# Seed Drill VS COrn Planter



## ThumbBum

Need some help from the farmboys out there

What is the differece between a "seed drill" and a "Planter"

Up until recently I thought that a "drill" was for smaller seeds like clover and a "planter" was for larger seeds typically planted in rows like soybeans and corn. Then I noticed that in the Biologic video for Biomax they recommended using a "drill" to plant thier product. I thought that this was just southern slang for a planter until I watched the video and saw them using what looked like a grain drill to plant the stuff. I should note that the way I tell the difference is that a "drill" has one long seedbox where as a "planter" has idividual seedboxes for each row. The I noticed that some fo the "drills" I saw at local yards had what looked like settings on them for silage corn and soybeans.

Does this mean that I could buy a "drill" that could be used for both large and small seeds??? 

I would like to buy some kind of seeding machinery to save time over the disc, seed, re-disc, cultipact method I have been using.


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## johnhunter

I recently posed this exact question to the most knowledgeable farmer and foodplotter that any of us know. So long as we're talking about a "conventional" (not a "no-till") drill, there is no difference between a drill and a planter. Just a different name. You can pick up used planters/drills for pretty reasonable prices.

With conventional drills or planters, you will need to work up your soil shortly before planting, ie., the "extra step".

Now, a no-till drill is clearly a horse of a different color, and is the foodplotter's dream - in fact, considering what they cost, they're an unimagineable luxury. I'm not buying one until I hit all six numbers. Sometimes, though, SCD's or PF may have no-till drills for rent at very reasonable rates - though the no-till drill _my_ SCD has requires a 100hp tractor.


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## ThumbBum

Thanks FL, and BTW I agree

Ask most people whats the frst thing they would buy after winning the lotto and they will respond a big house, a boat or an insanely expensive imported car. 

Me, Im off to the John Deere dealership as soon as I finish at the real estate office buying off all my neighbors so I can have the whole section to myself.


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## Backwoods-Savage

Just to let you know, way back when we played with dinosaurs, we also planted corn using a corn planter. Our grain drill was used for oats and wheat. However, we also used the grain drill for planting beans. It's just a matter of changing the plates! 

For our beans, we planted only 4 rows to a time. That was better than the corn planter though as we only planted 2 rows to a time then. My, how farming has changed in our time!!! Back when I was a young man, a 4-row planter or cultivator was BIG! And out big tractors were smaller lots of today's small tractors! For example, we always used our small tractors for planting and cultivating. Not today you won't!


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## ThumbBum

OK
But heres the problem
When I contact my local used Ag equipment dealers they tell me that you cannot use a drill to plant corn and that you need a dedicated planter. When pressed as to why they tell me that drills do not regulate the spacing of seeds placed within and individual row like planters do. If I understand this correctly then it would be impossible to control seed rates for larger seeds. Since Ed Spin reccomends no more the 20lbs per acre for corn seeding this seems like a dealbreaker to me. 

I hate to nitpick, but I need to get this right. I am willing to spend some good money to get a reliable piece of equipment (I may even buy new) but I need to know what Im getting into.


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## Liver and Onions

I am assuming that the corn is just for deer. Have you convinced yourself not to use a regular seed spreader for the corn and fertilizer followed by a disk? You will only get about 1/2 of the corn production since you will not be culivating/spraying, but it is a lot faster & cheaper. After disking, putting down a small amount of buckwheat & running a packer over the field seems to help control the weeds somewhat plus the deer might eat the buckwheat instead of the corn during the summer. The deer won't care if the corn isn't in rows and the weeds are knee high. In fact the pheasants will love it. If you have many deer in your area, they will likely damage the corn heavily.....you may not get many ears of corn unless you plant a rather large area. 
I wish you success, I know that some years we have spent a lot of money and time on smaller plots only to have next to nothing on Labor Day.
L & O


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## ThumbBum

Thats the plan LO, Im planning to put in about a 5 acre plot, my most ambitious plot to date. And yes its just for deer, my kids would starve if they had to rely on daddys farming skills. 

I was originally planning disc, broadcast, disc in, then cultipact. But Im still an engineer at heart and the whole process just seems to have too many variables to suit my geeky heart. Not to mentiion that I would love to get the process down to 2 steps instead of 4.


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## plugger

As the others have said a grain drill is for small grains and a corn planter is for corn. I have a corn planter but using round up ready corn when I put in a ten acre plot this year, rather than fire up the corn planter, I think I will broadcast it.


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## chevyjam2001

I plan on using the 3 step method. Broadcast seed and fert, till it in then wait 3 weeks and spray with roundup. I planted corn last year that wasn't roundup ready and it was a total bust, 10 acres of weeds and worn out tiller tines was all I got. I tried the till, wait 1 week till wait another week then till again then after another week till plant till again then double pass with the cultipacker. What I saved in roundup I spent in diesel fuel. After I planted the rr soys later that summer I realized that rr corn or anything rr is definately the way to go for me from now on.


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## plugger

Since the generic roundup is cheap its the easiest way to go. I havent hooked up the cultivator in a few years. If you were going to go the route you described, summer fallowiing, you would be money a head to use a drag verses running a tiller that many passes.


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## bishs

I bought an international 4 row corn planter a 5 or 6 years ago for $250. It was built in the 60's. Its in good shape and does a great job. You can change the seed plates and plant any large seeds, corn, beans, peas, even cotton. It does a great job, with RR corn being so expensive, and the cost of fertilizer, its the way to go. You get the correct spacing, depth and the seeds get packed with the packing wheels. My corn looks as good as the farmers around me. It plants soys great also, but last year I just broadcated them and had good results. I broadcast the fertilizer and disc it in before the planter. The fertilizer eats up the planter too much. I oil all the chains, and grease before I run it. It has no hydraulics, and you pull a rope attached to a cam system tied to the back of my tractor, to lower the planter "chutes" for planting. The planters are easy to spot, they have 4 grain bins, and 4 fertilizer bins behind them. I see a few for sale around me every year.


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## bhntr

You got to remember that your food plotting for feed not raising a crop for maximum yield. Its not that you cant plant corn with a drill, you could, but I dont know that you could get a very even stand at 20lbs per acer. Your equipment dealers right about the seed spacing. A planter uses a plate for older models and finger or vacume pickup on the newer models. They pick an individual seed and drop it down the seed tube. A drill has a flue and a cup or basicaly a big sprocket that sweeps the seed from the cup into the seed tube. You dont get the individual seed spacing like a corn planter. But a corn planter isnt designed to pick up small grains like wheat,clover, alfalfa ect. 
My Grandpa planted with a 2 row corn planter and a 8 foot drill. Today we are using a 16 row Kinzie corn planter with interplant that will plant 15 more rows in between the standard 16 rows for a total of 31 wich we use for soys. We also use two JD 1560 15' no till drills on a double hitch wich we plant soys and wheat. Grandpa could make a living on 80 acres and raise a family today thats impossible.
You can do alot with broadcast seeding for cheap. The main thing is getting good seed to soil contatct and not getting the small seeds like clover alfalfa wheat in to deep. Plus mother nature needs to cooperate with the right weather.


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