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Post by thiner on Jan 6, 2012 7:18:54 GMT -5
Thinking about updating our planter in the next year or so and was wondering what the advantage or disadvantage to either meter is. The planter will only be used for corn if that makes any diff.
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Post by ihboog on Jan 6, 2012 7:34:14 GMT -5
I prefer the finger pickup, as everyone that I have had, it didn't matter the seed size, you put it in and went. You never had to mess with air settings, for different seed sizes. However the problem with the finger pickup, is that there are only 12 fingers, which is fine at lower populations. However once you start pushing populations, your meter rpm's really start to pickup. When I was planting 38-40,000 pop in 30" rows with a finger pickup, the recommended planting speed was something like 2.5 mph.
Having said all of that, I have been running a red vac planter since 09, which I like a lot better than the green vac we used to have.
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Post by goldie on Jan 6, 2012 10:37:45 GMT -5
vac planters are just a whole lot more universal. As far as if you ever would want to plant soybeans,sugarbeets,ets...I also run a red vac planter since 08 and absolutly love it. Jd planters are nice too but it seems like they have alot more moving parts to go wrong...not near as user friendly IMHO...Finger planters are still great in corn infact i still have guys wanting the ol finger planters back just for corn. All a personal preferance
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Post by Mr. Snerdly on Jan 9, 2012 22:27:34 GMT -5
When I was planting 38-40,000 pop in 30" rows with a finger pickup, the recommended planting speed was something like 2.5 mph. Having said all of that, I have been running a red vac planter since 09, which I like a lot better than the green vac we used to have. Boy, 40000 plant population would get expensive at today's seed price. I only plant over 30000 on my very best ground. I am able to plant at 5 mph with a Kinze finger pickup at these populations. It could be you need to use a little more graphite. That has made quite a difference for me. According to the book the Kinze will plant at a pretty high population at a pretty good speed, and it has been my experience it will if you use enough graphite. |
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Post by cornandbeef on Jan 9, 2012 22:55:09 GMT -5
If you go with the deere vac you will want a single hole hopper. You will want to add the e-set system. That way you won't need to worry about seed size or vac pressure. I also have a separate HYD pto pump on the planter. That way I don't have to do anything to any of the tractor systems that may be on it. Its hard to find a 7200 or newer planter with fingers put they can be convented over if you want a finger system.
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Post by peelergtfb on Jan 10, 2012 6:45:46 GMT -5
I prefer a vac with e-sets. Learned the other day that precision now has a system to make a kinze finger planter into a e-set vac planter pretty reasonable priced if I understood correctly.
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Bristol Hillbilly
Hired Hand
Sentinel aka "Bouncer"....Sitting by the door....
Posts: 215
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Post by Bristol Hillbilly on Jan 10, 2012 19:35:42 GMT -5
I have only ran the finger pu. I really like them because of simplictiy. KISS method is my friend. I did buy new precision units for it last year and was extremely pleased with stand and very few doubles. Most everything that you need to keep going can fit in a small toolbox. Might be the same for air/vacuum.
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Post by JoshuaGA on Jan 10, 2012 22:20:05 GMT -5
I have only ran the finger pu. I really like them because of simplictiy. KISS method is my friend. I did buy new precision units for it last year and was extremely pleased with stand and very few doubles. Most everything that you need to keep going can fit in a small toolbox. Might be the same for air/vacuum. Plate planter is KISS too if you go slow enough. I know our vacuum planter is simple, but it seems like I keep piddling with adjustments trying to find the right settings. I believe it just mostly boils down to maintenance being king. Seems like a thirty year old planter maintained and a good operator can get just as good a stand as a brand new planter. I had a learning curve last year on my vacuum planter, it can/will do a good job, I just have not run it much. I have never used a finger planter, we went straight from plate to vac. Vac is alright, I just don't see it as the best thing since sliced bread. |
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Post by jabber1 on Jan 12, 2012 7:50:33 GMT -5
When I was planting 38-40,000 pop in 30" rows with a finger pickup, the recommended planting speed was something like 2.5 mph. Having said all of that, I have been running a red vac planter since 09, which I like a lot better than the green vac we used to have. Boy, 40000 plant population would get expensive at today's seed price. I only plant over 30000 on my very best ground. I am able to plant at 5 mph with a Kinze finger pickup at these populations. It could be you need to use a little more graphite. That has made quite a difference for me. According to the book the Kinze will plant at a pretty high population at a pretty good speed, and it has been my experience it will if you use enough graphite. Enough graphite is crucial to get the best spacing and to reduce wear on finger meter parts. Seed treatments are abrasive. I know that adding a lubricant would seem to add to the difficulty of a finger holding the seed- but- If you have seed with no graphite run through one of those test stands you will find that the backing plate gets warm pretty quick. Due to this drag, without graphite, the seed squirms under the finger (friction/drag) and can pop out. I use about 2/3 of a squeeze bottle of graphite every time I fill my 16 row with corn. Much cheaper than skips and parts. The goal is to apply enough graphite that the seed in the unit is always rolling around in graphite. When you think about it the seed corn planter unit is pretty amazing in it's accuracy. The meter is taking something that is a bit variable in size/ shape/ weight and releasing it at about the same rate as a Thompson machine gun fires bullets. |
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Post by Mr. Snerdly on Jan 12, 2012 20:59:57 GMT -5
Jabber1, I use probably about a half a bottle on a 12 row. I also like to take a little extra time and kind of stir it up. I know a lot of guys just put it on top but I don't think this is the best practice.
I got to using more graphite when they came out with the Poncho 1250. They said you needed to double your graphite rate. I did it, and I had the best population and spacing I ever had. I overapply graphite, according to the book, as standard practice now and I am very happy with the finger pickups.
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Post by jabber1 on Jan 12, 2012 21:42:36 GMT -5
Yep. If I am about empty and I don't stir it, I put some in the bottom, add a bag of corn then add a ring of graphite on top. Once there is excess in the units this seems to work just fine.
In this area the primary seed corn treatment has been the mid rate. I believe that it takes more graphite for the high rate seed treatment as it is more abrasive.
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