Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Food plot seeders/drills

Anyone have experience with any of the newer no till seeders for ATVs or 3 point in a tractor? I've been looking at what's out there and there's several new companies that have come out in the last couple years like the tar river, RTP, field tuff and probably others. These seem much cheaper than truax, landpride or great plains that I'm used to. Curious if anyone has used these and how well they perform on a small scale say 5-20 acres a year max.

About all the food plots I put in are just spread and harrowed rather than plowed, broadcast and run the harrow.

It can be done with an ATV and a small chain harrow, or go up to a 3 point hitch broadcaster and run a 12' ridged harrow behind it.

maybe curently it may could be a benefit with $$$ fertilzer prices.

I disc with my tractor.

Then plant with a pull behind spreader with my SxS. the drag under with a homemade harrow.

its a tradeoff, i can go faster but carry less. Tractor spreader could haul more, but slower.

I'm in a unique position now where I don't have any food plot equipment or access to it like I used to before the move. We basically started over from scratch. I do have a John Deere 5200 46hp tractor but as of right now that's it.
A drag/harrow and broadcaster would probably cost as much as one of these new little units, the tar river saya505 anyway. Plus with broadcasting you have to double the passes and seeding rate and time. Don't get me wrong, I've done it that way a lot and it's fine.
My ideas is to get a 3 point boomless spray tank 120-150ish gallons I can use as a wet lining rig for Rx fire as well, that has a reach of 20-25' for spraying plots. I can do one pass to plant, another to spray and or fertilize and be done. Before I invest in one of these compact light duty seeders I want to be sure, or at least have enough input I feel confident in making the leap. Otherwise I'll contract it out and likely will this first year anyway.

I’ve got 17 acres of plots of various kinds. I plant grain/clover/chicory on 1/3 every year, and have traditionally split the balance between brassicas and a RR corn/bean mix. To date, everything has been broadcast. I’ve had great success, but the number of passes required, particularly with brassicas and corn where I have to disc in the fertilizer is excessive. Not only does it require lots of time, unnecessary discing affects soil health and is constantly stirring up the seed bank of weeds.

Hoping to save time, I looked at the well advertised food plot “one pass” wonders, and after much research, concluded they’d unlikely ever be one pass, and would not function with large grains. More fundamentally, the bang for the buck could not be justified where I already had acquired heavy discs and a cultipacker. Even if I were starting over, I think buying a separate disc, spreader and cultipacker are still cheaper and can be better set up for one’s specific needs.

One of the challenges I have with corn is dealing with all the resultant trash. My attempting to bush hog and disc back into the soils has proven ineffective. Consequently, I’ve used a York rake to remove the trash. Sadly, it also removes way too much top soil. Consequently, I’ve gotten closer picking up a no-till planter to minimize disturbance of the weed seed bank, and allow me to cut through the previous year’s stalks avoiding top soil loss and getting the benefits of decomposing trash. Before the crushing rise in fertilizer prices, I was planning on dropping the coin on a no-till planter. Instead, I’m now rethinking everything waiting to see if I can even justify the fertilizer needed for corn and brassicas.

Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful answer, that's exactly what I was hoping to find.
Just to clarify, are you saying that because fertilizer is way up you can't justify making the equipment upgrade or that you have to fertilize more with notill?
Have you estimated how much the costs are increased with an equipment change like you were contemplating?

My point is fertilizer costs go hand in hand with planting corn (primarily). My worry is fertilizer in the quantities I buy are likely to be double. It has me rethinking whether corn, and to a lesser extent, brassicas are worth it (they both require significant nitrogen inputs). A no-till planter, should in time help soil health allowing me to reincorporate the trash associated with corn. In time, that might, reduce the fertilizer requirements, particularly for brassicas.. The rub I have is a a heavy no-till is expensive….and with fertilizer doubling, my already expensive hobby will become harder to justify. For the record, I am a world class rationalizer….

Gotcha, thank you for the elaboration it helps a lot. Where I'm at the soils are clay so any disturbance causes them to blow. Heck they blow even with no till and residue. Couple that with rainfall that averages around 21" per year keeping all moisture is important as well. I'm pretty bound to no till considering those factors as a whole. I hear you on the fertilizer costs it's crazy, I'm hoping I can graze during the winter to free up some nutrients and boost the soil health. I'm hoping to spread some manure compost as well since I do have access to some of that, spreading it might be a little challenging. It'll be interesting moving forward and making the numbers work, I have a feeling I'm going to just have to accept the cost and live with it, just a big pill to swallow right now. I'm looking hard at the tar river saya 505 right now but they are so new I'm curious as to their durability and long term viability.

One of the best investments I ever made was in a no till drill. Saves a ton of time, wear and tear, fuel etc. Plus it is so easy to freshen up a plot. When I have a field that is starting to get thin, I just set the drill a bit lighter and hit it. Works great. No need to tear up a field to replant. Along with a sprayer to deal with weeds now and again, it has really simplified my time managing plots. The drill I bought was an RTP Genesis 7.

We use a woods FPS84 which is definitely not no-till, but I call it the poor mans version. Even though it's still expensive. Either way, it makes some beautiful plots for us in south Alabama.

Found a nice hoe drill close by for only $750 but it'll still require some tillage. Tillage loses moisture and we don't have any to spare unfortunately. Hopefully I can get something figured out in the next year, I'll be paying a friend to plant it for me this year but I don't think either of us wants to have to do that every year.

Anyone try any of these new small no till seeders?
I see there are several new makers turning these little drills out, can't find much as far as reviews yet.