grain drill setting for jap millet

[sae254931]

have access to a mf 33 grain drill and was looking at drilling in some jap millet does anyone have any experience doing this with their grain drill and if so what setting do you use i am looking at putting it out at about 25 lbs per acre any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[marksmu]

Dont have any experience with your drill, but I can tell you with the japanese millet, you do not want to put it too deep. With any millet really...your looking for 1/4 to 1/2 in max depth.

We put out 25 acres millet this year with a 15' no till. The areas where it was just barely in the ground did much better than when there was a small hill or change in elevation and the drill buried the seed.

Also remember, that stuff wont grow with wet feet. It needs to be well drained.

 

[paulinkansas]

Are you going to hunt ducks over that? The jap should grow in moist soil.

 

[sae254931]

i am i had 12 acres of corn that went underwater last week and is now ruined just looking at the best way to make something out of nothing here

 

[flusher]

have access to a mf 33 grain drill and was looking at drilling in some jap millet does anyone have any experience doing this with their grain drill and if so what setting do you use i am looking at putting it out at about 25 lbs per acre any help will be greatly appreciated

Seed is pretty expensive so don't guess. Jack up your drill and calibrate it by hand--eliminates the guesswork. That's how I get the right settings for my old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 drill (20 drops, 6" spacing).

 

[marksmu]

Are you going to hunt ducks over that? The jap should grow in moist soil.

Yes we hunt ducks over it....after we have bailed it once....problem being that it stands up well in wet soil, but does not grow.

The Japanese millet can be flooded after it has gone to seed and it works great, but it will not grow underwater....especially lots of water.

I have gotten 13 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks. All my duck ponds are full, and its not time for them to be so.

 

[sae254931]

when you calibrate what are you looking for i have heard 25 lbs per acre drilled is ideal what are you looking for when you calibrate are you going by seed spacing or number of seeds per wheel revolution just trying to get the best way to do this

 

[flusher]

when you calibrate what are you looking for i have heard 25 lbs per acre drilled is ideal what are you looking for when you calibrate are you going by seed spacing or number of seeds per wheel revolution just trying to get the best way to do this

I plant oats at 100 lb/acre.
My drill has separate axles for each wheel, 10 drops per axle and a feed metering control for each set of 10 drops.
So I calibrate half of the drill then do the other half.
I fill the seed bin partially, put shallow plastic pans under the drops, and turn the wheel 50 revolutions (the number is not that critical). From the diameter of the wheel I can calculate the number of revolutions per acre. With that info and the weight of the seed in the collection pans, I can calculate the lb/acre for that feed setting. Repeat for several feed settings and then repeat for the other half of the drill.