earthway garden seeder?

[greenthumb]

I have been looking at this to plant our garden this year. I would like to know if they work or has anyone used or seen one used and do they save time we plant about two acres of veggies each year and I would like to see if the earthway planter would be worth the money. I have seen them online for about $70 plus shipping

thanks

 

[GareyD]

I have one and wouldn't do without it for the garden...waaaaay easier than hand dropping seeds, spaces well and marks the next row as you plant...

Look into the extra seed plates that are available...the supplied plates work well for most seed, but the extra money for the additional plates is well spent...

GareyD

 

[Bird]

I bought mine, same price, at a local farm supply store (Gebo's) for that same price, then ordered the additional plates and a little canvas bag that attached to the handle to store the plates in so they were all always handy to change. So I had a total of approximately $90 in it. Handy little tool; sold it to a cousin when I had to move back to town.

 

[Molerj]

I have one too, I only use it for planting corn & beans.

 

[fishman]

When I was a kid we used one to plant about a half acre of garden and it worked quite well. As I recall, the soil had to be tilled pretty fine in order for the planter to efficiently cover the seeds. It also worked best with larger seeds like beans and corn. You could flat plant some ground with it if you wanted to. . . and my folks did. Boy did I get tired of picking green beans in the summer and eating canned beans all winter.

With two acres, you would save a lot of time.

 

[timb]

We have an older model - had mixed results. As was mentioned above - worked best on larger seeds and had to have a nicely tilled bed. I wouldn't bother for a small or medium garden with shorter rows but it worked great when we were planting 75-100 foot rows of sweet corn. I see they have a fertilizer attachment now - anyone know if that will work on older units - and if it is intended to fertilize as you plant or in a separate pass?

Tim

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( the soil had to be tilled pretty fine in order for the planter to efficiently cover the seeds )</font>

Yep, I usually just drug a hand rake down the rows after planting to be sure they were well covered.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( worked best with larger seeds )</font>

I think it works quite well even with the smallest seeds if you have the right plates. I used it for radishes and turnips as well as the larger seed.

 

[GareyD]

Yep, I've used mine for about all seeds...the only problem I had was with beet seeds...bought the additional plates and even that problem went away.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

GareyD

 

[Saxman]

I have had one for 10 years or so, I would not be without one. The savings in seed and uniformity that they are planted is GREAT. If you are a serious gardener, you HAVE to have one!! In my opinion.

 

[sassafraspete]

If you are putting in large rows of things like corn and beans, they are the cat's meow. My brothers and I used to put in a large garden in short order . I can still picture my oldest brother pushing that seeder along. Sometimes we had less than ideal conditions to work our clay ground and it would have some clods. Since the plates turn via a belt to the wheels...sometimes the wheels would skoot along instead of turning...and of course no seed would drop. When the ground was prepared poorly, I could always tell ...as the spacing on the corn would be erratic due to the wheel skoot. If the ground is in good shape, the wheel will roll just fine, and seeds will drop properly. Since we cultivated with a tractor, we would string a line as a guide for the planter...and also space it properly for the tires on the tractor. I remember one time when my brother got mixed up and didn't stay on the same side of the line...we had alternating wide and narrow rows. It was hard to cultivate that year....we had to use troybuilt only. Didn't have the fertilizer holder...but I always thought that might be a really good thing, especially with planting corn. All this garden talk has me thinking about fresh corn on the cob !!

sassafraspete