|
SW Saskatchewan | With the wide variety of openers, opener spacing and band spreader vsnarrow no-till point openers, I would say that that packer width and profile should fit the opener and seed-spread chosen. With narrow openers there is no noticeable difference between out flex- 5000, 0ne with 2.25 packers the other with 3" , both steel.
Changes with wider openers though, if we use sweeps to obtain a tillage effect, the 2.25 pack most effectively when OFF-ROW, ie straddling the shanks to pack the seed deposited to left and right by spreader, also helps press soil back into shank row.
If we are judicious in our choice of sweep, the 3.5 will still pack effectively with in-row spacing but of course does not press dirt back into furrow left by shank.
One of our neighbours has a 5000 with 12" spacing and uses 5.5 inch packers and obtains a full band pack- his result approach the look that Ed B posted of his seeding.
In our "Heavy" land, ie everything that was left after we sent EdB his flat black land, every one except Concord owners uses steel packers. Three reasons, Stones do a number on semi-pneumatic rubber packers and its both expensive and troublesome. In dry land conditions the rubber is difficult to get as good a pack (and stones tend to not stick to the packers wheras they will stick to swath when you try to pick up a swath). And finally, a rubber packer squirming and rubbing down a sandy loam field when your humidity is barely out of negative territory is a recipe for wind erosion. Ignore all this if you are a black land farmer in the Red River Valley, the Regina plains or the Melfort flats.
Now, all this said, Concord owners have a bit of ability with their full pneumatic packers to adjust air pressure and pack without doing too much changing. But only a bit.
While Monsanto was still sponsoring their "Fields of Tomorrow" days in Montana, I had a chance to see many demonstration plots. They had a small Concord style Plot seeder air-drill that they would use to sow plots with different openers or packers on each row.
Most times there was little difference at the Havre site, but the one year they had the demonstration in the Judith Basin, far and away the best emergence for winter wheat was a rigid Bias Ply Highway packer solid face tire with no side wall flex inflated to the nuts. Can't see the difference from that and steel but when dry and far ideal conditions, packing does count!
You will have to reface steel packers, but do it early before the dings go through the steel face, and it is difficult to do when your packers are naught but two semi parallel steel discs with no face.
But it qualifies for a shop project for "amateur hour" welders like me. Kinda like doing an overhaul on a versy- theonly tools you need are your trusty vice grip, crescent wrench and lots of enthusiasm. | |
|
Packer Width
