Planting (almost) in your tire tracks

[charlz]

I have been playing around with these planters I picked up the other day, two JD 71's and two 70's trying to figure out if I can actually use them or if I should clean them up and resell them.

I've been thinking about rotating corn through some of my 'drive on' raised beds. I eyeballed the toolbar and it looked like maybe I could mount 3 of the planters at 15" spacing which would utilize my 50" beds fairly well. Trick is the two outside planters line up with the very edge of my tire track. I can't go any wider with my tires. How bad is this? Here are a few pics from a test run today.


In the first two you can see the planter wheel mark, it is about half on the tire track and half in undisturbed dirt.






I've got the covers and chains off the 71's as they were in pretty bad shape and and need replacing along with the tension springs.



This one gives you a pretty good idea how tractor and planter tires almost line up.







Another question: I found the 71's are set for sugar beets, a common crop around here, when I need them set up for corn. Do I absolutely need different bottoms or can I use the beet bottoms which have a larger hole? The guy I bought these off of was cleaning up his dad's place and didn't know much about them. Possible the parts are hanging in the barn or something and I am thinking of calling him for a look-see if I really need those extra parts.

 

[charlz]

Here is a pic, from a guy selling a beet setup on Ebay, that shows the beet bottoms and the larger holes (bottoms on the top/right)

 

[blueriver]

You need to adjust the width of the tractor tires ... I plant 30" rows and my wheels are 60" o.c.

 

[blueriver]

oops ... you could also adjust the planter to 1/2 the measurement of your wheels center to center ... didn't look like you had any room to move them in.

 

[charlz]

oops ... you could also adjust the planter to 1/2 the measurement of your wheels center to center ... didn't look like you had any room to move them in.

Not sure I understand that? I don't really have room to move anything. _Might_ be able to swap the brackets for the 3pt with the planters but that would move the planters even closer together than 15".

Since the tractor isn't super heavy make the 'compaction' won't really make a difference?

 

[Tritonman]

Just plant two rows in your bed would be one way to solve the problem. But You should be able to narrow up your spacing to about 13 inches between rows. With the sugarbeet bottoms you cannot plant corn. The picture that is posted shows the bottom and the plate that the aluminum (seed tube) sleeves into to deliver the seed to the soil-between the discs. Corn/soybeans should come up good enough for a food plot with the compaction on the side of the row.

 

[charlz]

Just plant two rows in your bed would be one way to solve the problem. But You should be able to narrow up your spacing to about 13 inches between rows. With the sugarbeet bottoms you cannot plant corn. The picture that is posted shows the bottom and the plate that the aluminum (seed tube) sleeves into to deliver the seed to the soil-between the discs. Corn/soybeans should come up good enough for a food plot with the compaction on the side of the row.

Thanks for the info on the bottoms, I will call the guy and see if I can go poke around the barn for other parts. These planters were sitting in the weeds for a few years so who knows where all the other parts are.

 

[blueriver]

Not sure I understand that? I don't really have room to move anything. _Might_ be able to swap the brackets for the 3pt with the planters but that would move the planters even closer together than 15".

Since the tractor isn't super heavy make the 'compaction' won't really make a difference?

I can not see the rear tractor wheels, can you change the inside dish of the wheels to get them wider and also set the planter in.

The compaction I don't see as a problem... the problem I see is if your going to use a cultivator ... well you will be running your crop over.

 

[deere755]

I plant on the very edge of my tire tracks and have no problems so far. I have been doing this for 2 years now. The one thing I like about it is the tractor is not heavy enough to compact the ground that much and the wheels bust up any clods in front of the planter. I think you will be fine with your setup.

 

[MMagis]

No matter how heavy your tractor is I doubt it will compact the soil as much as nature, and farmers no-till millions of acres of crops every year. In my opinion, firm soil is preferred to loose, fluffy soil. I think you’ll be fine.