Gentlemen, I have been planting small dry ground corn plots for about 6 years with a 2 row set of John Deere 71. I have never been satisfied with the accuracy of the seed spacing. I have replaced every part I can on the hoppers and still can't get accurate spacing. With the price of seed and fertilizer being so expensive and seed spacing so critical on dry ground I am looking at new planters. I like the look of the JD7100 that have been broke down to two rows. How accurate are finger planters and what are your guys recommendations? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The finger pickup will be a HUGE improvement over the plates in a 71 unit planter. You can get a "picket fence" stand out of a finger meter that is set correctly. And your depth control on a 7000/7100 unit will also be a huge improvement. If you are mechanically inclined, you can find these planter units all over and parts are readily available to rebuild them back to near new condition. And if you do some checking around, you should be able to locate somewhere to take the finger pickup meters and have them put on a test stand to get them adjusted for accuracy.
If you want to purchase something ready to go to the field, they are readily available also. Just make sure that they really have been completely gone thru and reconditioned, not just sporting a new paint job........
Thanks for the advice. I will buy a new set for next season. I see a company in Kansas KS Farms Mfg makes a nice looking set. Again thanks for the advise. Happy Planting.
I rented a neighbors jd 7000 and lost about a1/10-1/7 th of my yeild due to the planter skipping and not planting large sections of rows . It wasnt the same row missing either. it jumped around. Never did figure out what the problem was but bought me a 4 row ford plate planter and have used it every since
You really need "graded" seed corn with a plate planter. They really did a good job "back in the day", but you had to match the plates to your seed(ie: large flat plate with big kernels, etc.).
Thinking about using my 290 to plant approx 1.5 acres next year, but not sure if I can get the population, etc. right for "modern" hybrid corn. Plus, disc openers are more forgiving than runners.
