Hybrid Planters Top Standard Models

Hybrid Planters Top Standard Models PLANTING EQUIPMENT Planters 4-2-16 They say they've got the best of both worlds and no one's arguing with John Gangestad of Eagle Grove, Iowa and Leon Jackson of Dana, Ind. They've taken the best parts of two standard planters and combined them into single, "hybrid" superplanters. Although they went about it differently, both farmer-inventors matched up International Harvester's Cyclo air drums with John Deere's MaxEmerge planter units. The results? Planters both men say are more reliable and accurate than anything on the market. "We wanted air delivery for uniform planting speed, and the units for uniform seed placement," explains Gangestad. For his "hybrid", he substituted Max-Emerge planter units for the standard IH openers on his twoyear-old IH Cyclo 12-row planter. He also hinged the toolbar to fold hydraulically. Gangestad says that, after two seasons of use, he's pleased with the planter's precise seed placement in both corn and soybeans. However, he prefers a drill for soybeans because of the yield advantage he feels he gets with the narrower row spacing his drill provides. Putting the pieces together for his makeshift planter cost approximately what trading for a new Deere planter would have cost, says Gangestad. For help with your own conversion plan, contact: John Gangestad, Rt. 2, Eagle Grove, Iowa 50533 (ph 515 448-3063). Leon Jackson took a different tack in designing his super-planter. He mounted Cyclo air drums and MaxEmerge planter units on a 37-ft. John Deere field cultivator. "We took apart a one-year-old air planter, bought a wrecked Deer. planter, and mounted the parts from both on a brand new cultivator," Jackson told FARM SHOW. "We had to build mounting brackets for the air drums and add a second hold-down spring to keep the planter units at a uniform depth." 'In addition, Jackson linked the two Cyclo drive wheels together with a ratchet shaft to keep the drums running steadily over uneven ground. To smooth ground in front of the openers, he added fiberglass tillage rods. "It takes a minimum 275 hp., 4wheel-drive to pull it but you can till and plant 200 acres a day. Even at high speeds, my seed spacing and planting depth are uniform and easy to control," he explains. He runs the rig at speeds up to seven mph. Jackson, who planted 1,400 acres of corn with his machine last season, spent right at $30,000 to build it. He gangs Deere drills together to plant soybeans. For more information, contact: Leon Jackson, Rt. 1, Box 75, Dana, Ind. 47847 (ph 317 665-3231).

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