Here’s a selection of questions and answers from the No-Till Farmer Web site’s “No-Till Online Forum” regarding no-till air seeders and drills.

Case IH SDX30

I’m wondering about the amount of horsepower needed to pull this seeder with a 15-inch row spacing in rolling sandy loam soil with a tow-behind 180-bushel cart?

—Doug M.,

Myersfarms@aol.com

I am pulling one of these 30 foot seeders on 7 1/2 inch row centers with a 230-bushel capacity tow-behind cart at 5 mph with a Case IH 7240 200 horsepower tractor. With 15-inch rows, I can travel up to 7 mph. We have the tractor set up with triple tires in the rear, which really makes a difference for early spring wheat seeding.

—Marty Visto,

mvisto@drtel.net

Is your land flat or hilly? Can you pull the seeder at 7 mph when the cart is filled with seed or fertilizer? Here in south central Michigan, the rocks would destroy this unit at 7 mph, but I’d like to average 6 mph.

—Doug M.,

Myersfarms@aol.com

Averaging 6 mph shouldn’t be any problem as long as the second rank is locked up on the frame. We have moderately rocky soil and the rocks don’t seem to bother the drill other than to dull the blades. We no-till gently rolling land without a great deal of slope.

A full cart definitely slows down our field speed when all 48 openers at a 7 1/2 row spacing are being used. While wetter soils place a great deal of drag…