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Serena Il, Center of the Universe | I have a GP 1500 that I switched to parallel linkage units like a 1510. I set it up on 15" centers. It really improved the depth control. Part of the problem with a drill is too many down pressure springs. When it gets low on seed it had a tendency to lift the drill. The parallel linkage also really helps too. The reason that I did the conversion was cost. I couldn't justify a 15" planter. |
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Ottawa, Ontario | I guess I went against the grain when I traded my split row planter for a 30 foot Sunflower Drill last year.
After 13 years with the planter I was tired of the maintenance and I did need something wider, and with more capacity.
Last year I had a terrible time getting it calibrated and put on way too much seed.
This year I put a scale on one of the seed boxes and after seeding 450 acres I had less than two bags of seed left over.
My theory is that a low population in 7.5 inch rows will have lower white mold pressure than a wider row. Each plant will have more space between them. Everyone says there is more air movement in a 30 inch row. True. But when you get a white mold infection it spreads faster and on a larger scale due to the close proximity of each plant within the row. The flowering petals fall onto neighbouring plants and spread the infection.
Last year i outyielded all of my neighbours on a narrower row.
The bottom pic is how much seed I had left over after planting 450 acres. The scale paid for itself.
Edited by Cross Country 6/6/2017 21:01
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Illinois | Cliff other than spacing how is the depth control and seed to soil contact on that air drill? |
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north-central Indiana west of Fulton | That's really something Cliff......although we never had a split row planter, we ran a Tye drill for 21 or 22 years (had 5000 acres on it when we got it) before we got a Hiniker too .
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| The drill planter debate is interesting. Back in the 80's all the testing done always indicated that drilled beans out yielded wider rows, especially 30" rows. I realize a guy can get by with lower seeding rates with a planter, but if it means reduced yield, it still wouldn't be profitable. And I would think there would be higher maintanance costs on a planter as well, especially a 15" planter. So what has changed? Everyone here used to drill beans, and I'd say maybe 1/2 now are in 15" rows. No 30" rows here at all. |
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SW Ohio | We went from a ih1200 and 1560 drills to a 1790 splitter.
Yields are good with the 1790. Problem was, couldnt plant both csb at the same time. Getting stands, seed savings, singulation, autoshutoff and auto steer are awesome.
So I said screw it and bought a pair of 1560s, again. Hooked to 6030 ready to plant beans. It paid huge this year. The 1790 put the corn in and planted the higher priced seed, the 1560s planted the cheap seed.
I like drilled beans for weed control, like spraying them, harvesting. Cheap operating. Easy operating. Dislike the drop, depth control (variance of bean placement), the si belts are a dissapointment.
We replanted 130 acres of drilles soybeans with the 1790. We also have 100 acres of april drilled beans that would not have been planted.
I looked at kinze 16 splitters, 1255, another 1790 but the cost was triple the drills. To each his own. |
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| Depth control is pretty good, seed to soil contact could be better buy we've never not had a good stand begind it. I added a harrow to the back this year and that helped with seed to soil contact.
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| I use a CIH 5300 drill & packer. Neighbours use JD 750,Krause, split row JDs & whites in 15" rows, Kinze in 22" rows. We all get the same average yield. Just use what works for you. |
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west central indiana | cost of seed big factor |
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| We just switched from a drill to an old 15" planter. With the cost of treated seed these days, we were throwing out too much seed with the drill. I liked the 7.5" rows, but the inability to really control population and depth drove me to the planter. You can get some really good deals on old 16/31 planters with boxes, since nobody wants to deal with that many boxes. Ours was cheaper than a 12/23 or 8/15. |
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| thefarmers - 6/6/2017 21:17
The drill planter debate is interesting. Back in the 80's all the testing done always indicated that drilled beans out yielded wider rows, especially 30" rows. I realize a guy can get by with lower seeding rates with a planter, but if it means reduced yield, it still wouldn't be profitable. And I would think there would be higher maintanance costs on a planter as well, especially a 15" planter. So what has changed? Everyone here used to drill beans, and I'd say maybe 1/2 now are in 15" rows. No 30" rows here at all.
Why would you say maintenance costs would be higher on a planter? I've had drills and planters and maintenance costs have always been higher on the drills. |
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| "You can get some really good deals on old 16/31 planters with boxes, since nobody wants to deal with that many boxes"
Count me in on that. I would never want to go back to a planter with individual boxes |
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Ludington/Manistee MI area | It amazes me the Deere 1535 never took off seem like the perfect combo.
My thought is a planter has its place and a drill has its place. Used both this spring and so far I'm content with each. |
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| Tomcat - 6/7/2017 07:42
It amazes me the Deere 1535 never took off seem like the perfect combo.
My thought is a planter has its place and a drill has its place. Used both this spring and so far I'm content with each.
I agree. A planter is for corn and beans. A drill is for small grain and grasses. |
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| Guess I'm thinking compared to a JD drill. One opener blade, one gauge wheel. All the parallel linkage bushings on a planter that the drill doesn't have. Our drill is 10" spacing, but I guess if you had a 7.5" drill, maybe there wouldn't be much difference.
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Westside, IA | I know of an operation that I do some custom drilling for that started out with a 1690 drill for beans then traded that for a planter with interplants. Three years of hiring me to help with beans and then they went back to another 1990 drill, just couldn't get enough acres done with the planter compared to the drill. Not going to argue a planter is going to have better placement and depth control but the deere 90 series openers seem to go through about anything and speed doesn't seem to matter as much. |
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Palestine, IL 62451 | What was the ballpark cost on the conversion? Could you have pinched it down to 10"? |
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N.W. Ohio | I have also heard that the 15" row vs 7.5"s push alittle harder through crust... is this true on that?? |
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Drill or planter for soybeans
