Hard and Dry planting conditions

[nwobcw]

  I am going to finish planting tomorrow in the hardest, dryest clay imaginable.  Would you plant at your usual depth or shallower or deeper?   Rain is in the forecast 3 and 5 days in the future.

[jonno]

Well, what is there for moisture already in the ground?  I would probably plant about the same depth as normal (assuming that the forcast ran will be enough to get down to the seeds and make them germinate).  If not, I may plant a little shallower (but then the roots have to grow further to find moisture after that rain is gone.  Also, will your drill seed into that hard ground and do an even job?

Jon

[nwobcw]

   The moisture was spotty.  Some areas yes, some none.  I finished it yesterday and left the depth the same as usual.  It worked last year good at this depth setting and I'm a week ahead of last year.  I use a Deere planter doing 15" rows.  It has no problem in the heard ground.  It also probably helped that I put all new openers on it this year.   No-till coulters are a "must".   Rain is in the forecast for Wednesday afternoon.   Have some hay to make but rain on the grain ground is more important.

[Shaggy98]

When you say notill coulters are a must, are you referring to a straight coulter or  coulter/trash whipper combo?  I will be adding some type of notill coulter to my CIH 1200 planter for the 2012 planting season but haven't decided which will work best in my conditions.  I will be planting 30" milo into wheat stubble that was harvested the summer before.

[nwobcw]

  I'm not sure what you mean by trash whippers.  I use the 13 wave no till coulters.  I left the last ones on too long.  I put all new coulters and seed disc openers on this year.  I suggest changing them all at the same time for proper depth control and seed placement   In our heavy clay soils I estimate the no till coulters and seed disc openers are good for 1500-2000 acres on a 6 row planter.  The cost is about $1000 to replace them all on a 6/11 row planter.  But you only get 1 chance to do it right and you are only covering the ground once so the planter is doing a lot of work.

[Pupdaddy]

Ah Hah!..the great coulter debate rears it's never to be agreed upon head again, LOL. A lot of guys have debated on here about whether a coulter is needed to no-till in various conditions...and no clear answer has really come up. The only thing I can say almost everyone agrees with..is that some kind of residue mover is of benefit. See..your 1200 Case/IH planter has the leading edge design..with the lowest opener angle of the big 4 planter manufacturers..thus making it the planter that takes the least downpressure to get penetration..and cut residue. But excess residue will still cause it to ride up over it..and fail to put seed in a clean seed slot. If I was going with a 1200 Case/IH..I think I would just add a residue remover..that floats independently ..and has depth bands that keeps it from gouging too deep when you hit the occasional softer soil. If I was going with the Deere/Kinze..or even the White planter...I might add a combination residue mover/coulter combination...probably the one with the remover in front of the coulter. I have a 900 IH Cyclo...and try to plant double crop soybeans in fresh wheat straw (from 85-90 bushel wheat) every now and then. The residue movers move enough of that tough fresh straw..that I usually get a pretty good stand if there is enough moisture (either by planting deep enough to find it...or rain). I would think if you're planting into Kansas conditions..with dry straw, from year old wheat straw...you might not have too much trouble with just residue removers.

[Nebrfarmr]

In tough no-till conditions, I have had the best luck using a coulter, with finger wheels on either side of it.  The finger wheels kind of 'stretch' out the trash, so the coulter slices it easier, and the wheels then move enough out of the way so the opener can do its job.  I think on average the best depth to run the coulter would be about half the planting depth, more or less depending on conditions, but not more than 3/4 planting depth, or the seed slot isn't as uniform.