Seeding with a drill

Ken Macfarlane · May 13, 2009

Been pricing used Brillion's, 4000$ for a 20 year old one is normal around here. Can get old drills under 1000$ no trouble.

I don't know a thing about them. I know to lay down grass I'd want a small seed box, which I don't even know how to tell if it has. I'd also want pretty narrow row spacing, what is common?

Would I go over the ground twice at angles to each other to get better coverage? Should I be towing an old roller packer to get a bit firmer seed bed?

Thanks

Bob · May 13, 2009

In most cases, you will need the older drill to be equipped with a "grass seeder attachment" if you want to be able to get a reasonable (low) seeding rate.

The drill will likely have a 6" or 7" spacing. Typically, the grass seeder feed tubes just hang down ahead of the disc or hoe openers and drop the grass seed on the ground ahead of them so it gets distributed around, not just in exact rows. You set the drill to run REAL shallow, just scattering the soil around a bit over the seed, followed by the press wheels or cover chains.

<img src = "http://salesmanual.deere.com/sales/salesmanual/images/NA/seeding/features_attachment/1590drill/1590da13.gif">

In this photo of a newer DEERE drill, the little box with the cover open at the front of the main seed hopper is the "grass seeder attachment". Older drills and/or other makes will be set up in similar fashion.

Ken Macfarlane · May 13, 2009

So typically, grass seed box in front, normal seed in middle, fertilizer box at rear?

Does the grass box have its own seed plates inside?

Rexalot · May 13, 2009

The grass box doesn"t have "plates" like you might find in planter you would use for corn. The drill I used last just had a "gate" in the hopper or box bottom that you set for the rate you wanted to plant at. You also have a gear in the bottom of the boxes that spin to ensure seed is moving out the gate.

Ken Macfarlane · May 13, 2009

I have seen the gears in the bottom of old time drills main hopper, I assumed there was something more complicated going on setting the seeding rate.

Anonymous-0 · May 13, 2009

Ken, We have seeded timothy for many years by having the local fertilizer business spread it on fitted ground. They blend it in with the other ingredients (N/p/k) and spread it with an air applicator then I roll the ground good. I have done it with a centrifugal spreader as well but I over lap a bit on the passes because the grass seed might not throw as far. I have always gotten good stands. If your going to have the fert. spread anyway might as well add the seed. It's a LOT faster.

Don-Wi · May 13, 2009

Here's our setup-

It's an older Van Brunt drill with grass seeder boxes. We pretty much only use it for oats & alfalfa, oats in the large box and alfalfa in the grass seeder. The discs are 7" apart, but most of the tubes from the grass box are just dangling and scatter it radomly, rather than perfect rows. The boxes are just like the larger counterparts, just smaller. We have the seed chart to set how many lbs/acre we want, and adjust the gates accordingly. May take some experimenting to get it right. Our drill is set to put in 15 lbs/acre, but in reality it puts out about 17-18 lbs/acre, which is about what's recommended.

Donovan from Wisconsin

railhead · May 13, 2009

that all looks great but you said

" The discs are 7" apart, but most of the tubes from the grass box are just dangling and scatter it radomly, rather than perfect rows"

That just makes me wonder why you wouldn't broadcast and lightly harrow, drag whatever to cover. I have a big pasture I want to establish Buffalo and other native grasses in and want to know best method. I have gobs of drills from steel wheel to modern but want to ve most effecient. I wanted to plant it this spring but we have been Blessed with so much rain (and the wheat looks great and I am NOT complaining). I just havent had a time to disk the old 5hit out.

Don-Wi · May 14, 2009

We plant oats along with the alfalfa, so it doesn't pay to broadcast that seed when we're already running the drill anyways.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Seeding with a drill

Ken Macfarlane

Well-known Member

Bob

Well-known Member

Ken Macfarlane

Well-known Member

Rexalot

Member

Ken Macfarlane

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

railhead

Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

Similar threads