Help with planter

Kodiak45 · Feb 26, 2013

im going to plant my first large garden this year along with some sunflowers for the doves. I recently purchased a 1 row cole planter mounted on a cultivator frame. It was a great deal and i had great expectations on my garden and crops. BUT- My tractor tires are 72" outside to outside & inside width is at 38" give or take an inch. How the heck am i supposed to plant 36" rows or even close to 36" rows with my tractor? moving the tire width is probably out of the question. If i let the tire run 10" away from the last row, then my rows would be 46". How is anything supposed to have decent spacing when planting with a 1 row planter mounted to a cultivator? it seems my best option might be to make a 3pt hitch frame and fabricate a toolbar and then attach the planter to the toolbar so that it can offset one of the tires.. hopefully i am just looking at this the wrong way. what do most people use one row planters for?

Eyecatcher · Feb 26, 2013

I could have written the above post. I have a Yanmar EX450. Tire width centerline is 56". I bought 2 cole planters mounted on a cultivator frame, set up for 36" rows, along with a spring tooth cultivator, set up the same way. I built a 3 point hiller hiller, and have spent several days trying to figure out how to hill or plant two rows at a time. The experts all tell me that 2rows must be spaced half of the centerline width of the rear tires. That would make my rows on 28" ctrs. I can probably adjust the planter and the cultivator to that width, but that seems awfully close. I have been seriously considering changing over to single row, but the existing wheel spaceing doesn't lend itself to that either. I don't think Yanmar makes any wheel spacers, and having them custom made would probably be very expensive. From what I read, none of the compact tractor wheel widths are set up for standard row crop widths.
Looking forward to someones better ideas.

sweettractors · Feb 26, 2013

mgraham112 said:
im going to plant my first large garden this year along with some sunflowers for the doves. I recently purchased a 1 row cole planter mounted on a cultivator frame. It was a great deal and i had great expectations on my garden and crops. BUT- My tractor tires are 72" outside to outside & inside width is at 38" give or take an inch. How the heck am i supposed to plant 36" rows or even close to 36" rows with my tractor? moving the tire width is probably out of the question. If i let the tire run 10" away from the last row, then my rows would be 46". How is anything supposed to have decent spacing when planting with a 1 row planter mounted to a cultivator? it seems my best option might be to make a 3pt hitch frame and fabricate a toolbar and then attach the planter to the toolbar so that it can offset one of the tires.. hopefully i am just looking at this the wrong way. what do most people use one row planters for?

Everyone moves the tires in or if you drive about 3 inches from the last row, that would get you pretty close to your target width. Ken Sweet

sweettractors · Feb 26, 2013

double post

Ted Summey · Feb 26, 2013

Wondering why changing width is out of the question? Is it possible to go to three rows versus one? With 72 inch width a toolbar to go to three rows would work. Might be excessive for a garden though.

Kodiak45 · Feb 26, 2013

Then i would need to buy 2 more planters and changing the tire width seems like a huge , which i don't think would solve the whole problem. It seems like 1 row planters on cultivators or ones that aren't on a toolbar are worthless for just one row. 3 inches close to the previous row seems awful close for comfort

sweettractors · Feb 26, 2013

mgraham112 said:
Then i would need to buy 2 more planters and changing the tire width seems like a huge , which i don't think would solve the whole problem. It seems like 1 row planters on cultivators or ones that aren't on a toolbar are worthless for just one row. 3 inches close to the previous row seems awful close for comfort

I have changed track width on tractors to plant with and then change back to cultivate with for over 50 yrs. It is no big deal and a part of operating a tractor and using its different variables. 2-3 inches from our corn or tobacco plants no problem at all. The cultivator can be set to take out the tractor tire tracks as you plant. Ken Sweet

Ted Summey · Feb 26, 2013

Mgraham, the reason I asked about changing the width is I am in line with Ken's thinking. Changing the width is just part of row crop farming. Most of our row crop/garden work is done with a Massey Ferguson 135 and a Farmall 140 and we leave them set for 36" row spacing. I do use the MX 5100 for tilling.