Bourgault 5710 drill, what options should I get?

[poorboy]

Rosco,

I have lots of hills, so skewing is a concern. Do you know if the mid row coulters from Bourgault, or the optional coulters for sidehill from John Deere help at all?

Countryguy,

What openers are you using on your 8810. I am using the knives which stick down further than the spoons, so the plow does not come down as far to put weight onto the packers.

[countryguy]

Poorboy,we are using the Bourgault liquid sidebanding knives.From what you say I think you may have to lower your whole machine using the leveling adjustments.This would get more pressure on the packers.When I go down the road in transport I have to manually lift the main frame packers using the pressure adjustment so that they don't roll down the road.I guess what I am trying to say is that when the machine is not in the ground the packers wheels should not be very far off the ground,just high enough so that you have no trouble turning on the headlands.I hope this is all making sense.

[poorboy]

Countryguy,

When I get a couple of hot windy days the pack over my seed will dry down to the seed if I only have 1 to 1.5 inches of dirt over the seed. If I put 2 or 3 inches of dirt over the seed I can hold the moisture longer, but it really slows down the emergence, and can only be done with cereals and peas.

Most of the drills that are around me seem to be able to put a pack on about of 1 inch of dirt, which does not seem to dry out in a hot windy period.

When seeding with 1 inch of dirt over the seed I get lots of seeds that pick up enough moisture right away to start germination, but by the time the root comes out the seedrow is starting to become dry and they just die from no moist soil to root into.

Do you get enough packing that at 1 inch depth you will keep the moisture retained in your seedrow over long dry periods?

Thanks for the help

[rosco]

poorboy
I do not know if coulters would help on side hills very much. If you seed in a narrow band and the machine slides even a little bit, the narrow packer misses the band, but if you seed in a wide band, the wider packer might still pack some of the band in a sideslip situation. You say that your seed cover always dries out on you leaving your seed laying in the dust. One solution may be making sure that your seed is on a firm bed, not in loose soil. I've noticed for years this difference between conventional and no-till. In conventional seeding, the moisture seems to keep coming up each night to keep the seed in moist soil, and harrowing is another trick to bring up moisture to your seed. In no-till, you can't harrow after and I feel that the moisture doesn't behave the same, for whatever reason. I've seeded peas shallow, had a hot wind take the moisture out and leave the peas in the dust, and the moisture just doesn't seem to come back up enough to germinate them. I think that the trick is finding a boot that will always lay your seed on firm ground and then a packer that will even push the seed into that firm ground a bit. I have seen seed placed shallow on firm soil come up where seed laid deeper in loose soil didn't. Ground speed, fan speed and soil condition also play a part. I'll go look at my nieghbours midrow seeding on a hilly section that he has, see what it did, and report back.

[countryguy]

Poorboy,I don't know what to tell you.We never have a problem at any depth.Even at times when it does seem like there may be enough packing like Rosco said the moisture will come up and everything seems to firm up a while later.We have been mostly conventional tilling but in the last few years have been playing with some no-till.Everything turns out good.Maybe your problems are just a case of different soil conditions where you need that heavy wide pack.Did you order your drill yet?

[poorboy]

No, I have not ordered a drill yet, but Bourgaults program ends June 23, so I will have to decide soon.

I am still torn between 9.8 and 12.6 inch spacing. A 40 foot unit on 9.8 spacing has 50 shanks and a 42 foot unit on 12.6 spacing only has 40 shanks. The 9.8 spacing will have higher operating costs, take more power to pull and move more dirt, however it will have a crop that will canopy the ground quicker. The 12.6 machine will cost less to buy, be cheaper to maintain, take way less power to pull, but it will be very rough and take longer for the crop to canopy over the ground. The conservapak people and most Saskatchewan data shows that 12 inch rows are equall to 10 or 8 inch for yield. The Alberta data shows that narrower and wider rows gave more yield. I have neighbors that swear by each system.

I am strongly leaning towards a 12.6 inch spaced drill, but I worry that I might be making a mistake. It costs so much to trade that I would like to do it right the first time.

Thanks for all of your input and help.