Great Plains No-Till Drill

hearnc843 · Apr 7, 2020

The county soil and water conservation rents out a seed drill for a fair price- $10 per acre, $50 dollar minimum. I have a small 2.5 acre pasture that I am thinking of using it on,
overseeding with K31 (already established K31/clover mixture pasture). Here's the info of the drill:

2017 Great Plains 706NT-1075

7FT END WHEEL NO TILL COMPACT DRILL

10 OPENERS 7.5 ROW SPACINGS

9.00 X 24 8 PLY TIRES

7FT WORKING WIDTH

9FT 10 INCH TRANSPORT WIDTH

5/8 TURBO COULTERS

17.5 BU MAIN SEED BOX CAPACITY

1.68 BU SMALL SEED BOX

Has anyone used one of these before? If so, any insight to operation, trailing, setting depth/seed rate? I have hard, rocky soil, with clay so I am guessing the rollers will have
to be set fairly deep to push the seed into the ground. I have done some homework already and seen the basic youtube videos of how to operate the drill. Any insight would be
greatly appreciated.

Bobl1958 · Apr 7, 2020

The County Ext should give you a seed rate chart with the information to set the feed rate to what you are wanting to plant. Just follow the instructions, it is fairly simple. As for depth, shallow is far better than deeper. Just cover the seed, at least in our area. Might depend on moisture a little but I wouldn't go too deep. Good luck - Bob

rrlund · Apr 7, 2020

The district here used to have a Vermeer that they rented out. When you'd rent that one,a technician would come out with it and make sure it was set up and working right.

casecollectorsc · Apr 7, 2020

Have a 20' Great Plains drill and coulter cart. Put seed in, set depth for 2", set drill for pounds per acre of seed planted that I want and go...pretty simple.

tomstractorsandtoys · Apr 7, 2020

I just no-tilled 6 acres of oats with a 1006 today that belongs to neighbor.Same drill just wider. Good drill but the seed charts are not even close. For grass I would want to roll the field when finished. I usually plant 70-80 acres a year with this drill.I would check online for a set of directions for calibrating a grain drill. You will need a small scale and a tape measure to mark off distance. Did this one today and the book settings were way heavy. Tom

300guy · Apr 7, 2020

Don't even try to do any seed rate less than 4 pounds. It will not work with anything under that!! I used one years ago from Pheasants Forever and I spent over 6 hours trying to get 2 pounds on 10 acres!!!! 4 pounds or over I have been told it works good even though I have never used it since that time and probably never will again.

VicS · Apr 7, 2020

I have had a 10ft one for 30 yrs. In my book it says if you really want to know how much seed it is sowing. Jack up drive wheel measure around it. Then figure how far drill has to travel to plant 1/10 of acre 43560 sq.feet in 1 acre .or 4356 sq ft. You have the picture I'm sure. So figure what percentage 1 opener is of drill. So count rounds of drive wheel to plant 1/10 acre weigh seed from one opener. Or just set it like it says on underside of lid and go for it. Above all have fun.

Leroy · Apr 8, 2020

Any grass seed I know of only wants a quarter of an invh coverage. What you have not said is what kind, power tractor you plan on using as that drill would take nothing less in size than a later model Ford 5000 and that is smaller than Great Plains have said,

Great Plains No-Till Drill

hearnc843

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Bobl1958

Well-known Member

rrlund

Well-known Member

casecollectorsc

Well-known Member

tomstractorsandtoys

Well-known Member

300guy

Member

VicS

Well-known Member

Leroy

Well-known Member

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