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CROPS
18
www.FarmProgress.com – April 2015
Indiana Prairie Farmer
Compare closing wheel options
By TOM J. BECHMAN
T
HE buzz today is about achieving the
right microenvironment around the
seed. Are there different combinations of closing wheels that deliver a better
microenvironment if conditions aren’t
ideal? Jason Gahimer, central Indiana operations lead for Beck’s Hybrids Practical
Farm Research, wanted to find out.
“Standard, solid rubber closing wheels
work well in ideal conditions,” he says.
“We wanted to search for the best combination of closing wheels when conditions
aren’t ideal in no-till situations.
“Some products out there look different, and guys may be hesitant to buy
a whole set before they know if they will
really work. We try various combinations.”
Two-year information at the Atlanta,
Ind., location no-tilling into wet conditions
favors two Yetter spike wheels with a drag
chain, two Dawn Curvetine wheels and
two Yetter paddle wheels over a pair of
rubber closing wheels. Looking at 2014
alone, Pro Stitch wheels, included for the
first time, and Yetter spikes with a drag
Can I improve my effeciency using
Pro-Germinator instead of
10-34-0?
CLOSING WHEEL MATTERS: Jason
Gahimer equipped this planter with
various closing wheel combinations to
no-till into less-than-ideal conditions.
chain worked best, Gahimer observes.
At the Henderson, Ky., PFR location,
a pair of Dawn Curvetine wheels performed best in ’14. However, for a twoyear average, one Yetter spike wheel and
one solid rubber wheel paired together
worked best.
At the Downs, Ill., PFR location, each of
nine different combinations outperformed
solid rubber wheels in ’14. Yetter spike
wheels with chains worked best.
Finally, at the London, Ohio, PFR location, Yetter spikes with a drag chain resulted in 4,600 more plants per acre than
solid rubber wheels. Different closing
wheel combinations have been tried at
various sites.
Down-pressure difference
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Gahimer also compared downforce settings. He concluded that various closing
wheel pairs work best at different downforce settings.
“You can’t just remove a pair of solid
rubber wheels, put on different closing
wheels and not factor in downforce,” he
says. “You need to change downforce setting on planter row units for some closing
wheel setups to work properly.”
On a John Deere planter still with traditional springs for downforce, Gahimer
starts at the third notch setting. Then he
determines if he needs to adjust it.
Wheels have
a different look
T
HE first time you see Pro Stitch
closing wheels, you may do a
double-take. They look different than
any other closing wheels.
Pro Stitch wheels performed better
than any other combination at Beck’s
Hybrids’ Practical Farm Research
plots near Atlanta, Ind., in 2014.
The secret to “stitching up” the
seed trench is each wheel running
out of time with the other. Learn more
at prostitchag.com.
Ryler Rawlings
(765) 605-3717
[email protected]
STITCH IT UP: These unique planter
closing wheels are designed to work
even in heavy soil conditions.