Earthway Seeder Fix
In small scale vegetable farming there’s a discrepancy between low end push seeders and high end seeders. There isn’t a seeder built that is precision, costs under $1000, and actually works. (If you know of something I’m missing please let me know)
The Earthway’s are pretty good considering they cost around $90. But one of the biggest problems is that small seeds work their way behind the plate and start pulverizing the seed. Not so good if you’re looking for decent germination.
At this great annual get together here in Oregon, known as the Farmer to Farmer Exchange (I’ll write more on this in an upcoming post) great ideas are passed around. This Fix was given at one of those round table discussions.
It’s pretty easy:
Take a 3″ PVC end cap. Saw about an inch or so off the end, basically leaving you with a shorter cap. Drill a hole in the center. Then remove the central bolt holding the seed plate assembly to the seeder and replace it with a 1/4″ bolt that is 2 1/4″ long. The bolt should go all the way through the seeder and the new cap. Place a wingnut on the end (for easy plate removal/replacement), and tighten just snug enough to allow plate to still spin freely.
This fix basically just keeps the seed plate against the body of the seeder and helps prevent crushed seeds. As with most things it takes some adjusting, but once you get it, it works like a charm.
Check the pictures for before and after.
11 comments
Excellent idea and description. Thanks for putting this up!
Glad it helped! If you have any other ideas of what you’d like to see here let me know.
That’s excellent…I’m in! Someone called the Earthway the Brassica Grinder. I do have most problem with brassicas. When I use it for lettuce for mesclun, the seed gets behind a bit, but it doesn’t seem to get in the way. I have a couple of Earthways. I’ll try this on one of them, and it can stay more or less fixed on the brassica plate.
There are a couple of other seeders of under $1K seeders that may be worth a look. There’s the Planet Jr, they still sell a push model for around $500, that’s supposed to be really precise, the seed drops instead of being carried up by a wheel. I have a a real old one that I’m going to finally try this season. It’s really heavy compared to the Earthway, but if it’s as good as I’ve heard, I’ll use it for beans, peas, corn, where I’m doing relatively a lot of seeding at a time (few hundred feet).
There’s also a pricey new one, Thilot Holland HZ423, from the Netherlands. It’s about $1,000 US, haven’t heard any first-hand stories, but it may be the SuperEarthway…!
Mike-
I wouldn’t call the Planet Jr. a precision seeder. More of a drill seeder where the seed funnels down a tube and falls on the ground. No singulation. (Not that the earthway really does any better.)
I’d probably go for the Planet Jr. though if I came across a used one.
Yes, the Thilot is pricey. Does it actually work?
Here is another seeder that I ran across. I haven’t used it, but am considering it.
Jeff..
http://www.mechanicaltransplanter.com/seeder.html
I hadn’t seen those seeders before. They must be new from Mechanical. If you buy one please let me know how it is and we can put a full review up here.
[...] family, can get behind the seed plate, in turn causing less even seed distribution. Here’s an interesting fix (haven’t tried it yet, but I will). Bookmark: These icons link to social bookmarking sites [...]
Wondering what seed plate you have in there with all the close spacings? I cant make out the number. Have you tried it with lettuce seed?
Thanks to the genius who came up with this – using this setup with the brassica plate with masking tape on every other hole, and a 30″ flame weeder from flameweeders.com, I’m planting salad mix with perfect spacing and about 10 minutes weeding per bed.
This is an interesting fix for sure. I’ve also tried talcum powder as a dry lubricant with these seeders, it helps keep the seed plate running smoothly, and avoids the jerking that tends to lead to skipping and missed seeds. Be sure to run it by your certifier if your organic and use the unscented kind. I am going to try this too. Thanks for the tip
The reason certain seeds cause the jerking motion and crunching sound and subsequent catapulting of the seeds in the spoons or scoops is that the diameter of the seed is greater than the distance between the outer edge of the scoop and the curved side wall of the seed hopper. If a seed get forced against the funnel shaped side wall of the black plastic seed hopper by the outer portion of the seed scoop wheel, it will momentarily stop the rotation of the seed wheel and build up tension in the driver belt. When the seed or scoop finally breaks or shifts under pressure, the potential energy stored in the tensioned driver belt is released to the seeds in the scoops (waiting to be dropped down the chute) and are violently ejected from the hopper thus causing violent language and thoughts to the otherwise happy customer.
If the clearance between the bottom part of the hopper that curves inward towards the seed plate and the outermost portion of the scoops on the seeder plate is less than the diameter of your seed, you need to modify one or the other so that the minimum clearance is 1.5 times or 2.5 times the diameter of the seed.
For example, I used the beet plate for “Dwarf Gray Sugar” sugar snap peas with excellent singulation but quite a bit of jamming. What I plan to do is purchase another beet plate and trim down the scoops so they don’t reach out quite so far into the hopper space.
Another possibility is to create an insert out of clay or stiff wax or something that prevents the seed from falling into that one area with insufficient clearance. Hopefully it should not interfere with seed making it into the scoop. This might be the best, more universal, solution.
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