JD Flex 71 seed spacing problem

[LabLuvR]

Hey guys I have a Flex 71 and planted some sunflowers two weeks ago with a two row planter. The problem I am seeing is gaps of a foot up to four foot without any germination. I planted at a pretty slow speed and did check for proper depth when I first began. A buddy came over tonight who is familiar with the Flex 71 and was stumped as well as to what the problem is. I am using the seed plate and filler pate Lincoln Ag suggested. I have not a clue why some rows look pretty good and then there are other rows with significant gaps and sporadic placing. I'm fairly sure planting depth was not the problem, it just seems the planter wants to skip distances for some reason.

Any suggestions would be appreciated this thing is driving me crazy!

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

I've planted sunflowers with 70 Flexi's, didn't have any problems. That was using a corn plate with the correct filler. Might look to make sure the knocker in the bottom of the hopper is good, no broken spring. Check to ensure the boot and tube (if present) aren't blocked. Did the rows that had the sporadic spacing get planted with the same unit? The JD 71 Flexi is a very proven platform, still in production through Yetter, I believe.

 

[Tigershark]

I have a 2 Row AC No Till Planter and I tried with Sunflower plates the first time and got similar results as you described. I switched to a corn plate that I planted several acres of corn with and got much better results. I tried 4 different plates until I got the results I was looking for. I think I have 6 or 7 different plates and just raised the planter up and swapped them out and then spun the wheel until seed started dropping, when I found the one that I liked I went with it and that happened to be a corn plate, my buddy plants his sunflowers with a bean plate. My JD Blue sunflower plate just didn't drop seed consistently for my liking.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I planted a couple of acres of sunflower with the plate recommended by Lincoln Ag using a JD 71. Got good spacing and germination. I used seed bought for feeding birds. I didn't use the expensive seed from CO OP that a real farmer would use. Had a great looking field. Unfortunately, deer love the young heads. They mauled my crop and nothing was left for doves.

 

[Tigershark]

Jerry,
I know the feeling, I had to plant 3 times last season, 3rd time was Ok I had Clearfield sunflowers but decided to use the walmart black oil sunflowers for birds just in case and I am glad I did because the deer destroyed them each time. Ended with a couple hundred plants that survived the deer. They haven't bothered mine this year but it might be because we have close to 30 acres of soybeans that they really like. I expect to lose some to the deer if not all of them again