john deere planter stories?

swindave

Member
any one have any planter stories?
my dad was a smaller farmer, we had a several 290s, a ih ,planters, then a 490s
but their were several brands in my area,
then when the max emerge came on the market, deere sold a lot of them! lots of people who farmed with ih , when to
the max emerge in my area,
what was in your area?
thanks for your stories!
 
I vaguely recall as a young boy dad having a JD 490. I had an IH 400 during the 1980's and bought a well used JD 7000 6 row in 1990. In 1997 I bought a JD 7000 12 row front fold planter while the 6 row was fitted with a no-till outfit. In 2012 the 6 row was traded for a JD 1750 6 row with the no-till unit retained and placed on that planter.
 
In the late 70s I remember riding on a 999 pulled with a tractor planting sweet corn. My job was to raise with lever and dribble fertilizer in both sides as that was seized, I was probably around 10. Also Dad had a cut down to 22" 490 he used for soybeans, he always thought the inputs for field corn were too expensive.
 
The first one that comes to mind was an old 490 that we had. Not all that old at the time, but I broke that piece that slides up and down on that bar in the center when it raises and lowers. I was 15 at the time and planting with it. Dad wasn't home and I took the 65 Ford LTD to the dealership, got the part and fixed it and got back to planting. I mentioned breaking it at the supper table. He asked how I fixed it and I had to admit to taking the car even though I didn't have a license.
 
I remember having a 290 in the early sixties then getting a 494 IIRC that had a stainless steel spray tank mounted in the center. I used that planter as a teenager to spray Amiben (sp) spray on a soy bean field I planted on some of our neighbors ground that I share cropped. My Dad had not even used any herbicide at that time. My older brother and I were both very good at leveraging our Dad's farm and equipment to make extra money.
 
My boss back in the late 1970's had a 494 I believe, but it was traded in the winter I started working there, so I had no experience with it. He did mention something about having to be careful turning on the headlands to get the marker actuator to trip properly? It was traded due to not having insecticide boxes and we were at that time running into a lot of root worm issues. Moved over to an IH 56 that in themselves were a popular planter here
In laws had at that time a 1975 version 7000 8rn with dry fertilizer and insecticide. Pulled it with a 2130 JD on 18.4 x 30 rubber on rolling land. many said it couldn't be done but that combination planted thousands of acres for them. This spring I expect to head to the field with a '70"s vintage 7000 12rn. Still gets it done
 
As a kid I planted lots of corn with a John Deere 999 that belonged to my grandfather before us. Pilled it with Dad's Allis B. My brother or I drove the tractor, the other one rode the planter. Lots t do at the ends, Raise the planter, shut off the corn drop, shut off the fertilizer drop, and hope the markers swung out right. If not, had to get off and do it by hand. Our monitor was a flashlight shined on the drop tube. We both begged Dad to get a modern planter that wouldn't take two of us to operate. His response "I have to feed you both, you both got to work". He never got a better planter and we raised some pretty good corn with that thing.
 
My late farming partner started out with a 4000 six row, nice planter. He called me, the planter came unhooked on the railroad tracks because he did not put the clip in the pin. We have about 1/2 hour on the UP main line that runs through Iowa, we got the planter jacked up and hooked to tractor before the next train.

That was a good old planter, replaced by a 12 row 4200 no till that was a beast.
 
I grew up with a 4 row 38" 7000 with finger pickup meters and dry fertilizer. I still plant corn with that one, and added a 6 row 30" 7200 with vacuum meters for planting soybeans. Both are simple to run, repair, and set. The 7200 has paid for itself in seed savings compared to the press drills we used to seed beans with. Both get pulled with a side console 3020 diesel.

Lon
 
Dad planted with a 494 with the liquid fertilizer tanks, and had the large boxes for herb. and insect. and pulled with the 630, still have the 630. Wild guy from the town over planted with a 4020 and I think was an 8 row 7000, might have been 12 but planted in sixth or seventh gear. just few across the field. Still farming with his boys.
 
When I was a youngin we planted with a 494. Never could seem to get the marker arms to reverse at the end turns. Ended up leaving them both down all the time. Got to drive straight !
 
Randy, if I were your dad I would have given you a "atta boy." You got the job done. When I was 15 I usually had a 5 O'Clock shadow at !PM. Nobody that did not know better would have not thought anything about me driving down the road at age 15.
 
The first time Dad allowed me to run the planter was with a 1946 JD A and a 4 row JD 490 planter. I thought I found an easy way to follow the marker with one front tire in the furrow created by the marker and the other tire stradling the mound created by the marker. Unfortunately that left 30" rows between each set of 4 rows making picking corn with the A and a JD 227 mounted picker very challenging. A learning experience! Dad was not mad at me, but I was expected to do a better job next time. Dad never saw me do a better job, he died that Fall Sept. 10, 1970 when I was 15 years old. The next time I planted that field it was a touch wet and I had to beat on the steel press wheels to knock the dirt off every round because the dirt would build up on them and stop them from turning. Then I purchaced a 495A then a 7000 and then a 6-30" 7000.
 
Dad had 494A he bought new. We pulled it with a late model B. It sure made that B storm when the fertilizer boxes were full. The B had a rolla-matic front end and you drove on the marker line, you could plant near perfect rows.
 
Dad used a Deere 490 until 1968. I remember him using a check wire when i was a little kid but I was pretty young then. When he quit using the wire he power checked as he called it for awhile. When corn hybrids improved to where he could plant heavier he started what he called drilling the corn. Drilling meant the seed was dropped as single seed instead of groups of seeds in hills. When I came into the farming scene I started with an IH 58 plate planter that planted six 30 inch rows. I used it for probably 15 years then graduated to a Deere 7000 six row 30 inch. I put 500 acres per year through each of those two planters sitting out in the weather on a two cylinder Deere with the plate planter but I started using a cab tractor when the 7000 came along. Then I graduated to A 7200 vacuum planter. Through the past several years I have added electric drives to the 7200 along with other electronics and also auto steer to the tractor. The planter monitor which is really a computer records everything the planter is doing on an Ipad an off course yells at me if a row quits planting. Planting is finally fun! With all of these electronics telling what the planter is doing I still have not lost those old instincts I gained from planting with that plate planter with no monitor. You old seasoned farmers can probably say the same thing.
 
The first painter I remember dad using was a 494/495- not sure which even though it’s still in the shed. At one time he had liquid fertilizer, insecticide and banded herbicide behind the row. There was a 200 gallon Walsh tank on the 3point hitch of the 720. Dad said there were times he steered with the brakes because the spray tank was heavy enough the front wheels were off the ground.
As farm grew he got a 1280 8 row that was widened for wide rows. I think we were 36 inch rows at that time. I think the 1280 was narrow rows while 1290 was wide rows. To move on the road you added a hitch on one end, transport wheels on front and back and pulled end ways. Dad used 4010 to pull planter and had Walsh saddle tanks to broadcast herbicide behind the planter.
Around 1980 we wanted to move to narrow rows so got a (I think) 1260. It was 6 row, 30 inch. After the 8 row wide planter, dad never liked the smaller 6 row narrow planter. We even built a bar and mounted no till type coulters ahead of the runners to try to no till with it. For 1985 I bought a 7000 six row that we used until about 1992. Then we got a 7000 12 row around 1993 that had been modified with a Meeter or Meteer folding kit for easier transport. Since 2003 we, now I have used a 1760 ME Plus, 12 row, vacuum, wing fold.. I added Precision Planting vSet disks, bullseye tubes and Keeton firmers. The 7600 pulled this planter just fine but will confess to enjoy the 8120 a bit more.
Sorry this got a bit long.
 
Dad moved onto the 160 acre farm I grew up on fall of 1951, planted first crops spring of '52. All the "Old Timers" probably talked about Dad planting with a brand new #490 when everybody else pulled 2 row planters. He planted with a wire for several years, cross checked to cultivate both ways. I remember the fields and Dad moving the wire every pass but I wasn't old enough to cultivate yet. Dad and the neighbor farmed 80 acres together, was originally 160 acres, two 80's but greedy neighbor bought the one. Neighbor used his 494 to plant the 80, I disked ahead of him. It was a rolling 80, half mile rows, My Sister and I own the 80 now. That 490 planted 80 to 100 acres of corn every year, couple years Dad helped Grandpa, Mom's Dad plant his 160 acres. I don't think Grandpa even had a complete line of equipment to rzise corn. His farm was 20 miles from our farm. Really took a chunk out of a day running between farms. The old 490 was getting pretty worn by the time Dad quit farming fall of '72. I doubt that 490 had planted 3000 acres! Dad always hill dropped corn when he stoped checking it, a clump of 3-4 seeds every 20-30 inches. He planted 40 acres of beans the last 2 years he farmed. i'm not positive but I think he "drilled" them with the planter, 38" rows with a seed every inch or two. I was working off the farm a lot by then and didn't cultivate any of the beans.
BTO I worked for planted his corn in 38 inch rows with a 494. Planted 6-30" beans with a 690. You guys all remember them? It was home-made. Two 490's would not have been my first cloice of a planter to modify. The slex runner style opener was not consistent on planting depth. Plant deeper with full seed hoppers, drop seed on top of the ground just before the hoppers are empty. We fall plowed all our farm the last 2 years we farmed, in spring the ground worked up like a sand beach, 490 buried the seed, till you got to a clay sidehill that was disked a little damp, the clods wouldn't let the runners penetrate.
Dad planted with the '51 M Farmall he bought new just before Christmas of '51. In '68 he bought a low hour '54 Super H to plant with. Dad put Gandy boxes on the 490, insecticide and herbacide, 4 boxes total, I'm not positive but I don't think he ever used the herbacide boxes. With refilling the planter took 3-4 hours to plant 20 acres. 40 acres was an easy day.
Had a buddy that farmed his Dad's 22 acres, corn-bean-corn rotation, he double planted the beans, row ever 19 inches. Like pplanting 4r acres.
 

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