Allen Johnson, Cedar, Minn., uses a home-built rotary hoe grass seeder with a double row of car tires on back to seed bluegrass at about 1/4 the normal recommended rate with good results.

A 14-ft. wide Gandy seed box mounts on the front of the heavy frame, which Johnson built from scratch. The box simply drops seed on top of the ground just ahead of a rotary hoe mounted right behind it. The hoe buries the seed as deep 3 in. "Despite 'expert' opinion to the contrary, grass seed will come up very nicely from 3 in. down, thus covering most moisture conditions at seeding," says Johnson.

Right behind the rotary hoe, 24 tires are mounted in two overlapping ranks to tightly pack the seed. "If you recall the days of horses, the first grass or grain to emerge was always in the hoof prints," points out Johnson.

The rotary hoe can be removed with four pins for other work. "I seed at 20 lbs. per acre with good results even though seed companies recommend 80 to 120 lbs. per acre," says Johnson.