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Coldwater, Michigan | Steve,
You have some good suggestions made so far.
I like the 2 system approach because it gives flexibility to you fertilizer program. Use nitrogen beside the row, with maybe some sulfur. If you need to do a bit of buildup (Regulators hate that word in this area) it could be added to the nitrogen by fertilizer company. Many do in this area anyway.
I like the JD single disc opener because with the angled disc you open a slot for the fertilizer to be placed. Don't need injectors with it, just dribble the fertilizer in the trench. The John Blue squeeze pump will probably be reasonably accurate. As you know I expressed concern about the factory squeze pump, which I believe is a Demco squeeze pump. At one time JD used a John Blue squeeze pump, then when they brought the 7200 planter out they decided to use their own(I believe). Nobody liked it including the planter salesmen for JD if they were paying attention.
If the John Blue squeeze pump is up to your desired volume, I would probably use it for your 2" x 2" treatment at least this first year.
I would use one of a number of pumps for the seed placed material. A common pump that is available is the John Blue diaphram pump (maybe D43?) locate a live shaft for when the planter is in the ground. I have used the same shaft as the squeeze pump. Bypass this pump right back on itself, instead of bypassing back to the tank. If you use this pump make sure it has be coated with teflon on the inside (Aluminum alloys and "P" don't mix). As has been mentioned an electric pump with a controler is nice, and it is a bit less expensive initially. Demco, John Blue, and others make piston pumps that are very accurate, but unnecessarily big capacity wise for this application.
Settle on your pump, then use some kind of manifold system. This is what you use to be sure you don't have surge. That's what you get when you use a squeeze pump at low volumes. When I was with NACHURS/ALPINE we used "Blumhardt" manifolds primarily, and some kind that you used PVC pipe, drilled your holes and mounted this over the holes. Worked well, can do the same thing with "Spraying Systems" manifold. Orfices and check valves are important things.
Use 1/4" tube to the seed trench, use totally tubular pipes, or I would probably favor the "Rebounder" on the IH planter over Keetons. The 1/4" tube to the seed trench will help "choke", or force some back pressure into the system. Without it you have the product falling out of the system, or being forced whenever it happens to happen. With the slight backpressure in the system you will get even distribution within the seed trench.
We are without a doubt trying to achieve precision placement (site specific) with a precise quantity of material. This is about as site specific as it gets (or as Jim likes to say "indexed to the seed").
Because you are being ever so careful, don't mess up your perfection by using a product that has a bunch of Urea for a nitrogen source. They are potentially very unsafe. Been written about by Universities for years. Usually they are the ones being sold as "3 gallons is all it takes". Those are the ones you want to ask if you could use 10 gallons of on the seed. The safer ones, you can. Probably don't need to, but you caould do it and usually be safe. Not that I necessarily recommend it, just that you usually could without a problem. Those products usually start out with a nitrogen number of 8 or 9 and contain some potash.
Probably opened a can of worms on that one! Any more thoughts on equipment?
Edited by Bill Moyer 9/26/2006 22:05
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Liquid Vs dry fertilizer from below
