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| Currently running a 2001 JD 1780 12/23 planter- 15in beans & 30in Corn. Plant about 800 acres of corn and 800 acres of beans per year. Ground is flat, mostly square- about 500 or so acres is on the wetter side and the rest is mostly pattern tiled. Mostly silty clay loams with some timber clay as well. Never had too much of a problem getting things planted pretty early, but I am getting sick on the maintenance on the 1780 and it is getting pretty worn out. For what it is worth I have RTK with 1/2 with row shut off (shuts off planter half and half), 20/20 gen 2, PP airforce, PP eset on the corn rows, yetter trash whippers on corn rows, ground drive, rebuilt the planter a couple years ago. I pull it with a JD 7820 but also have an 8330 on the farm. I plant no-till 15" beans and strip till corn.
I have been wanting to upgrade planters for the last few years, but haven't pulled the trigger and can't decide which direction to go. I have been trying to decide between going to a JD 1790 16/31, Kinze 3600 or 3660 16/31, or switching the 30" row beans and getting a JD 1770NT 16R30, or possibly buying a corn planter and keeping what I have for a 15" row bean planter. I would like to upgrade to a 16 row planter- although the prospect of maintaining and outfitting 31 rows on a split row planter seems like a lot- I am also worried about the weight when using it to plant corn. I like 15" rows a lot, but not sure I can justify the cost with how much I farm. I like the idea of the kinze for easier maintenance - but we also have a very good local JD dealer. I used to have 2 planters (JD 7000 for corn & Kinze 2600 for beans) but I got sick of maintaining 2 planters and that's why I bought the 1780 about 10 years ago. Would likely be outfitting esets on the corn rows (possibly vset?) - I will never ever go back to pro max 40's. My ground is pretty even, so I'm not sure I'd see a huge benefit from hydraulic down force- airforce seems to work well.
The 1780 has been a good planter for the most part- but its very hard to work on. Plants corn beautifully, but can sometimes have issues keeping row units in the ground planting no-till beans. When you apply more DP it just wants to pop the bar out of the ground. Also I have a DMI 5310 12 or 16 row strip till bar- currently I pull 12 rows down with my 8330 to match the planter- I have pulled 16 rows down with the 8330 at about 4-5 inches, but not sure it will work as well in a wetter year. I can't afford to replace a planter, tractor, strip-till bar and whatever else all at the same time- so just trying to figure out the best combination of things. | |
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Planter Upgrade Thoughts
