Low Cost Way To Double Crop Soybeans, Wheat

Low cost way to double crop soybeans, wheat CROPS New Techniques 11-2-7 "It's a low cost way to tool up for double cropping soybeans and wheat, says Robert Dunton, of Topeka, Ill. He leaves skip rows when drilling winter wheat so he can come back in the spring to drill soybeans into the growing wheat crop. Dunton uses the same Deere model 1610 drill to plant the wheat (in 10-in. rows) and to interseed soybeans six rows at a time, with 20 in. spacing between rows. When planting soybeans, he mounts a homemade toolbar, equipped with no-till coulters, on the rear of his tractor. Dunton used the back end of an old Deere cultivator to make the toolbar. He extended it some, using tubular steel. To get enough down pressure on the coulters, he uses hydraulic down pressure, which the tractor provides, plus 1,000 lbs. of added tractor weights. The extra weight provides uniform cutting depth at all coulter locations. Each drill opener follows in the path sliced open by a coulter. Dunton used Deere plow brackets to mount the ripple-type coulters. He tried wider waffle -type coulters but found they tore out too much ground. Yields of his intercropped beans have run "equal to conventional planted soybeans or 5 to 7 bu. less, depending on the year," says Dunton. "The system spreads out my labor, permitting me to plant double-crop soybeans early before the wheat is headed out. If I waited until the wheat was harvested before planting the soybeans, I'd be looking at half a yield of beans. Very little of the wheat crop is destroyed in planting the beans," Dunton points out.

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