Seed firmers

flying belgian · May 31, 2011

Anyone have them Keeton seed firmers on their planter? For the last 10 years I always wished I had them. Well, bought a different planter for this year and it has them on. Now that I got them, I hate them. I took them off tonight and threw them out back of the shed. I think the idea is ok but dirt sticks to the sides of them causing them to drag the seed trench so wide that the press wheels won't close the trench. And I think they move the seed from its place of drop. Kinda drags it along bottom of trench ruining seed placement. Talked to a seed rep and he said they have found they don't work well in heavy gumbo soil like I got. They work much better in lite sandy soil. Just goes to show----be careful what you wish for-----.

msb · May 31, 2011

Work for some. Don't work to good for others. There are some modifications that you can do to make them work for your soils.i Have run them on both my planter and drill since the second year they were available with absolutely no problem.Wouldn't even think of planting without them, on either machine,especially the drill.

JDseller · May 31, 2011

The only way I have ever seen seed firmers give problems is if you run the planter units through mud. Dry soil of any type will not stick to the plastic they are made of. Like MSB I have used them for close to twenty years now. I actually like the Keetons the best. The Rebounder brand will drag seed more so than the Keetons. I also have been putting starter fertilizer down the back of my Keeton firmers for five years now.

Not every thing will work on every farm. I would not give up on them. They do help even out emergence by making the seed be in the bottom of the seed trench. On steeper side hill slopes they really will make a difference. Call Keeton and ask them if they have seen the problem.
Keeton seed firmers

paul · Jun 1, 2011

Always thought that would make a good addition to the planter, then I started hearing - no good in our yellow clay, the good they do in other soils, they make worse in our clay soil, drag seed and mess up the trench. There is no other soil in spring but wet sticky clay soil 'here', and I believe you are not far from 'here'.

--->Paul

IaGary · Jun 1, 2011

Yep I always thought the same thing about owning those seed draggers. Till I got them.

They lose there shape easily. I feel they drag the seed as well. If they rolled in the trench and not drag maybe they I would like them better.

Done with them for now untill a better design comes along.

Gary

glennster · Jun 1, 2011

my neighbor put them on his jd 7000 last year . planter is set up for no till, and they work well in the heavy trash putting beans on corn ground.

dixon boy RL · Jun 1, 2011

put bunch of them on new Kinze planters and few great plains units. yes they will do what you said if they are not set right, have you changed the setting screw sound like to much down pressure on them.personally i would not run them if i still was planting corn. to me its just another attachment you really don't need. can you tell what was on the planter when corn gets 6 inches tall as far as attachment or prior tillage what was used, i sure can't. Also another factor that really affects them and the planters performance is that they are not running level in the planting position. alot of planters are running low in the rear and that will also make any attachment drag more. make surre your tool bar is LEVEL when you are in planting position. Good luck

Seed firmers

flying belgian

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msb

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JDseller

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paul

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IaGary

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glennster

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dixon boy RL

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