Grain drill for planting corn?

[haleysgold]

Can anyone tell me if I can use one to plant corn? and/or beans?

I know I'd have to block off a couple of openings to get the spacing but will the kernels pass thru without getting crushed ?

Or is that wishful thinking and I should look into a 2 row planter...but I didn't really want to spend another lump of cash if my drill will work.

Anybody have any thoughts or done this before?

[LABS4ME]

We have no problem using it with beans... We tape off every other hole and they run through just fine.

I ran a little corn and sunflowers through mine last year just to see if it would work. It seemed to... not sure if it crushed some or planted some kernels too shallow or they hung up in planter. The spacing in the row was a little sporadic... I was just doing a very small area as a test....

I think we will go to a two row or even a one row planter. It seems if you keep your eyes open, good condition refurbished ones can be had for 600-800 dollars. I guess it will be a cheap investment over the next 20 years... we got our grain drill for $150.00 so investing a few hundred more for a planter will be easy to justify.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Dotch]

Drills have been used a long time on soybeans, back to the days when they were first introduced as a forage crop in the early 1900's. As Ken points out the disadvantage on corn is the accuracy of the drop/spacing and to some extent seed depth, affecting how even the corn emerges. Since seed corn is expensive relative to soybeans if you're buying it, the increased accuracy of even a cheaper old plate type planter could pay for itself pretty quickly in seed cost if you're doing any amount of acreage.

[hockeybc69]

My friend is selling his John deere 290.