Several of the native prairie grass species have fluffy appendages on their seed which interferes with seed flow through the bottom of the hopper. Some drills may also have a “native grass box,” which is a hopper box that is specially designed to handle native warm-season perennial grass species. The large hopper box would be used for planting crops that have medium to large seed sizes (e.g., cowpea, pearl millet, tall fescue), while the small hopper box would be used to plant small-seeded species (e.g., clovers, brassicas, crabgrass). Most drills designed for use on pastures will have large and small hopper boxes. Seed is held in the hopper boxes that sit on top of the drill. A conventional drill would have similar parts, but usually does not have the coulter assembly on the front of the drill. Schematic drawing of the typical parts on one row unit of a no-till drill. Therefore, conventional drills do not have the coulter assembly on the front. Conventional grain drills are used when the seedbed is already prepared and the coulter is not needed to cut through residue or the soil surface. On a no-till drill, the rolling coulter travels ahead of the opener and cuts a slot through the sod, residue, and soil, and then the double-disk opener widens this slot. These key features are identified in Figure 1. Each brand and model has design elements that differentiates it from other drills on the market, but most have several key features in common. 16, 2013.There are many moving parts on a no-till or conventional drill. I will be showing this implement in the equipment showcase at the upcoming Davis Farm hack event on Nov. It could be run by electric motor instead of ground-driven and mounted on other implements such as a spring tooth harrow. The seed metering system works so well I just wanted to share it in case anyone else wants to adapt it to their needs. After seeding I follow with a ring roller (cultipacker) to pack the soil. But for my dry California fall soil my design cuts about right on its own. My setup works well for now, but I'm on the lookout for a small box frame disc for version 2.0.įor soft tilled ground, depth control wheels could be added to limit cutting depth. Or ideally a box frame type disc, with a single gang split into a V shape, would cancel any side pull. A two gang offset disc could be used, modified so front and rear discs are essentially in one track and offset very little to make a narrow groove in the soil. The single gang disc is not ideal because it pulls to one side, so on side slopes I need to only seed one direction or it wants to run off track downhill. I had to use only one gang of the two gang offset disc to lighten the implement enough to use on my compact Kubota BX1500. This new system works great.Ĭlick on each picture to see a title and description. The heart of the machine is the seed metering system which uses neoprene blade outboard motor water pump impellers running inside a 2 1/2' PVC pipe to carry seed from each input hole down to an output hole in even amounts and with no seed damage (I used a rigid rotor on an earlier prototype and found it broke too much seed). So four years ago I finally built my own seed drill onto a modified disc harrow. It sort of worked but lots of seed remained on the surface and was wasted. I used to seed by cutting shallow furrows with a spring tooth harrow, then hand-crank broadcasting and dragging to cover the seed. I have a 2 acre hillside no-till orchard that I seed with a cool weather legume mix each fall, then flail mow in the late spring for a mulch.

No till drill