In 1999, Laurence Pellizzari had to do the same fall work as many of his neighbours. The producer banded N on his sandy loam textured soils northwest of Paynton so that he could make a single pass at seeding time. But Laurence was frustrated by the fact that he had to make two passes to get both his nutrients and his seed into the ground. Another frustration was the harrowing he had to do to get a smooth surface on the fields that were going to be seeded to canola. It seemed that this was the only method that allowed him to control seeding depth for canola to his satisfaction.
But the fall of 2000 you would not have found Laurence banding his fields. You would have found him in his shop working on his 39 foot Flexicoil 5000 airdrill. He was making a few modifications to it before it hit the fields the following spring.
Laurence Pellizzari had some ideas - ideas that he hoped would move him forward in his quest of reducing tillage.
"I wanted to make some changes and try out a one-pass system," states Laurence.
So he went to work on the shanks of his airdrill. On the 7.2-inch row spacing, for every three shanks, Laurence made the two outside shanks for seed and the centre shank for anhydrous. The seed openers are one-inch wide Harvest Technology openers (formally Atom Jet) with carbide tips. The fertilizer openers are all ¾-inch wide steel Dutch knives.
"I had the Dutch knives on the farm from a previous opener trial so I decided to use them as my anhydrous opener," explains Laurence. He was able to purchase an older anhydrous kit for a reasonable price.
He used a ½-inch hose from the metering headers instead of 3/8-inch to help reduce freeze ups. The Dutch knife is all steel so he still had a few openers freeze up. But he did not feel that the seven-inch gap to the N fertilizer was a problem. This larger gap provided complete safety for a one-pass direct seeding system.
So how did his modified unit bode in its first year? Laurence says he is pleased with his first year's results. But his system is still very new and presently he has some decisions to make.
"I feel the 14-inch gap is too great between the seed rows where the fertilizer is placed," states Laurence. "I'd like to reduce this gap to 12 inches to discourage the possibility of weed growth and evaporation. The 14-inch gap does not allow for fast enough canopy closure."
He feels the current 14-inch gap and slower canopy closure caused the greatest problem for wheat. Barley was less adversely affected and there was no problem for canola with the 14-inch gap. Phosphorus and potassium was seed placed with wheat and barley. Phosphorus and sulfate-sulphur was seed placed with canola.
For peas, he changed his seed headers so the pea seed goes down every run and anhydrous is not used.
Laurence says,"It only takes half an hour to make the change for peas."
But the positive side of the airdrill's current spacing is that the stubble from the 2001 crop year appears beneficial for a 7.2-inch airdrill to seed through. He may be able to leave stubble taller, which in turn may provide added benefits to his whole system. He didn't notice any additional weed growth where the anhydrous openers went.
Laurence did make an investment this fall to complement his modified seeding unit. For harvesting, he added a hydraulic-driven chaff spreader to his 860-MF combine. He uses a 30-foot straight cut header, 25-foot swather and maintains a straw spread of about 25 feet.
Though there may be some further modification on his airdrill spacing, Laurence is also considering seeding all his fields east and west. He hopes this will minimize the effect of the 14-inch gap from the sun's rays.
Whatever his final decisions are for next year, you will probably be able to find Laurence working and experimenting in his shop to get his new system just right. This producer may be new to the technique, but you can be sure he's up to the challenge. The benefits are just too important.