Attachments to sow cover crop mixture and then lightly bury

[Chancho]

I知 pretty new to ag machinery.

Going to be broadcasting 1.5 tons of mixed seeds: cowpeas, pigeon peas, canavalia, moringa and castor bean.
The large plot, which is currently cow pasture will be prepared with subsoiler, 5 bottom plow, and disc harrow.

Would a second pass with the disc harrow be good enough to plant (partially bury) these mostly bean-sized seeds? Or would they maybe go too deep?

Also is there a seed spreader that can handle this mixture of different sized seeds?

 

[jeff9366]

Going to be broadcasting 1.5 tons of mixed seeds: cowpeas, pigeon peas, canavalia, moringa and castor bean.
The large plot, which is currently cow pasture will be prepared with subsoiler, 5 bottom plow, and disc harrow.

Would a second pass with the disc harrow be good enough to plant (partially bury) these mostly bean-sized seeds? Or would they maybe go too deep?

If you adjust the gang angles on your Disc Harrow to relatively minor angles, the DH will bury seeds less deep.

If you adjust your Top Link so 40% of the weight is on the front gangs, which throw dirt out and will leave seed on the surface, and 60% of weight on the rear gangs, which gather dirt in, covering the seeds, you should be good with bean size seeds, assuming you subsequently have 3/4" or more rain per week.
(Rear gang is wider than front gang.) (Longer Top Link transfers more DH weight to rear gangs.)

In addition, use the Three Point Hitch lever position control to just set the DH pans just into the soil surface.




Smaller seeds often require sunlight to germinate. Covered, small seed germination declines. Small seeds are best pressed into the surface of the soil, uncovered, with a Cultipacker. PHOTOS

MORE: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ing-three-point-hitch-mounted.html?highlight=

 

[Chancho]

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like the seed sizes will be ok then with the disk harrow as long as I set it a bit higher, since the smallest seeds are bean size. The seeds probably shouldn’t go more than 0.5 inches - 2cm deep for optimum germination.

 

[Foodplot]

From our N. American perspective, you have big seeds and really big seeds! I would think a good tactic would be a couple of passes with the disc to get the soil texture correct, broadcast, then use a drag of some sort to cover.
Please educate me. I know pigeon peas and cowpeas and canavalia, all nice food crops, good N producers. Castor? Won't those shade out your legumes, not to mention toxicity? Moringa? That's a tree, yes? Why this mix? I work in Africa a lot, but know nothing of S. America.

 

[Chancho]

From our N. American perspective, you have big seeds and really big seeds! I would think a good tactic would be a couple of passes with the disc to get the soil texture correct, broadcast, then use a drag of some sort to cover.
Please educate me. I know pigeon peas and cowpeas and canavalia, all nice food crops, good N producers. Castor? Won't those shade out your legumes, not to mention toxicity? Moringa? That's a tree, yes? Why this mix? I work in Africa a lot, but know nothing of S. America.

Canavalia is not usually grown for food, but is the best N-fixer. Castor and Moringa only amount to 2kg and 8kg respectively of the ~1500kg seed mix. They are mostly for texture and biodiversity. But this is what really convinced me to incorporate them into my mixture:
A study titled, Above- and below-ground biomass and allometry of Moringa oleifera and Ricinus communis grown in a compacted clayey soil

In short, they help improve compacted clay, which is common in the tropics on heavily grazed land. Here逞ｴ a cool image from the article. Not many studies actually go into this much detail about the root structures of different species.

The first two years of the propert development I will not be harvesting anything from the land. These years will be purely for soil improvement. This is a long term project with about 5,000 fruit tree saplings, and another 5,000 saplings of pioneer trees. The cover crop mixture is simply to help prepare the soil for proper development of the fruiting trees. As such the area will be 杜owed every 3-6months.

 

[Foodplot]

Thanks! I couldn't figure the rationale behind that mix. Best of luck with your project.

 

[Chancho]

Would it work putting this mixture into a spreader?

Do drag harrows work for bean-sized seeds? I’m worried that approach will just carry away the seeds.

 

[skipperbrown]

When we plant food plots we aggressively disk (pans angled at maximum cut), spread the seed by type, and then turn the disk pans straight and run across the plots once or twice to cover the seed. Even running straight, the disk throws quite a bit of dirt. Doing this right before a rain really improves germination. If there is any tiny seed, spread it on top after you are done covering the big seed and let the next rain bury it. I recommend spreading each seed separately unless you can create an uniform mix as different seeds flow at a different rate through the spreader if you are broadcasting. If you have a drag available, it will work as well or better as the disk.

 

[jeff9366]

Do drag harrows work for bean-sized seeds?

Some use a chain harrow for setting seed. Some use a Landscape Rake for setting seed.

The soil preparation and setting of seed is certainly important but regular rain after seeding is the crucial factor.

I trust you will have a soil test done, with samples taken from several parts of the land.