JD 1895 Air seeder

Question

Looking at updating seeders looks like there are a lot of disc drills out there.  We do mostly no till and are running the JD 1870 now and are looking at going to another 1870 or switching to the 1895, we like the way the nh3 seals up on the 1870 as they use a point on the fertilizer shank versus the old bourgault coulters on the 5710 we had before the 1870.  The 1895 is using a coulter for the nh3 and a closing wheel how's the sealing up working?  I know a lot of people went away from nh3 but still works the best for us.  Anybody running the 1895  that didn't like them for some reason and went to something else?

Answer

What speeds are you seeding at with a twin wing on 10”?

Answer

I seed at 5 to 5.5 with single side band openers on 12” spacing.  I don’t use the twin wing

Answer

Could a seed hawk be used for cover crops and wheat? Have never seen one down south, but I’m interested in a one pass machine to get away from disking and broadcast planting. We generally plant 60# cover, and 120# for winter wheat

Answer

Couldn’t sleep last night and went deep down the hoe drill rabbit hole. John Deere made an 1820 that seems to be in my price range now (15-20) years later, what are the major differences in a John Deere and a Väderstad. Also I could not find a price for hoe/ shank replacement anywhere?

Answer

We found the vaderstad is quite a bit less money for more options otherwise is pretty close to same concept as JD1870 they both run 2 shanks or openers one for seed and one for fertilizer.  We have never replaced a fertilizer shank on our 1870 we have broken a few seed tube shanks, if i remember right they were $150 each.

Answer

Don’t forget to look at SeedHawk by Vaderstad.  Excellent fertilizer placement, accurate seed placement, and metering and section control is 10 years ahead of all other drills.

Answer

Maintaining a disk drill is a lot of work. To keep them in top notch shape I would say it takes a few days of work every winter on average. Plus parts. We have one specifically for alfalfa seeding but it does such a nice job in a variety of conditions that it gets used for most every thing.  The only drawbacks are hairpining and the upkeep otherwise they are awesome drills. It seems easier to just plan on putting 6-7k acres on a year and change disks every year. We put a bourgault cart on ours just for simplicity. We very much prefer the job it does to our seedmaster.

Answer

A disk drill costs 2.5 times as much as a SeedHawk to own, operate, and maintain.  Seedhawk knives can run for up to 35,000 acres on the wide machines and hair pinning doesn’t happen.  SeedMaster runs a wider knife than Seedhawk making them less precise, harder to pull,  and wear faster.   SeedMaster is a struggling company with little capital backing them which is part of the reason why they have such low resale value.  SeedHawk has among the highest resale value of all air drills on the market.  Seedhawk’s parent company, Vaderstad, purchased Wilrich, Concord, Wishek,  and Amity last week and will begin making larger strides in the US market.

Answer

A 12” shank spacing SeedHawk will give you 9” between 3” paired rows with twin wing opener.  The 10” shank spacing will give you 7” between 3” paired rows.  I’ve seeded grass and alfalfa with a12” single side band opener on a SeedHawk with excellent results.  I used an 1895 Deere for grass and alfalfa in the same year and couldn’t see that it was any better.  SeedHawk owners generally cut their stubble around 8” or less and may seed at an angle if they have trouble with residue flow.  In my area, the Deere owners harrow in the fall and have one tractor running all spring with a pro-till or disc to avoid hair pinning.

USA

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JD 1895 Air seeder

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