“Cover Crop Drill” Proves Its Versatility

“Cover Crop Drill” Proves Its Versatility DRILLS The InterSeeder grain drill was developed by Penn State University for planting cover crops into standing crops It’s marketed by InterSeeder Technologies in Woodward Penn But Bruce Brunk bought a 6-row InterSeeder for more than just cover crops He first used the versatile machine to solid seed 60 acres of soybeans He also planted some into 30-in rows and later interseeded them with cover crops When he interseeded his corn he also side-dressed with liquid nitrogen and could have applied herbicide from a second tank This fall he plans to solid seed winter wheat with it “It’s basically a high profile drill ” says Brunk “A large acre operator may need a bigger machine but it’s just right for my 300 acres and my 140 hp tractor handles it easily ” Brunk ordered it to avoid planting cover crops by air or after harvest He notes that too often cover crops struggle to get established before winter sets in That won’t be a problem this year “We interseeded our corn June 20 and two days later the cover crops were sprouting ” says Brunk “We interseeded our beans when they were almost hip high and the weather was dry It took about 2 weeks but after a rain they were coming up ” Now he expects the cover crops to sit until the crops dry down and they are again exposed to light “I expect they are doing their thing under ground and will shoot back up this fall ” he says “The turnips in the mix should do my fall tillage for me ” Brunk likes the 15-ft wide InterSeeder as is For use in tilled ground he just removes the no-till coulters He can seed 3 rows at 7 1/2-in spacing between 30-in rows solid seed 25 rows at 7 1/2 in or skip every other planting unit for 15-in rows When interseeding corn he can cover about 9 to 10 acres per hour travelling at 5 mph Cory Dillon InterSeeder Technologies says the company now has customers from Maine to Oregon and south to Louisiana “Almost all of them have the grain drill option with easy-to-remove row units ” says Dillon “Row units are held in place with an L-shaped bolt and notched to the main toolbar By the time they’ve done it once 2 guys can switch over a 6-row planter in 20 to 30 min time ” Dillon says the InterSeeder can broadcast surface seed or seed at various depths from 1/4 in to 1 in for soybeans or 1 1/2 in for wheat “We will be field testing a 12-row 30-in row with solid seeding option model this fall ” says Dillon “Our plan is to have it available for 2016 ” Brunk says he seeded his cover crops at 1/2 in “It worked great ” he says “With some custom work I’ve done about 550 acres of interseeding It was quite an investment for me but I think it was worth it ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Bruce Brunk Farms 23068 220th St Rushmore Minn 56168 ph 507 478-4229 or 507 370-3341; bbrunk75@gmail com or InterSeeder Technologies LLC P O Box 33 Woodward Penn 16882 ph 814 404-0684; corey@interseedertech com; www interseedertech com

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