Whats a good Planter ?

[flusher]

Decided I would start learning about planters. In the past, Ive only used a seeder to broadcast food plots (beans in summer and oats in fall) I now have a good disk and tractor at my disposal and would like to become a bit more refined in my food plot installation. Also want to start planting a bit larger foodplots. Anyway, It seems a planter would be nice to get the beans / corn in a row for spraying or cultivating. What are some good 6-8 foot planters. (Brand and model #) thanks

You could use a grain drill--my old, restored Minneapolis Moline P3-6 drill (10-ft wide, 20 hoes, single disc openers) will plant soybeans, corn, peas, common bean). I've only used it to plant Kanota oats. Use the large fertilizer box for the big size seeds.



I bought two of these units for $275, used parts from both to make one working drill, spent about $200 for parts (mostly fasteners and a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the openers). Spent about 2 months getting the drill assembled and calibrated for oats and granulated fertilizer.

Food plot folks like yourself have spawned a market for old grain drills--small size (5-ft wide or so) obtained by cutting larger drills in half. I looked at these for my hayfield (which is only 6 acres), but these dwarf drills are still too pricy for my likes ($1500 and up on eBay, Craigslist, etc).

Good luck

 

[cowski]

i would not recommend a cut down 7100 . a 4 row maybe.how much are you going to plant.a 7100 is a very good planter,but a lot of mantiance .i have owned several.if you do not want a covington .look for ih ,john deere or burch individual unit planter.if you plan to cultivate ,get one with row markers.it is hard to slow a grain drill enough to plant corn with it.

 

[swmich42]

I also have been eying the JD71's that come up for sale. Looking for 2 row unit. Not clear on whether the 71's come as no till vs till. If anyone has further information on the 71 planter, would appreciate it.

 

[cowski]

most of the older ones have swords can not be used for no til .some of them have double disk openers good for no til.if you do not no til i think the covington 2 row set up is better for small acreage. a ford 7710 is really to big for 2 row.i would look for a 4 row wide{40 in spacing} or 6 row narrow{30 inch spacing}.

 

[jimgerken]

An important difference between the 71 and 7000 type planters: The 71 row unit is ground driven from its own press wheel (the last rubber wheel that presses the seed row down at the back after the unit places the seed in the ground). And each row unit has its own press wheel. So the 71 unit is capable of being mounted alone, or any number together on a toolbar, 3 point hitch lifted. On the other hand, the 7000 type row unit is externally mechanically driven. Each row unit has a sprocket that must be turned by a drive chain to make the planter mechanism turn. On the typical four-row unit there are two or four implement tires touching the ground, supporting the weight of the toolbar, and picking up the drive power, transmitting the power via chain to a driven shaft across the width of the planter frame, allowing the power to be taken off by each row unit with another small chain.
If you think about it, cutting down a 7000 is way more work, because of this power distribution system. The 71 type unit does not need external power, just turn the press roller and the seed mechanism operates. I have seen 2 row 7000 planters that were cut from 4 or 6 row units, but they have to have that big implement drive wheel and all the other power distribution stuff, so are way more complex. Probably really nice planters though, as a 7000 is tough to beat for accuracy.

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

I like messing with planters and drills. The older stuff is tough, and works good. First one I refurbed, was a 2 row A/C 600 series plate planter. It was simple to set up, rugged, used JD plates with an adaptor, and was HEAVY. Used it for several years, it's got a new home in SE Oklahoma. Found an old JD Model FB 15 X 7grain drill. Right side drive gears were stripped out on it. Decided I'd cut it down to a 7 X 7 for a food plot machine. It looks like it was made this size, and plants a mean rye or wheat plot. Next is a JD 2 row # 6 lister planter. This planter came from western Kansas. I thought the spoke wheels looked sharp. It's a mechanical trip lift, manual markers. Pretty cool old planter, works great. Found these JD 70 Flexi planter units. Built a toolbar for them that I hope to incorporated a fertilizer feeder on. I have 2 more I'm in the process of rebuilding. Replaced bearings, disc openers, scrapers, and seals on the disc opener bearings on the pictured ones. Now I'm working on this FB drill. It had a busted frame and lift clutch, on the right side. Started out as a 17 X 7. Now it's a 8 X 7, with working fertilizer and grass seed box. I think my favorite of all of them is the # 6 Lister. Believe it or not, the Allis Chalmers units are the newest. They were late 60s units, the 2 FB drills are 1950. the #6 is 1950, and the 70 Flexi units are late 50s. They plant the best, can adjust to about any row width, and are really accurate. Mark

 

[pharmvet]

Well, I have learned quite a bit from you guys regarding the differenced in the 70/71 and the 7000 series. Sounds like for my purposes (KISS) I would be better off with the older, more mechanical, possibly more reliable 71 units. Just so happens a local has a 4 row for sale. I talked to him this evening and he said he would take $500 for it. He mentioned that he kept it in the barn "all these years" and put it outside last winter. He said one of the boxes or hoppers, containers might need to be replaced. Could you replace the round metal containers with fiberglass units? Keep the information coming. I started from scratch with my knowledge of planters and Im learning lots from you guys.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

most of the older ones have swords can not be used for no til .some of them have double disk openers good for no til..

Only a few 70's and 71's came with runner openers. Even the very first 70's, sold in the mid 1950's were more commonly equipped with disc openers. You had to specifically request (order) runner openers. Disc openers were standard equipment on 70's and 71's throughout their production run.

Yetter Mfg, who built many of the 71's (under contract w/ Deere) bought design and production rights from Deere once Deere dropped the 71. Yetter still sells them, albeit a hefty purchase price.

70's and 71's are WAY too light weight to be considered as a no till planter. In "normal conditions" you would get very little soil penetration even with good disc openers, even with down pressure settings at their maximum. I know of people who have tried no tilling with 71's but they get VERY POOR seed depth consistency (Which is critical for corn)

All said and done, the #71 is still the most "adaptable" plate type planter ever built. Most seed corn growers used them well into the late 1990's, as it was VERY gentle with seed, VERY accurate with seed placement, and VERY easy to set seed rates, spacings, ect..

 

[cowski]

the older john deere planters we used before the 7100 max emerge had sword openers.i do not remember the number .all we used to plant was cotton around here.maybe the local deere ordered all of them with sword openers .

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

Sounds like for my purposes (KISS) I would be better off with the older, more mechanical, possibly more reliable 71 units. Just so happens a local has a 4 row for sale. I talked to him this evening and he said he would take $500 for it.

If that 4 row planter is 71 units, in decent shape, I'd be all over that like a chicken on a June bug! Parts are still available from John Deere (Yetter too), they're simple to work on, rebuild, set up and use. You can find the seed boxes on ebay fairly often. Definately NOT (IMHO) a no-till planter. For the price of a 7000 or 7100, you could probably get that 4 row your local has, and a good old drill. Then you can plant your plots in anything you want. Mark