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3-Pt Ground-Driven Nitrogen Side Dresser For Narrow Rows
"It's a quick, easy way to apply nitrogen and it cost less than $2,500 to build," says John Van Dap, Woodstock, Ontario, who mounted Yetter coulter assemblies, a squeeze pump, and drive tires from an old corn planter onto a rectangular steel frame to build a 3-pt., ground-driven, 6-row side dresser that applies liquid nitrogen to growing corn in narrow 20-in. rows.
Van Dorp used 4-in. sq. steel tubing to build the frame and mounted the drive wheels on either side. A cradle on top of the frame supports a 100-gal. tank. Liquid fertilizer is delivered from the tank through drop hose tubes to knives mounted behind the 20-hl. dia. Yetter coulters which Van Dorp mounted underneath the frame's rear bar.
Van Dorp started planting corn in 20-in. rows to help reduce fertility needs by increasing the space between plants add reducing root competition. "I use a combination of special fertilizers including 28% nitrogen, molasses, ammonium thiosul, liquid calcium, and soil conditioners which, combined with the efficiency of
sidedress application, let me maintain yields with one third to one half the normal rate of fertilizer. On 20-in. rows I can't cultivate unless I drive extremely slow to avoid covering up the corn. I didn't want to drive that slow on 200 acres so I built my own side dresser equipped with coulters instead of cultivator shanks. The Yetter coulters barely disturb the soil and let me apply nitrogen at 8 mph without affecting the corn at all. It's really easy to use because the ground-driven squeeze pump stops the flow of fertilizer when I lift the rig up at the end of the field. When I built the rig I intended to mount new Yetter 30-in. dia coulters on it, but when I found out what they cost I decided to use my corn planter coulter assemblies. It saved me about $200 per row."
The left tire serves as the drive wheel. A hand crank connected to each wheel is used to adjust coulter depth.
Contact FARM SHOW Followup, John Van Dorp, Rt. 1, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada N4S 7V6 (ph 519 537-8769).


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1990 - Volume #14, Issue #4