seeding without packing

[darren]

I was wondering if it would be possible to set up an air drill without packers, and then follow it with a land roller. Would that give good enough seed to soil contact?

[emiled]

From your message, I would guess that you intend to direct seed? From our local experience, it is tough to beat on row packing in a direct seeding operation. Although PAMI's research suggests we need little packing pressure over top of the seed, we find a land roller will flatten the tops of ridges and does little for on row packing other than fill in the trenches with some loose dirt. In a conventional tillage system, the land roller may do a more effective job of packing although it may leave it more vulnerable to wind erosion.

[jlamb]

darren: I forwarded your message to Murray Green of Alberta Agriculture. Murray is a Farm Machinery Engineer (P.Eng.) in the Technical Services Division. This was Murray's response. Hope this helps. (reprinted with permission) ================================================ Answer: If the air drill is planting into stubble, as in direct seeding or no till, then the land roller will not pack the seed bed. The weight of the roller will be carried by the untilled soil between the seed rows. Under tilled conditions, the soil will be soft enough to allow the large packer to sink deep enough to pack the seed. Actually, there is quite a lot of soil moved by a roller in tilled conditions. The soil pushed ahead of the roller will fill the seed row furrows and pack the soil over the seed. Caution must be taken when this happens to make sure the seed is not covered too deep and, if the soil is quite moist, that it is not packed too much. The land roller is usually used after planting peas to level the surface lumps and embed any stones to avoid harvest problems. Some farmers use the roller on other crops if the field is too rough after direct seeding. But in this case, the seed openers were followed by on-row packers. The land roller flattens the soil ridge between the seed rows but does not close the furrow which the packer formed over the seed. In truth, an air drill without on-row packers is an air seeder, but equipped with narrow ground openers. After air seeding, field finishing is required to ensure that the seed is covered with a shallow layer of fine moist soil particles and packed only enough to prevent loss of seed bed moisture.

[lynn]

I'm going to use a piece logging chain attached to each shank.I have been told this works great . Not sure myself ,anyone have an opinion??