Earthway Precision Garden Seeder Opinion

[yak651]

This was the garden from last year, planted this all in pumpkins by hand thats why i wanted to use a seeder. This is about the ground consistency, although hard to see its pretty good, but some clumps around 2-3" in diameter, worried about the seeder with this. I try to till first so maybe it will work ok.

 

[Bill Barrett]

yak, you need a tractor with a tiller.

 

[Luremaker]

... I don't understand anyone using a planter to plant melons, squash, cucumbers, or pumpkins. I plant those in hills or in a row and 6 feet apart. I don't know of any planter that will plant on 6' centers. I put 3 seeds in a hill and thin later when they come up...

It really depends on how many pumpkins you plant. Last summer I planted an acre of pumpkins and would not want to plant those 2000+ seeds by hand.

 

[jinman]

It really depends on how many pumpkins you plant. Last summer I planted an acre of pumpkins and would not want to plant those 2000+ seeds by hand.

Well, my calculations for plants on 6' centers will yield about 1200 hills-per-acre, but that's still a bunch to plant by hand. When raising pumpkins in bulk, you let them go until the plant dies back and then harvest. That's another reason that using a planter to plant rows would work. Once the vines get big, the ground is shaded and you don't really have to get back into the patch to weed. So, I would surely agree with you on that large number of plants. However, if I have to get into the field for multiple pickings like cucumbers and squash, then hills works pretty good. You could surely separate the rows by 6' and have plants in a row for those too.

 

[charlz]

Anybody using the fertilizer attachment? Says it can go as far as 2" down and 2" away which is what seems to be recommended for corn. Wonder if it really works all that well.

 

[Luremaker]

... When raising pumpkins in bulk, you let them go until the plant dies back and then harvest. That's another reason that using a planter to plant rows would work. Once the vines get big, the ground is shaded and you don't really have to get back into the patch to weed...

That's right Jim, we harvest pumpkins after the first frost which will kills most of the plants. Here's a picture of our last harvest.

 

[jinman]

That's right Jim, we harvest pumpkins after the first frost which will kills most of the plants. Here's a picture of our last harvest.

Very nice! I like your pickin' machine too.

 

[deere755]

I bought one in 1986 and still use it today. I would not be with out it. I raise just as good of sweet corn as I did when I planted by hand.

 

[randy41]

Anybody using the fertilizer attachment? Says it can go as far as 2" down and 2" away which is what seems to be recommended for corn. Wonder if it really works all that well.

i've used it. it just kinda sits on the seeder. you can't fertilize and seed in the same pass but it does place the fertilizer next to the row you planted if you drive it right. you can set the little digger part of the seeder to the depth you want the fertilizer to be placed. you can adjust the flow rate.

 

[erich]

I bought one for $5.00 at a "tag sale" (a strange new england term for garage sale). I caught it out of the corner of my eye as we were passing by. I knew what it was and had wanted one for some time. It reduced planting time incredibly. The only problem was I broke my father's cardinal rule for gardening, "Never plant a garden too big for your wife to take care of."

I have a 50 X 100 ft garden for corn, potatoes, and beans just down the road at the family farm. About two thirds of the garden is in corn. The rest is evenly split for beans and potatoes. We do the potatoes by hand, obviously, but I can plant the corn and beans in about 45 minutes once I have everything laid out.

Gaby grows tomatoes, squash, peas, lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries in raised beds up near our house. We have red raspberries as well. With the price of food going up we're planting more than ever this year.

Two of our pumpkin picking machines are grown and married with the third still in college. That has made a big difference in the labor expended. The Earthway has made up for a lot of that.

We are going to use an old Choremaster cultivator and a borrowed Mantis Tiller this year to handle the weeding between the rows. We'll see how that goes. I have been using an old David Bradley front tine rototiller that beats me to death for the past several years. I heard them refered to as a "Cincinatti Dancing Pig" once. After using one I know why!

I had a discectomy at C6 & C7 a month ago so this year may be a challenge, I can't expect my wife to do it all alone and i don't want to mess up that surgery. We are going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

Eric