Educate me on planters

I am looking to purchase a planter in the near
future, as I'd like to plant some corn. I'm
looking for a beginner type planter for my
small acreage (about 50 row crop acres) the JD
7000 seams like a popular planter. I see them
listed for sale quite a bit for $2000-$8000.
They all seem to be bragging about different
features, I see things such as finger pick up,
double disk openers, bean meters, transmission
drive,seed firmers, row cleaners, etc.

Some of this really confuses me, to the point
that I don't even know what I'm really looking
for. If I'm looking for a good simple, proven
design, for a simple smaller operation, what
features would you say I really need, or should
be specifically looking for?

I am doing full tillage on Central MN ground
that is pretty heavy clay based soil.

Also, Any thoughts on dry vs. liquid fertilizer
for a small guy like me just starting out?

Thanks for any insight you may have to offer

The 7000 are good planters, but make sure they are in good shape, you can put several hundred per row in the if bad.

A lot of people on these forums lean toward the JD. I use an International Cyclo 800. They are not expensive, relatively simple machines. Mine does a good job.

This is what an old successful farmer told me years ago, their are only two pieces of equipment that is a must for good crops, a planter and a combine that are top of the line. Just food for thought.

It doesn't sound like you need to worry about Yetter finger sweeps or anything like that. The Yetter stuff is good and makes it perform better in minimum/no till, but it adds a lot to the price. I also worry about hanging all of that off of a standard frame planter.

Look for something that has been stored inside. A 7000 is a good planter and you will do well with it. Get the book and read it back and forward. Know that thing like the back of your hand. A pin always shears or something breaks while you are planting and you panic because it is the perfect weather and will rain tomorrow. When I get something new I usually go talk to Tony at Mother Deere and ask him what parts sell the most for that equipment. Then I buy some of those to have on hand. That's the only way I haven't pulled my hair out with planters, balers, combines - anything, really.

The JD 7000 plateless finger pickup set the standard for 25-30 years. They are a simple durable planter that is easy to maintain.

You can buy parts at many sources for the JD 7000 planter as well. You are not locked in to just JD for parts and attachments.

You are going to want double disk openers on any type of planter you buy. Then you want the depth control to be right at these openers.

Row cleaners are an attachment that just moves trash/clods/soil from directly in front of the openers. In your full tillage you really do not need row cleaners unless you have a lot of trash left after your tillage.

Seed firmers are an attachment that just firms the seed into the bottom of the seed slot made by the double disk openers. Most of them attach to the seed tube and are a plastic arm that runs in the seed slot behind the double disk openers. There are many different type and shapes of these firmers. I have used them and really can't decide if they are worth the money in conventional tillage. In notil I think they are worth the money.

IF your going to plant soybeans then you will need a different meter on a JD planter. These meters just bolt to the bottom of the seed boxes. They are simple to change.
1)The plateless unit is for corn mainly. It will not plant a high enough rate of seed per acre for soybeans.
2)The cheapest option is the old style "bean cups" that first came out on the JD units. They just volumetrically measure the beans out. So as seed size changes (seeds per pound) you need to change the population settings.
3)Then the newer and better design is the rotary brush meter that singulates the soybeans similar to how the corm meter does. Meaning it sorts and drops each soybean separately.

As for the transmission drive you will want the simple ground drive system. The hydraulic drive is used with GPS and varying rate systems. To get setup to use that can easily cost thousands of dollars.

As for started fertilizer. That depends on your soil fertility. Starter fertilizer does not gain much if any additional yield in high fertility soils. In low fertility, cooler notil planting then the starter fertilizer can make better yields in some years.

I used to use starter fertilizer but have not in 15 years or more. The newer seeds seem to have better early vigor so the starter seemed to make less difference.

As far as dry or liquid starter. Both work. The liquid is easier to handle IF you have the pumps and tanks to haul it but your limited in choices of nutrients. With dry you have more choices but it is usually more work to handle. Usually you would use a gravity wagon and hydraulically driven auger to handle the dry fertilizer.

As far as brands of planters. I would rate the JD/Kinze as the best for your operation. The next would be the White planters they work pretty well but your parts suppliers are more limited, fewer after market sources. The IH cyclone planters (400 or 800) would be my last choice. They singulate the seed and then blow it down a tube to the opener. This effects the spacing of the seeds.

That is kind of a rough outline of planters. Email me if you want to talk about this more. I would be glad to help.

You can get a 800 or 900 IH pretty cheap planters are so simple and do a great job with graded seed not plateless. we run two 12 row 900's

Thanks for simplifying this for me JDSeller. I know I will have more questions about this and very well email you about it. What are the differences between a 7000 and a 7100/7200 model of JD planter?

I stopped in at a local jockeys lot just a week or so ago. I mentioned that I was kinda looking for a JD 7000. He said he thought the IH planters were equally as good or a bit better. I really am not partial, but have never heard a bad thing said about a JD 7000 which makes me think I can't go wrong there, maybe I need to take a closer look at an IH, can you give me a bit more insight on the IH Cyclo models?? I do see them around here for a bit less money..

The IH Cyclo planters use a central hopper (with all your seed in it) with a compressor that pressurizes the hopper. Seed spills out of the hopper into a rotating drum. There are several types of drums and you can swap them out very quickly. The drums have holes and the pressure from the hopper forces air out thru the holes. As the drum rotates down thru the seed each hole picks up a seed and holds it as the drum rotates up. Near the top, rubber wheels on the outside of the drum block the hole, release the pressure, and the seed falls into a funnel and is carried down a tube by the pressurized air. It happens pretty quickly, the seed is at regular intervals determined by the spacing of the holes in the drums. Monitor tells you if the seed is coming at the correct interval. Mine is an 8 row and I used it for the first time last year. Set it up according to the charts. Really very basic, not rocket science. My population was excellent, spacing was exactly what I had planned. I did not pay very much for the planter at auction. Definitely go with an 800 or 900. Many 800's still in use upgraded with 900 parts. I don't want to argue with JD Seller, he has been one of my mentors the past year and you won't get me to say a word against him...other than to point out that he is "JD Seller"...ROFL!

7000, or keep an eye out for a 7200 or 7200 wing fold or a 1760 ( it's a wing fold too) are good and easy to buy parts and work on. What size tractor and how many rows would you like to plant to correspond with your harvester? I had to use a 1760 12 row wing fold since a front fold 12 row would be way too much tongue weight on my Kubota. Another thing to consider. Also there's nothing wrong with a good old finger pickup. I can plant a better stand with precision parts and test them each season than the neighbor with his $150,000 planter that he doesn't take care of and drives 8 mph.

7100 is the three point hitch mounted version of the 7000. The 7000-7100 could have either finger meters or plates. Finger meters are more popular because they space the seed better and can plant almost any size or shape of seed corn without changes to the meters. The plate type meters need plates to match the seed size which is getting tough to do with modern seed. The 7200 is the next newer model and can be had with either finger pickup or vacuum meters. I don't know if the 7200 was available with plates or not. For simplicity I would go with the finger meter planter.

If you plant corn with it I would estimate you are losing 25 bu. acre. Depth control is everything. Also seed bounce is a problem with your planter. Probably is a 1000 JD Kinzie planters to every one Cyclo. Everybody can't be wrong. Sorry didn't mean to come on so strong. Go ahead and chew me out! Vic

I would have to respectfully disagree with your statements. In conventional planting the IH will do everything the JD will and do it a little better. The problem with the IH is you have to pay a lot of attention to the small details. Not really good for the first timer. When we went notil the JD and White are my choice.

The 7000 is the pull type/drawn planter you usually see. The 7100 is the same planter but three point mounted. The JD 7200 is the replacement for the JD 7000. The 7200 has different seed boxes,some heavier bearings, and the vacuum meters where offered on the JD 7200.

Then the JD 1750/1760/1770/1780 replaced the 7200 drawn planter.

All I will say about IH and JD planters is which has over 50% of the market and which has less then 10% of the market???

Lots of Red tractors pulling green planters around.

picassomcp: The jockey wants you to think about the IH planter because he can make a "killing" selling you one for " bit less money" the price of a JD planter. The IH/CIH planters usually sell for less than half of what the same condition and size JD planter does.

Go with what you can afford but realize you only will get to plant ONCE each year and that implement/planter is the most important in getting a good yield. Poor seed placement can not be over come by fertility or good harvesting.

Now if your going to plant soybeans than a IH/CIH planters is fine. The seed spacing is not as important.

To help form your opinion look up the Corn Growers yield championship contest. They list the planters used. You rarely see a IH/CIH listed there.

If you can't afford a JD then look at a White planter they are better than a IH/CIH.

7000

Finger pickup for corn. (Very rare plate model up here, you don't want.)

Seed meters for beans are better they are sorta a finger pickup for beans; the original bean cups spill out an amount of beans which is ok on 50 acres not as accurate.

I like granular fertilizer, cheaper, easy enough to shovel 100 acres worth or auger into the planter. Liquid can be applied a lot of gallons 2 inches beside the row; or even mor expensive low salt liquid can be spoon fed into the row as a light pop up fertilizer. Do you like to broadcast fertilizer or manure, or do you want to apply a lot,of,p and k with the planter, or,just apply,a little in the row? Me, I like pitting 100-120 lbs 2x2 beside the row of granular.

You don't need row cleaners in conventional till, tho,if it has them you likely will get a tad of use out of them, and more so if you don't work the ground real hard or leave a lot of bean stubble on the top, etc. you don't want a single coulter out front as a row opener, turns out that was a bad idea for around here....

Double disk openers for the row are the real deal, for fertilizer they are more common, tho single disk fert coulter works for liquid feet.

Here in Minnesota always seems an international 4-800 makes a good notill bean drill, not much of a corn planter.

JD 7000 took over the landscape.

These days you are competing with Ukraine and Mexico, jockeys are buying and shipping them to those emerging ag countries by the container load.

Shoup has all the parts you need to rebuild them, and cheaper and faster than the mega dealers of today can get you anything.

Paul

for what your doing any planter with disc openers (if the disc's are adjusted correctly) will do the job. I run caseih but have nothing bad to say about a JD when ran by a good operator.
JD takes a little more maintaining but does a good job. White is another good planter. find you a planter, then figure out if it needs rebuilt. most do or they proly wouldn't be for sale.

The old ih planters aren't bad you just (really) need to go slow. And have a (really) smooth field. The row units don't weigh much and in a rough field at JD planting speeds will bounce. A lot.

I remember back when I worked at the Deere dealer in the 1980's 1990's seemed like we saw many new faces in spring time coming in to buy only planter parts for the 7000. Many people only had one piece of Deere equipment and it was the 7000 planter ! Lots of little parts that need replaced often we sold a pile of parts for them.
But they must of been good or else all those people would not of had one over their favorite brands.
For someone starting out and on a small scale I would think you would be fine with an old plate planter ? They sell cheap and millions of acres over the years have been planted with that style.

I am going to hang right in there about the planters. We have a Kinze with all the No-Till gadgets. BUT there is a 770 in my shop with a 310 direct injection Diesel. Vic