Rock at OMNI Mfg.
I have seen comments by Ken at Sweet scaring the bejabbers out of people with the horror stories about imported cultipacker wheels exploding. Man you would think they were surplus claymore mines or something. I have over 300 cultipackers is the field without one failure of wheels or frame. I think we must be beating the odds. Even if one were to fail $13 to replace one wouldn't break the bank.
That brings up another controversial subject. Cultipacker weight some people (ahem) claim you need the antique 18" or 20" wheels to apply proper pressure for food plot seeding.
Here are some excerpts from a Whitetail Institute article that explains it better than I could.
What is a cultipacker? A cultipacker is an implement used to smooth, firm and eliminate cracks from a seedbed that has been disked or tilled. Its main components is a packing-cylinder assembly, which consists of a row of wheel-shaped “packer plates” mounted side-by-side on an axle. The outer edge of each packing plate is peaked, giving the packing cylinder a wavy, or “corrugated” packing surface when the plates are mounted side-by-side on the axle. The peak of each packing plate is either smooth or notched. The packing cylinder is mounted to a frame by bearings, which allow the cultipacker to roll as it is pulled across the ground.
Cultipackers come in a wide variety of lengths, weights, sizes and configurations. The smallest cultipackers have only one packing cylinder, while the largest may have multiple cylinders. Also, some are stand-alone implements, and others are included as cultipacking components of a variety of multi-task implements. (One of the most familiar multi-task implements to most hunters are food-plot planters that have a seeder, disks and harrows with a cultipacker mounted in the back.)
Food-Plot Cultipackers – Optimum Features. In this article, we’ll keep it simple and just talk about stand-alone cultipackers. The most versatile and efficient stand-alone cultipackers for most food plotters will have the following characteristics:
(A) A total length of 3 feet to 12 feet
(B) A single packing cylinder
(C) Packing plates with a diameter of about 8 inches to one foot
For simplicity, I’ll refer to these as “FPCs” (food-plot cultipackers). For comparison, I’ll refer to cultipackers longer than 12 feet, with larger diameter packing plates or both as “LHCs” (large, heavy cultipackers).
What Does a Cultipacker Do?
A cultipacker does quite a few things as it is pulled over soil. The most obvious are that it smoothes and firms soil that has been recently disked or tilled. Others, though, are not as obvious. One less obvious thing a cultipacker does is compact the soil to remove air, which can help reduce evaporation of soil moisture. Another is that the corrugated surface of a cultipacker’s packing cylinder leaves shallow valleys as it moves across the soil.
These functions are what make a cultipacker such a great tool for preparing seedbeds for small seeds. As we look at why, keep in mind that the goal is to make the seedbed optimum for small seeds, and that “optimum” means “just right – no more, and no less.”
“Optimum” Seedbed Firmness. Optimum seedbed firmness means that the seedbed should be firm enough, but not too firm. It should be firm enough for small seeds planted on or near the surface of the soil to stay where you put them and not be driven too deep or washed away by rain. It should not be so firm, though, that the seedlings won’t be able to easily penetrate the soil with their tiny roots once the seeds germinate. If the seedling’s roots can’t penetrate the soil, the roots may grow sideways instead of straight down, potentially reducing seedling survivability and drought tolerance.
“Optimum” Moisture Retention. The seedbed should be firmed enough to remove air from the soil, reducing the rate at which soil moisture evaporates. However, the seedbed should not be so firm that its ability to absorb moisture is reduced.
“Optimum” Moisture Availability to the Seedlings. The corrugated shape of a cultipacker’s packing cylinder leaves little valleys in the soil as the cultipacker moves across the seedbed. There is also an optimum depth for these valleys—they should be deep enough to help channel rainwater to the seeds and reduce evaporation by wind, but not so deep that water stands in them.
As we’ll see, if a seedbed has been properly prepared by disking or tilling, an FPC will leave the soil in optimum condition in all these areas for small seeds.
Why FPCs are so Versatile and Efficient for Food Plots
Versatility: Weight and Size. Lighter weight and smaller size make FPCs much easier to load, unload, store and transport. With regard to transport, some FPCs even come with riding wheels so that the cultipacker can be towed to the seedbed where it will be used.
Efficiency: Weight and Packing Plate Diameter. FPCs are also more efficient at using implement weight to generate pressure against the soil. Here’s how Matt Kunz of Kunz Engineering explains that.
“A common misconception is that how well a cultipacker can do its job depends entirely on how heavy it is. Actually, the important consideration is how much pressure the cultipacker is putting on the soil. That doesn’t just depend on the cultipacker’s weight. It also depends on how big an area of the soil’s surface the cultipacker’s packing plates are in contact with. The smaller the area of surface contact is, the more the cultipacker’s weight is focused onto it. Notched packing plates further concentrate the cultipacker’s weight at the notch points, much like the cleats of a mud tire do on rough ground.”
Obviously that does not mean that a smaller diameter cultipacker is automatically going to firm and smooth the soil better than a heavier cultipacker with larger diameter plates; Matt is not saying that, and neither am I. Instead, we’re just pointing out the efficiency of smaller cultipackers. Everything else being equal, a cultipacker with smaller diameter packing plates will require less weight than a cultipacker with larger diameter packing plates to achieve a similar soil pressure.
Also, realize that the larger a packing plate is, the more highly peaked it will be, and the deeper the valley it will leave in the soil. That’s why LHCs with packing plates larger than one foot in diameter leave deeper valleys than FPCs, everything else being equal.
Remember, our goal is to prepare an optimum seedbed (firm enough but not too firm, etc.) for small seeds. An FPC is the most versatile and efficient tool to do that.
Rock again. The antique cultipackers were used for field prep after moldboard plowing and/or discing. Obviously a heavier packer would break down heavy clods of soil more efficiently. However most cultipackers sold today are used for seeding. How much weight do you need to press a rape seed 1/4" into a properly prepared seed bed? Get my point.
To sum it up. The newer generation of less expensive, easier handling and more efficient cultipackers are better suited for the modern sportsman/foodplotter. No worries about wooden bearings and excess weight to transport.
One final thought. If you still think you need additional weight add a suitcase or barbell weight rack that will allow you to add another 300-500lbs
