spike closeing wheels

[matt wunder]

just wanted to get some thoughts on what everyone is useing. what ones you like/dont like. pros and cons. that sort of thing.  hard to belive its may 1st and we still have time to make changes to the planter!   anyway thanks for the feedback

[Michael Lewis]

We bought the Dawn curvetine wheels last year so this our second year using them.  Like them a lot.  They seem to chip in the sidewall more and leave the furrow not as compacted.  On a JD 1760NT.  Never have plugged and overall was a good purchase.

[Jonathan Dansel]

We run a spiked closing wheel on one side and the normal closing wheel on the other side of the seed slice to close it...seems to be a good balance.  We try to set our planter up and make changes every year to Farm Journal's studies they do with planters and what gives you the best yield advantage for each little change you can make on a planter.  When conditions are wet it may be best to run one on each side, but we don't usually deal with that here in NW Kansas.

 

[Nick]

What benefits have you had using the spikes vs the normal wheels Jonathan?

[Jonathan Dansel]

In wetter conditions (as i said that is normally not the problem for you and I!) it seems to keep from compacting the side walls of the seed slice as bad...last year we had some pretty wet conditions on our irrigated strip till and most of our dryland no-till and the side with the spikes was alot looser and the normal side definately "set-up" alot harder after it started drying out...i suppose soil types make a difference, on sandier soils i would guess it wouldn't matter which ones your ran, but on heavier soils and ones with more clay content i think is where you get the advantage with the spikes.  We also went to the "inverted" or "dip down" (i don't know the official name obviously! haha) guage wheels..they were actually Case IH rubber wheels that we put on our JD1710...instead of the style that curves up to meet the opening disc, these dip down...all i know is between running seed firmers, one-and-one on the closing wheels, and going to the inverted guage wheels we had one beautiful stand last year in every condition we planted in..hope to get the same this year...running the e-Sets was HUGE also...looked like a checker board driving by our fields, amazing plant spacing and uniformity.

[Michael Lewis]

We use the e-Sets as well and have been impressed with the spacing difference.  Matt, we also chose the Dawn curvetine wheel rather than a "spike" wheel because it was one of the least aggressive ones out there.  I didn't want to purchase anything that had the ability to till up the seed. 

 

Jon, have you had any problems with your Deere planting a little light?  No matter what population we set the monitor is always reporting 500 to 1200 lower?  Avg normally ends up being 600 to 800 less.  For example, set at 34,200 and avg ends up being 33,600)

[Jonathan Dansel]

I'm guessing it has something to do with your radar or something....my father-in-law does all of the programming with and coordination between the Outback guidance S3, the JD planter monitor and the Raven liquid controller....I had the same problem and told him it was running about 1500 to high on population and he checked into it and worked his magic and reprogrammed something on the speed and after that the speed of what the tractor said matched the S3 and then it was nailing it...i knew it wasn't the eSets bc they are too accurate....if i need 47 bags for a circle according to a population and after 122 acres i may be 1/2 a bag off at the most.  Thats where i would start just don't ask me how to fix it! haha

[Nick]

Your vacuum high enough?

[Ben Pearson]

Michael, I don't want to make you feel like I am talking down to you, but are you adding enough talc?  On our planter we must put enough talc on the seed and to get the planter to plant higher populations without changing the gear box I will turn up the vaccum.

[Shawn]

I put in a 17 acre test plot with 17 different numbers/ sizes/ brands of corn.  Didn't change a thing, and nailed the population every time with the e-sets. 

Also running a spiked tooth closing wheel from yetter on one side.  I like it, instead of 'stamping' the seed slot closed; it kinda scoots the dirt over to the seed.  We no-tilled into some sod this year, and the ground was so hard the spikes were actually holding the rubber tire in the air....   had to wait for a rain. 

The spiked tooth closing wheel don't work when your planting shallow also.  Planted some beans 1" deep, and it wasn't gettin things closed up.

Keeton seed firmers is another good thing to run.  And it enables you to run a 'pop' up fertilizer.  We use 4 gallon of 10-34-0 with half a pound of zinc right on the seed. 

[matt wunder]

thanks for the feedback guys. this will give us some place to start.

[K2]

Have Dawns on my 1780.   They are heavy.  They made a big diference when no tilling in damp clay ground.  I started with one side my first year.   The second year I did the other side.   Last year we didnt need them.  I though they actually brought some trash back over the row.   I also run Esets and Bullseye tubes.  The stand is picket fence.   Now if it would just stop raining.

 

JXK

[Ben Pearson]

Matt we have a jd 7300 planter in S.C. Kansas.  We farm creek ground that floods every year.  We have sand, silt, alkalie, clay, good soil, no top soil because of the creek.  Anyways we have been running Thompson Closing wheels for close to 10 years.  We are both conventional and no-till.  These are great units, haven't ever changed a bearing or a wheel. 

This is not on my planter, but you see what I am talking about. We run both wheels and the T handle is set in the float position.  Since we put these on I have never had a field crust and as I mentioned the soil varies here.  The only problem I will note is that the excentric behind the gauge wheels wears out every 3-5 years. But if I don't have to replant I'll take that cost.