Crop seeding: it's a changing world.

You may know how farmers have been seeding crops in your area for generations, but that might not be enough when it comes to helping them pick the right setup for today's needs.

CONVENTIONAL tillage for small grains and similar crops is giving way in many areas to no-till or conservation tillage methods. Major improvements have been made in the ability of drills and seeders to successfully penetrate hard soils, cope with heavy residue and accurately control seeding depth.

For dealers and their sales personnel, knowing which drill/seeder features work and which don't work in local conditions is allimportant. just knowing what has been used locally for many years may not be enough. But picking the brains of company reps can help in selecting the best combination of drill/seeder elements for each operation.

Ingmar Anderson, Case IH drill/seeder specialist, says: "No one seeding system or method works everywhere. Someday, we may get closer to one method, but some people will have to accept new ideas, not just 'do it the way they've always done it.' "

Eric Johnson, vice-president of engineering for Great Plains Mfg., agrees. "East of here (Assaria, Kan.)," he says, "drill spacings of 7 inches down are common. West of here, farmers use spacings of 10 and sometimes up to 15 inches, though some are changing to closer rows. Most of them say they use the spacing that farmers in the area have always used."

But variations in crops, soil type, climate and other factors make a single machine system unlikely.

There's a drill/seeder available for almost every conceivable crop and soil condition. Properly equipped drills and air drills or seeders can plant small grains, legumes, grasses, fluffy native grasses, soybeans, rice, canola, sudangrass, turf grasses and many other crops.

There's a choice of grain-only and grain-fertilizer models, some with adjustable hoppers to change the ratio of seed and fertilizer. On some drills, optional hoppers can be added for fertilizer, legumes or small-seeded grasses, and fluffy native grasses and brome. A few small-seed boxes can be used for granular pesticides. Depending on design and options, different machines can work in sand, loam, clay, gumbo, old sod or rocky land. They can work in tilled soil, residue-covered cropland or hard, undisturbed no-till situations.

Some no-till drills have tremendous weight and strength for very adverse conditions and do not adapt well to conventionally tilled fields. But others may be switched quickly between moderate-tosevere no-till and conventional tillage.

Openers, press wheels

Compared with other factors, says Johnson, "seeding depth is critical in establishing a good stand. Seed must be placed in firm contact with moist soil, and some crops such as dwarf small grains have a limited depth of soil through which they can grow and emerge. If they are planted too deeply, they may never get out of the ground.

"Unfortunately, some openers 'hairpin' trash into the seed furrow, thus keeping seed from drawing moisture and nutrients from the soil. If those seeds do germinate, they may never emerge. Depthgauging wheels which hold openers at the desired level permit application of enough down pressure on disks to cut through residue in hard spots without placing seed too deep in softer soil."

Newer Deere drills have borrowed opener technology from Deere Max-Emerge row crop planters. Great Plains' Johnson adds that closer coupling of seed openers and press wheels and easy depth adjustment on many current drills make it much easier to maintain proper seeding depth.

Single-disk openers are offered on a few drills, but double-disks cut residue better and penetrate better in hard soil. Placing one disk slightly ahead of the other reduces force required to maintain penetration and permits closer disk-spacing to minimize soil disturbance. Most notill drills use rippled or fluted coulters to slice through trash and "till" a narrow strip of soil ahead of each seed opener. Some no-till coulters are rigidly mounted on the machine frame, but others are spring-loaded to permit easier passage over stones and other objects.

Some "no-till drills" are assembled by mounting a 3-point hitch drill on the rear of a hitch carrying a toolbar lined with no-till coulters. More weight is sometimes added on some units to increase coulter penetration, On one make, a special pivot between the drill and hitch permits some drills to follow coulter paths closely, even on turns and contours.

These drills can be converted to conventional seeding by release of the quick-hitch coupling and removal of the hitch.

Rows of S-tine or field cultivator shanks may replace no-till coulter bars on some no-till hitches for tilland-drill operation in pre-worked soil.

Hoe and shovel openers range from very narrow to very wide. Narrow is for minimum soil disturbance, low moisture loss and good penetration in hard or rocky soil. Wide is for maximum tillage and large ridges to reduce erosion. But when operated at high speeds, wide hoes and shovels or high-crown sweeps may throw extra soil onto adjacent rows, thus impeding plant emergence.

Double-rib, semi-pneumatic and double-v press wheels firm soil on each side of the row, leaving soil above the seed looser for easier emergence. It's good for crusting soils. V-shaped press wheels exert firm pressure over seed without packing the soil adjacent to weed seeds. But wide, all-steel press wheels provide maximum firming of sandy or very loose soil over and around the seed. Semi-pneumatic press wheels flex to shed sticky soil.

Low-rate fertilizer can be dropped with seed, but high rates must be placed separately, beside and preferably below the seed to avoid burning seedlings. Some openers drop seed in two rows close to the fertilizer. Others place fertilizer two to four inches below the seed for optimum use by the plant. Banding fertilizer is said to feed crops, not weeds.

Seed metering

Fluted feed meters, used for many decades, still provide cost-effective seed metering on more drills and seeders than any other type. Initial analysis of an Oregon study supports Glenn Olson, Deere & Co. planting equipment manager, who says that most crops are able to accommodate such factors as wide variations in space between plants without greatly affecting yields.

Dale Wilkins, USDA-ARS engineer at Pendleton, Ore., says that two years of data show that in spite of some bunching of seeds by a fluted feed drill, there appear to be no significant differences in fresh pea yields compared with evenly spaced plants.

Wilkins adds that further analysis may show some space-related depression of yield, but that it doesn't appear to be enough to justify designing and building more accurate seed-metering devices.

However, Olson believes that "it's probably time for a new drill meter, though it's hard to improve on the actual performance and gentle handling of seed by fluted feed meters."

Says Wilkins: "Only 75 to 80 percent of wheat seeds planted develop into viable plants because of seeds which don't germinate or that are planted into dry soil, and other mortality factors. If we could get more reliably established plants, it might pay to provide more accurate seed metering."

Certain crop species and varieties would probably also respond differently to spacing.

Air seeders, drills

When air seeders were introduced to North America, some manufacturers jumped into the business. And some fell out just as quickly. Some models didn't meet reliability requirements, many had poor depth control and the market couldn't support all the makers grasping for a piece of the action.

Later air drill models have combined air seeder and grain drill features to meet user wants. Double disk or hoe openers, plus a wide choice of press wheels for individual rows, provide more accurate seed placement than scattering it behind field cultivator or chisel plow sweeps.

But Olson notes that most U.S. buyers want air drills with hoe or disk openers while Canadians prefer air-sweep models because the more scattered stubble helps support swathed grain prior to combining. Otherwise, they say, it would settle to the ground between the rows.

Air seeders and drills till and seed simultaneously to save fuel, time and soil moisture, It adds up to lower production costs and generally higher yield, because most air units are used in moisture-deficient areas.

Depending on design, they can seed, seed and apply fertilizer together, seed and deep-band fertilizer for more efficient nutrient use, or deep-band fertilizer alone. The fans that provide the air flow are driven by the tractor pto, hydraulics or a separate engine.

Smaller seed hoppers can be mounted on the frames of tillage machines, but because of size and weight, most are cart-mounted. Tow-behind carts keep tillage/seeding equipment in full view and eliminate seeding into cart tracks. Carts towed between the tractor and tillage tool eliminate tracks on seeded areas, and some low-profile designs minimize visibility problems to the rear.

Summing up

There you have a brief scan of the drill/seeder spectrum. The lines you handle, or have access to, probably have a wide variety of options, and it will pay to check out your familiarity with them and how they apply in your trade area.

Combinations that have served farmers in a given area well for years may now be replaceable by new ideas, machines or methods that work even better. Things change fast these days, and the dealers and dealership sales personnel who stay on top of them have a decided advantage.