To widen the planting window, a combination of planting attachments are used. First, the excess residue or clods are cleared from the row area and the seed row is lightly tilled with row cleaners. Next the soil on either side of the seed is moved toward the seed at seeding depth and the surface layer above the seed is slightly lifted and loosened. This reduces pressure above the seed and helps prevent slow emergence. Seed is then firmed into the bottom of the trench.

The components of our system are Martin Row Cleaners, Reduced Inner Diameter Depth Tires, Keeton Seed Firmers, Martin Spading Closing Wheels and Drag Chain Kits.

Martin Row Cleaners
Martin Row Cleaners come in two basic types--rigid and floating. Rigid models are available for all popular planters. Floating models fit most popular planters and may be used ahead of no-till coulters or certain fertilizer openers.

Rigid types are more aggressive and may be preferred in certain situations; however, the floating models have an advantage in wetter soils. That advantage stems from the fact that they are always moving residue and lightly tilling the seed zone. There are no skips or furrowed out places. The absence of furrows is the key to preventing erosion in the row on slopes and also ponding of water over the row in level parts of the field.

The type of tillage that is provided by row cleaner teeth raking through the soil does not cause slabbing or fleaking as coulters may do. NOTE: We do not recommend coulters for planting wet soils.

Properly designed row cleaners provide a more desirable type of tillage because the sharp teeth are able to continuously engage the soil to a shallow depth without furrowing out. The row cleaner teeth, raking through the soil to a depth of 1" to 1-1/2", do not fleak or throw out the soil. Instead, through their action of scarifying the surface layer, they make it easier for the seed openers to open a well defined "V".

To reduce sidewall compaction to a minimum, JD style planters will need the gauge wheel tires changed to the reduced inner diameter style to allow the seed trench walls to lift slightly. Because this style of gauge wheel tire is so friendly to the seed trench wall, we recommend them for 750 drills. This change allows us to return to the field a day or two sooner after each rain.

The Keeton Seed Firmer

The second part of our system focuses on getting the seed to the bottom of the trench. We now understand that gravity alone will not get seed to the trench bottom. Because the seed are not "V" shaped, they can not possibly come to rest at the bottom of the "V" shaped opening. Many devices are now being marketed that can do this in ideal soil conditions, but we prefer the one that can also do it in sticky soils. The Keeton Seed Firmer glides along on top of the seed and gently embeds the seed in the bottom of the "V" trench. This slight movement downward (about 1/4") gives the seed full contact with the bottom of the trench. There are no moving parts and it works well in wet conditions unlike wheel types which must be raised when it is wet. The use of this device can improve stands considerably, especially if a dry period should follow planting. A model is also available that has a tube to apply fertilizer or other liquids in the furrow. Placing a small amount of properly balanced nutrients with the seed increases yield potential.

Martin Spading Closing Wheels

The third part of the system is our Martin Spading Closing Wheels. Many people who have given thought to how to place seed into moist soil without decreasing its chances for top performance agree that smooth closing wheels are part of the problem. In the past, we thought that the only way to grow no-till crops successfully was to wait until the soil was dry enough for the planter's smooth closing wheels to crumble the soil over the seed. This proved to be a long wait on a lot of soil types. Because of the heavy mulch present in many fields, this drying may not occur soon enough for timely planting. Each year, the preferred planting dates pass in some areas without ideal soil conditions ever occurring. Such has been the case more often than not on the clay pan soils farmed by our family. Our long-standing struggle with the problem prompted us to find a solution which we have since patented. It is being praised by its users around the country.

Our Spading Closing Wheels do not attempt to close the seed trench by a crushing action from the top down. The soil is wedged toward the seed from either side at seeding depth by a pair of Martin Row Cleaner wheels. The ends of the teeth have full bevels cut on them. The beveled side of the teeth on each wheel are placed toward the row and the narrow edge enters the soil first producing a wedging action. As the teeth on the wheels rotate up out of the soil, a slight lifting and crumbling occurs in the surface layer. The area on either side of the seed and immediately above it is not fractured. Because of the shape and spacing of the teeth on these wheels, wet soil does not bind to them.

To help further crumble and level the soil a heavy twisted chain is dragged behind the spiked wheels. This helps even out the rate of drying and ensures the soil does not dry past seed depth.

Soil temperature in the row will rise rapdily on a sunny day and fall each clear night. Numerous studies have shown heat can not be stored in bare soil.

Side Treader Wheels

One other part that many feel is essential to the success of this system is our Side Treader Wheels. These help the floating row cleaner maintain a uniform working depth in softer, wetter areas of the field. This option can be added to any of the Martin Row Cleaners, both new and old, and can help prevent wrapping in long stemmed cover crops as well as allow the floating row cleaner to be used in minimum till without as much adjustment. Internal Deflectors can be used to scrape mud from between the teeth of the wheel.

After being convinced that the planter was no longer hurting our chances for a good crop when used on wet soil, we turned our attention to the tractor to seek ways to reduce potential compaction in the row middles. Tractors with bias ply tires were traded for tractors with tall radial tires on the front and the rear. No fluid was added to the tires and all cast weights were removed. This allowed a reduction in rear tire pressure to 8 lbs. psi which should result in ground pressure of 9 to 10 psi, which we felt was acceptable. Using a planter type that does not put an excessive amount of weight on any one transport wheel, we were able to operate in very soft soils.

R K Products

We found an excellent repair kit for our gauge wheel arms that keeps them tight. If your gauge wheel arms will no longer hold the gauge wheel rubber against the disk opener, steps must be taken to remedy this. R K Products makes an economical gauge wheel arm repair kit that can accomplish this without the need for boring and bushing the arms. They also have a heavy duty closing wheel arm repair kit that can be used to ensure proper alignment of the closing wheels.

We are confident after several years of experience with this system that successful planting can take place at considerably higher soil moistures than previously thought. The past several years have included about all of the different weather patterns immediately after planting that anyone can imagine. These range from heavy downpours on the corn just planted in mud, to no rain until the crop had emerged from being planted in mud. One year brought a planting time drought. Soil surfaces were dry and no rain came on some fields until the crop had emerged. Stands during all years were good to excellent in all situations , except in a few small areas where ponding occurred due to uneven tillage of the soil in prior years.

In summary, based on our experiences and those of our customers, we know that you can go to the field sooner with this system than you can with any one pass planting system available today. The three most important attachments needed to do this are:
Martin Row Cleaners to clear and till the row; Keeton Seed Firmers to push seed to the bottom of the trench; and Martin Spading Closing Wheels to close the trench at the bottom and loosen the top; Reduced Inner Diameter Gauge Wheel Tires to allow the seed trench to lift and fracture; Drag Chain Kits to fill voids in drier conditions.

Other equipment that may be needed includes:

Side Treader Wheels for floating row cleaners; Internal Deflectors to clear teeth; I-H Gauge Wheel Tires to allow the seed trench to lift and fracture; and R K Products Gauge Wheel Arm and Closing Wheel Arm Repair Kits to renew those parts

Remember--the benefits of getting into the field two to three days earlier not only applies to the start of planting, but also to each time you resume planting following rain.

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