Small Planter - Medium Tractor

[JimHam]

I have a Kubota M8200 80HP with a category II hitch. I want to put in small food plots - acre or less on my property and a dove field - sunflowers. Been looking for small planters but most are for Category 1 tractors. Not crazy about buying junk and rebuilding it when I see new ones for almost the same price. I have zero experience with planters and would appreciate some recommendations on a planter that would work with my tractor and will handle sunflowers, corn, sorghum etc.

 

[Fallon]

Order some $5 Cat1 to Cat2 bushings & just hook it up. You'd have to remove a Quick Hitch if you had one as the width is different, but that wouldn't matter with the 3pt swinging free & not attached to a QH.

 

[smstonypoint]

You can find the bushings at Tractor Supply.
CountyLine Category 2 to 1 Lift Arm Bushing - For Life Out Here
CountyLine Category 2 to 1 Top Link Bushing - For Life Out Here


Steve

 

[JimHam]

OK I can go to Cat I. Thanks. How about recommendations on a planter? Ive seen Covington and Cole that look pretty good. Any other options? I have enough projects right now with rebuilding an old cultipacker and a JD disk. NO MORE BUYING SOMEBODY ELSE'S JUNK TO FIX. Planters have a lot of moving parts with timing and adjustments being critical to a successful crop. Advice appreciated

 

[fredflintstone]

Landall-- Brillion makes a real nice food plot planter FP6 I beleave googel brillion they have a real nice planter that will
plant just about anything. I beleave the Brillion is the top the line then Kosco planters . need to figure if you want to
no till meaning unworked up field (no till ) or traditional I don't know all but no till is by far the most expensive, I think
a 6' greatplanes no till drill is probly N of $12.000.00 most of the food plot brands that come to me are the Friminator and
Theplotmaster are a couple they along with the brillion can be had around $6000 thinking new prices Ive looked at a few landpride
has some also let us know what you decide

 

[JimHam]

I will probably go with conventional tillage. My ground is reclaimed strip mine and has a lot of rock - some areas being worse than others. I will not be deep tilling the land with a plow or chisel plow because of the rock. I will clear the plots of rock the best I can then disk up the ground deep enough to plant. Will probably be using the ATV with a broadcast spreader for the deer plots but will need a row planter to make a good dove field. Used to be in a hunt club and our dove fields were sunflowers planted in rows with herbicide used to control weeds. They were harvested in strips by the guy who did the fields for us and he left some rows standing to attract the doves. Worked like a charm. Not sure you could broadcast sunflowers and get the same results. I'm also going to look into renting a small food plot planter but with the rocks I might be better to just buy my own and set it up for what I want to do.

 

[JimHam]

Been Doing some more research and found a guy who rebuilds older John Deer 71 and similar planters. They look pretty good and I've heard good things about the JD 70 series planters. Anybody have experience using the JD planters for sunflowers? According to his website the 70 series uses plates to pick up the seed while the 71 series uses "fingers". Which would be better for sunflowers?

 

[skipperbrown]

If you aren't dead set on buying a planter, I suggest you try broadcasting your seed. I have broadcast sunflower seeds with great success. Broadcast and then cover with a disk with the pans set straight. If you have time to experiment, you might save some money and time.

 

[fredflintstone]

planter I had built with john deere 71s and liquid fertilizer

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

Been Doing some more research and found a guy who rebuilds older John Deer 71 and similar planters. They look pretty good and I've heard good things about the JD 70 series planters. Anybody have experience using the JD planters for sunflowers? According to his website the 70 series uses plates to pick up the seed while the 71 series uses "fingers". Which would be better for sunflowers?

71 deere flex planter is still sold new today, the design is now owned by yetter. 70 & 71 where very similar planters I wonder if the website you are mentioning when it referres to fingers is not talking about 7100, etc series plate less planters.

 

[300UGUY]

70 and 71 are plate planters. 7100 are a different technology. They share very few parts.

 

[kthompson]

You need to decide what you want to plant and are you wanting it on a bed due to low area or want to plow to keep down weeds, if so planter is needed. If not broadcast can be a good option. One thing would suggest you give a thought to if you do broadcast is a field cultivator to do the covering rather than a disk. However if you have disk use it and do not purchase a field cultivator just for that.

As to planters, I have four older Cole Planters on four row cultivator frame now. They are I know over 30 years old and last year planted soybeans as good as you could ask for. Hard to beat their ability to plant about anything. Issue there is if you buy such planters parts are hard to find, no longer making them as far as I know. Their design is very simple to switch plates so you can plan big seed to tiny seed. Easy to change spacing and so forth just need the gears for that. If you can find a set in good condition with plates and chain gears at fair price you will like them. This year moved to one of the JD planters that does use plates and only real advantage I found was they are pull behind over lift with my Cole. Now the new Covington not same design of theirs from years back so I have been told.

I have M6800 Kubota and it handles four rows of planters very easy.

Planters will not need as much seed as you have to put out when broadcasting. When you broadcast and cover you will not get all seeds at a good depth. Some will be too shallow and others too deep but cost of broadcast equipment is cheap compared to planters.

 

[dougg]

An older Cole or JD in good shape with a bunch of different planting plates will work fine.

 

[fredflintstone]

ive not done sunflowers with mine but did get a plate for them end of last yr I have broadcast them in the past with great results
I use my 71 planter mainly for corn and soybeans but does have the capability to plant many other, peanuts and sugarbeets require
adapter plates. seen them many times on ebat y for sale and sunflowers require a spacer plate. plates can still be purchased by a company
in illinoise that will make them 15bucks each. but if this is for wildlife they don't care if its in rows I think a planter like the Brillion would work
out for you one of the few that says will plant corn. but in reality have planted just about everything at one time or anther by broad casting,
just depends on what your planting have broad casted and tilled in corn and soybeans works well, for seed like sorghum broad cast and litely
drag in works like a charm mainly depends on how large and area you plan on maintaining. but most smaller seed will require a cultipacker.
as a rule of thumb the larger the seed the deeper the seed to be planted. most plots an acre or under can easily be broadcast earthway makes good broad cast spreader or solo

 

[powerscol]

Just a question - do you have a local agg dealer that rents them? Possibly this time of year they are clearing out their rental stock. Might be worth looking into. I know my local rental place has an older Brillion seed drill they rent out, but that might be a different animal to what you looking for. I mentioned the name as they only rent stuff that works and stands up.

 

[TnFarm]

Home They have quite a few options here. Both new and used.

 

[JimHam]

Thanks for all the replies, they are a big help. I am in the process of rebuilding an old McCormick Deering two axle cultipacker that I bought anticipating needing one on deer food plots. I also plan to get a chain harrow. Also purchased another "project" a 12 foot JD disk. I am not a farmer but I grew up working on my grandfather's farm and my wife's family are farmers and give me good advice. From what I've read on planting a dove field and my own experience hunting sunflowers the birds like bare ground. Not sure I could get that by broadcasting sunflowers since they are "throw and grow" I have a lot of weeds to deal with. Always shot a lot of doves over silage fields which were very clean after cutting. Our sunflower fields on the hunt club had that bare ground too and we had some great hunts there so that is what I was trying to do in my dove field. Were the broadcast sunflowers you folks planted for dove hunting or to harvest for seed or wildlife food?