Many of the assumptions that went into designing planters and drills for tilled soils are no longer applicable to no-till. Soils in their natural untilled condition are firm and structured, not loose and fluffy. No-till soils already are the ideal seedbed—generally having adequate moisture, soil structure (aggregation) for natural rates of aeration and crop development, a mulch on top, etc.—if only our seeders were engineered to perform in those conditions.

One of the errors committed frequently during those heady early days of no-till was to put some sort of tillage device (often one or more coulters) ahead of the opener to make the old-style (tillage-era) press wheels halfway functional again. These coulters created problems of their own, including pulling up mud (which clogged gauge wheels), planting weed seeds, creating compaction in the root zone, creating air pockets, destroying too much stubble over the seed row (opening the door for soil crusting), and increasing horsepower requirements. Because the tillage was done immediately ahead of the opener, the soil was often quite damp, so the results were often less-than-stellar. Then, the idea was to do the tillage earlier so the soils could dry—so strip-till became very popular, despite requiring another trip across the field, owning another piece of equipment, planting even more weed seeds than coulters, and creating lots of seedbed irregularities (clods, air pockets, etc). However, both coulters & strip-till were merely using localized tillage to address the symptom, rather than looking at the underlying problem—an opener not designed to work in no-till conditions.

During this same time, many low-disturbance no-tillers were experiencing problems with sidewall slickening or compaction, plus inadequate furrow closing. Some inventors and aftermarket manufacturers attempted to address these problems with various spoked closing wheels, some of which was breakthrough-thinking for the early ’90s, but lacked sufficient R&D to optimize furrow closing and sidewall breakage (for more on these, see the Thompson wheel page). Also, the idea for firming the seed right at the bottom of the furrow, instead of from the surface-down, came of age (see Mojo Wire page for the history of this idea).

Exapta sheds those vestiges, and takes no-till seeding to a higher level with modern insights, extensive field testing, and patented technology. We have products & knowledge that overcome those previous limitations. These innovations and insights are the path to strong stand establishment and vigorous crop development. Consistently.

If seed firming & furrow closing are done properly, you create an optimum seedling environment:

• Seeds are embedded in the bottom of the furrow for rapid and uniform germination
• Loose soil covers the seed, preventing drying (note that loose soil actually slows drying more than packed soil).
• The seedling emerges easily, rapidly, and at the same time as adjacent seedlings by not encountering packed soil over the seed.
• The fractured sidewall allows the nodal (crown) roots of the grass crops (corn, milo, wheat) to penetrate easily, which is crucial to their development and robustness.
• Loose material sufficiently fills the furrow so that the seedling is protected from temperature fluctuations and predation.

For information on technique of seed installation, go to No-Till Seed Placement and Seedling Development.

On getting the most from your planter or drill, see the Tech Tips for Drills and Tech Tips for Planters pages and the Guide to No-Till Seeding.