stealth openers

[tman]

vwmfg.com is there website. They have a lot more carbide on them now. I think ours were the last of that model with carbide on tip and the underside of the wings so we got a deal on them. Now the carbide is on the front face of the wings and another hunk of carbide above the tip.

A friend who farms down by Outlook has them too and talked to the owner this spring. Apparently the owner remembered dealing with me and my name. Impressive since it was only one transaction over the phone a few years ago and two provinces away.

I remember talking to the Flexicoil rep at a trade show a couple of times about the stealth and he informed me of the proper angle that they should be at. Don't think ours are at the proper angle since he informed me about some shims but we never installed them. I guess we're getting away with it.

[cottonpicken]

They still make stealth openers?fractered seed beds
and every rock ever brought to surface plus
drag,dinasoars.

[wd9]

Crusher, "For the same money". does that
mean just the price of an opener, or the
price of a years worth of crappy
germination which easily buys a good drill
in terms of the difference at the end of
the year?

[crusher]

My $30,000 Flexi 5000 produces yields same as the neighbour's $250,000 JD. Sure my dealer and I would like to see one on my farm. We just got a bunch of rain, don't think its going to matter again this year. Cotton - the stealth isn't perfect by a long shot, what do you suggest that's better? We're on 12" spacing with 5" packer and use NH3. Anybody else?

[kernel]

Try the Dutch openers they do the same job as
the stealth but pull away easier and serve you
just as long for the same kind of dollars.

[kernel]

Try the Dutch openers they do the same job as
the stealth but pull away easier and serve you
just as long for the same kind of dollars.

[kernel]

Try the Dutch openers they do the same job as
the stealth but pull away easier and serve you
just as long for the same kind of dollars.

[freewheat]

I put atom jet twin bands on my old
seeder this spring. I haven't seeded
much yet, but I sure think I like them.
The price sucked though. They seem to
have minimal disturbance, good
seperation of nh3 and the seed, and they
seem to pull easy. We will soon see how
they do in mud. Ok, maybe not soon, but
I hope soon!

I was sick of my midrow banders feeding
the weeds, and not being close enough to
the seedlings for maximum effectiveness.

I look forward to the results.

I run an "ancient" 1990's air seeder
with valley packers on 12 inch spacing.
I have had guys comment on my canola
emergence more than once. guys that run
seedmasters and the copycat drills even.
It is kind of fun having my emergence
and crops be as good or better than
theirs for 10 per cent the machinery
cost. But hey, when you don't write the
checks, who's counting, eh?

[crusher]

freewheat,
With the atom jet are you single shooting your dries? I currently dump about 125#s/ac with the canola seed and think that might be a little hot if their going down the same tube in a single row on 12". Is the NH3 at the same depth as the seed? If I'm seeding canola at 3/4" I'm going to want me NH3 at least 3" deep. Thoughts? Love trying to make that 15 year old drill tick.

[freewheat]

Hey crusher. I am shooting my dry with
the seed for now, but like the option to
split it very much. I usually have been
applying my sulfur before or after
seeding with a spreader, which sounds
rustic and all, but it works VERY well.
Not good enough for many guys, but it
works.

Yes the nh3 is at the same depth as the
seed, but 3 inches away. As you mention,
it seems weird to be seedin canola an
inch or less deep, yet be applying the
anhydrous that shallow as well. With my
seeder, with the shank mounted packers,
and again in our ALWAYS wet seedbed
conditions, it works well. I see the odd
puff of gas here and there. The thing
is, my openers are about 2-3 inches
deep, so the n is going in fairly deep,
and so is the seed, but my packers are
right there too, and little soil falls
in after the packers. So I seem to get a
fairly deep furrow, but with shallow
soil on top of the seed. Does that make
sense? I am trying to put it into words
properly.

And with our wet soils, the nh3 is
rapidly attached to the soil as well.
For "here", and for my old machine and
the way it is set up with the shank
packers, these openers seem great.

On my next drill, I would think I would
lean towards double shooting my dry,
just so I can place all the dry I need
to, and avoid the extra operation of
topdressing my S.

Hope this helps you out a bit.

[mustardman]

If you are still using stealth openers after a couple season Then you are not seeding heavy clay soils.
You will get sore knees from unplugging them. Switched to Atomjet sideband 13 years ago and still using same openers. ( some have been re hardsurfaced)

[wd9]

Agree mustardman. If you farm perfect
flat deep black soil land you can farm
with anything. Hilly grey wooded or hard
clay base soils and drills being dragged
sideways require a lot more thought if
you want consistent germ especially if
it doesn't rain right away or rains too
much. We get good yields on our land, it
just can be such a bugger to get good
germ as the soil dries out so quick.

You can also use ESN on the n to help
with fert issues. I use the morris edge
on paired row. Works pretty good in most
conditions, but fert/seed separation is
a challenge as i run the fert tip as
shallow as possible. ESN is a big help.

Doing replicated ESN trial on canola and
wheat this year with tissue tests and
emergence and yield. Some talk of
Phosphate not being available because of
the high n and canola roots not growing
in that band with the much higher n
rates used today.

Can post the results this spring.