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Where to rent seed drill?

bowman

bowman

Super Moderator
I am converting about 1.3 acres of broam / weeds into warm season grasses. It is on a hill side next to my house so the plan was to Round up (done), drill RR soybeans, Round up again when necessary, and broadcast warm season grass seed late winter.

My problem is that I cannot find a small seed drill to rent or borrow. I have checked our local Pheasants Forever, Jasper County Conservation, the NRCS Office, and our local implement rental stores with no luck. Where can a guy rent a small drill for soybeans that can be pulled behind an ATV or small tractor? I'm at a loss here. My only other option is to disc but I'm affraid that I will loose soil that way. Any thoughts?

These photos were taken last fall of the area that will be in grasses. It is the higher grass area, not the lawn in the foreground.

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Neighboring farmer? For only 1.3 acres I would think you could talk someone nearby into it, especially if they are all hooked up to plant their own beans.
 
1.3 acres. I bet you can do more with a backpack sprayer and hand broadcasting than you can taking the time to find drill, messing around with it, etc. If I had 1.3 acres to do, I'd just be doing it with a back pack sprayer and my hand broadcasting the seed.
 
Sligh1 said:
1.3 acres. I bet you can do more with a backpack sprayer and hand broadcasting than you can taking the time to find drill, messing around with it, etc. If I had 1.3 acres to do, I'd just be doing it with a back pack sprayer and my hand broadcasting the seed.
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To broadcast I would have to disc or till it. Would you be worried about losing soil with that slope?
 
If the sod is gone, I'd just broadcast heavy. Beans will grow no problem just laying on the surface.
 
Ya- you don't have to disc that up. Heck, put 200-250k per acre of beans broadcast on top and just keep spraying it with round-up. You could even start the round-up now if you wanted, beans in month or so. You'll want to mow in any case. If it were ME, I'd mow now, keep using round-up (cheap and who cares on 1.3 acres) multiple times - by next winter, you'll have a nice seed bed, spread the seed, maybe a little heavier, hit with some herbicides if you want (like a Panoramic tolerant mix for example) in the spring and ur done.
 
I'd love to come back and burn that for you, Wayne! I have a very itchy drip-torch finger right now!!
 
I would pull out on the highway out front take a right and start knocking on farmers doors. tell them what you got and tell them what you need and you have child labor to mow or trim bushes etc. in exchange for pulling in and and drilling what you need. Looks like a lot of trash left to broadcast into drilling looks like the best option.
 
Duh...you should see if my landowners out past you have something you can borrow. I still need to talk to my cousin (their son) on your behalf, I can call and ask him, too if you want.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll be weighing out my options do decide what to do. Here are some photos from today (May 3rd, 2012). This is after spraying 3-4 weeks ago and mowing a few days ago. There are a few green spots that didn't die off but for the most part I got a pretty good kill. You can faintly see the green trials that will weave through the grasses. The goal for this is an area that I don't have to mow, fun for the kids, and a bennifit to wildlife. The higher grass behind the dead grass will be filled with a series of oaks and evergreens. Thanks again for any input.

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Little off topic but I see you burned your old prairie to the right in the last pic and it is greening up... sweet back yard!! You're off to a solid start on this project!
 
LoessHillsArcher said:
Little off topic but I see you burned your old prairie to the right in the last pic and it is greening up... sweet back yard!! You're off to a solid start on this project!
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Good eye! Here is the small field of established grasses last fall and the rest of the back yard. Behind the grasses is a small food plot. I would have loved to had a yard like this when I was a a kid. My kids have no idea how good they have it.

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Here is the tentative plan. I will be tweaking it a little including reducing the size of plot A and B and increasing the amount of grasses. I'm also a litle worried about puting the fruit trees on the lower part of the hill due to increased frost. Maybe it won't matter. I would really love to have a small pond where plot A & B will be but I'm not sure if I have enough drainage. It should be a fun project!

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I experimented two weeks ago....I used a core aerator to punch a bunch of 1/4-1/2" deep holes in scalped dead sod 3 weeks ago. I broadcasted some warm season grasses and a few forbes over the area and then dragged the core material and seed into the holes. Then drove over it to pack everything. I now have 1" tall little bluestem seedlings everywhere and a very clean area still.
 
I contacted these folks a year or so back and there is a county in SE Iowa that has one of these for rent. Not sure where Jasper Cty is in relation to SE Ia but it might be worth contacting them to see if there is one near you to rent.

http://www.dewdropdrill.com/
 
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