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| Trying to figure out what setting to run a JD 520 7"drill to plant crp pollinators. Need to plant just under 2 lbs/acre of seed. The blend we are using has I think has 11 varieties of seed. Any input or your experiences appreciated
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waterloo iowa | I think the guy that did mine ended up adding wheat hulls or something similar so he had more material flowing through.It has got to be tough with a low amount of light seed. |
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| Getting that to feed thru fluted meters doesn't work to swell. Try and seed a bushel and half oats along with it and you will be able to regulate rate multiple times easier, and the oats make a nice nurse crop to help keep weeds at bay. Stop and reach down in the box as far as you can a couple times and mix it up.
Edited by Boone & Crockett 4/11/2017 13:01
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Alma NE | I use a Great Plains drill the pollinators are pretty hard to get a consistent flow of seed that is the same lbs per acre .
The heavier seed sinks to the bottom of the box so at first you could be drilling 2lb acre then after a few acres the same setting will be putting on a lighter rate .
That's even using the small seed box on a Pheasants forever drill .
Edited by deeredriver 4/11/2017 12:55
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N.W. Illinois | How big of a area do you have to do? If it's only a acre or two or even three I would recommend a hand seeder such as this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009GZA6O?ref_=ams_ad_dp_asin_1
Set the seeder to 1/2 rate or even 1/3 rate and spread it 2 or 3 times walking different angles each time. Do a measured smaller area to begin with and a measured weight of pollinator to give you a good idea of how fast to walk while spreading.
It doesn't take long at all to do the seeding with a hand seeder. A calm wind is advised. I've had good luck hand seeding the pollinator first then seeding down a light cover crop of oats with our grain drill second. Finally a cultipacker trip or two is a good idea after the drill.
With the price of pollinator mixes you sure want to do it right. With the small size and amount of of the seeds I worried the drill might apply it all in the first 100 ft when mixed with a carrier crop.
For me it was year three before it looked respectable and something I would let anybody see.
Start weed free. Mow when necessary. There are reports of palmer amaranth in some of the pollinator mixes now. I would highly recommend walking and hand weeding any pigweed species the first year for sure. Weeds I've never had trouble in crops are my biggest issues. Winter biennials (wild parsnip, queen anne's lace), canadian thistles, and dandelions are my biggest problem. I finally got fed up with the weeds that were getting established and last november when all the good stuff was dormant and the bad stuff was still green I sprayed the pollinator area with a full rate of 2,4-D ester. So far so good, not perfect but a lot better. I have some biennial grasses starting to get established that stay green into winter. I plan on a heavy rate of roundup to knock those back and the roundup will also work on the other winter weeds that are still around.
Every year has been different as far as what flowers really come on.
Edited by mounder 4/11/2017 14:16
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NEIA | Ain't gonna work. Sorry. I used a fertilizer spreader with the seed mixed in with gypsum. |
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| No can do. Against the rules according to the one in charge. |
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| We have about 500 acres to plant. Our drill has an agitator to keep things stirred up. Trying to decide what to mix with the seed to add volume and make it work. Have heard of millet and oats as mentioned in earlier post. We wanted to spread it with a floater and harrow it in. Amazing the stupid rules that we must follow. |
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N.W. Illinois | You must have chuckled when I mentioned doing it with a hand seeder. |
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| Not really. I value everyones input. Your pictures are impressive. I don't expect anything that nice in hot, dry, and everything western Nebraska. Kinda skeptical about it working at all here. Bunch of acres going in here this spring. Tumble weeds are going to roll...... |
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N.W. Illinois | One thing I can think of is make sure your CRP seed supplier did not add or substitute another pollinator species from what your local Farm Service Agency has recommended without the FSA approving of the substitution. In my experience the FSA will not cost share those unapproved seeds without prior approval. In your case it could be big bucks.
Seed suppliers might substitute another seed type do to the recommended seed having a lack of availability or poor germ test.
The 500 acres you have going in must have warm season grasses planted along with the forbes. It's not 500 acres of just pollinators is it? |
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Pollinators CRP JD 520 drill settings
