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Mojo Wires for Planters

Kit-Mojo Wire, Quick Attach keetons (was K315) LEGACY P/N WAS K 315 - Mojo Wire kit, fits Quick Attach (w/ torsion loops) Dry/Liquid
$19.00
Kit-Mojo Wire, Dry Keeton Tails - Universal & Scraper Mount (was K212) LEGACY P/N WAS K 212 - Mojo Wire, Dry Keeton tails, for Universal & Scraper-Mount
$11.50
Kit-Mojo Wire, Dry Keeton Tails for Universal & Scraper - Mount (was K211) LEGACY P/N WAS K 211 - Mojo Wire for Liquid Keeton tails for Universal & Scraper-Mount
$20.00
Kit-Mojo Wire, Flo-Rite, fits Universal & Scraper-Mount (was K215) LEGACY P/N WAS K 212 - Mojo Wire: Flo-Rite, fits Universal & Scraper-Mount brackets
$11.00
Kit-Mojo Wire, fits P100 / P100T Keeton LEGACY P/N WAS K 100 - Mojo Wire for P100 / P100T Keeton
$23.00

All About Mojo Wires for Planters

Torsion Loops

Quick Attach Liquid/Dry Mojos now come with torsion loops to maintain pressure for a longer lifespan. Field-proven to extend the lifespan of the Mojo and helps maintain pressure over more acres.

Five Times More Pressure

Our Mojo Wire supplies 2–3 times the pressure of a new Keeton (or Flo-rite). Seed-to-soil contact is too crucial to leave to chance. Our Mojo wires stiffen up these firmers to truly embed the seed in the bottom of the furrow. Do it right and sleep easier!

Why the Mojo Wire?

In North America, most seeders were never really engineered to plant no-till. For instance, the original press wheels on all planters (and so-called “no-till” drills) were designed for the loose, dry conditions found in tilled seedbeds—they were intended to pack the soil from the surface all the way down to the seed, which was easily done in loose tilled soil. Substantial packing was desirable to help the seed draw moisture from beneath, since the soil near the surface had dried with tillage.

In no-till (zero-till), this concept is terribly flawed. No-till soils are resilient (structured) and don’t readily fall back into the furrow. Plus, an enormous amount of pressure must be applied at the surface to do any seed firming at all down in the bottom of the furrow. In no-till, to get even 5 lbs of pressure at seed depth might require 50 to 150 lbs. applied to the press wheel at the surface, and even then it might not be enough and certainly won’t be consistent at seed depth. And you are severely packing the sidewalls and soil over the seed (thru which it must push) in attempting to do something down at the bottom of the furrow. Why not just apply a precise amount of pressure exactly where it’s needed—at the bottom of the furrow?

In the early ’90s, this is exactly what the introduction of the Keeton seed firmer was supposed to do. However, the Keetons applied only a few ounces to (at most) ~ 1.5 lbs of pressure on the business end of the Keeton. In many cases, that wasn’t enough force. (For comparison, the in-furrow press wheels of the JD 50, 60, & 90-series single-disc drills, as well as CNH’s SDX drill, supply up to 20 lbs or more of pressure on a similar surface area down at the bottom of the ‘v.’) The situation is made worse by the fact that the nylon material used to mold the Keetons loses its integrity (springiness) after awhile (apparently due to absorbing moisture, ‘cold flowing,’ and UV degradation).

To remedy the situation, Exapta introduced the Mojo Wire stiffener in 2006, which supplies up to 5 times the pressure to the standard Keeton. In our testing and our customers’ experience, we’ve simply been amazed at how much better the germination consistency was—both in terms of higher percentages of seeds emerging, and in uniformity of timing of emergence.

Another noticeable improvement was in the self-cleaning action of the Keeton against the furrow sidewalls. We’d previously noticed that Keetons became more prone to mud buildup on the sides of the tail when they had little down-force, either due to age and fatigue, or due to loose settings on the tensioning screw. Adding the Mojo Wire has improved this self-cleaning action, at least in low-disturbance no-till. (Note that coulters or CIH reduced-inner-diameter gauge tires increase the soil disturbance ahead of the Keeton, which worsens the mud accumulation on the firmer and hinders the self-cleaning action of the firmer against the furrow sidewalls.)

Mojo Wires fit most planter Keetons. Not recommended for LP (low-profile) tails. Another brand of sliding seed firmer, the Flo-Rite, was introduced in 2014. The 2014 Flo-Rites had about double the pressure of a Keeton, but still benefitted from a Mojo Wire in tough no-till conditions. The Flo-Rites were changed for 2015 to have no more pressure than a Keeton.

Note: One drawback to increasing the pressure on the Keeton is that the tail wears more quickly. If you put lots of acres on your planter in a season, expect to completely wear out a set of Keetons with the Mojo Wire installed. But at least the Keeton is doing its job. If you’ve always struggled to get high emergence percentages with your planter in no-till, inadequate seed firming might be the culprit. Seeds should be ‘locked into’ the bottom of the furrow—securely embedded in it. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well your crops emerge with the Mojo Wire—you owe it to yourself to try them.

Uniform Timing Of Emergence Trumps Uniform Spacing For Yield Effect:

Numerous studies prove this. Indeed, loss from non-uniform timing of emergence is about 4x greater than uneven spacing. And when it comes to making sure all the seeds experience the same conditions (crucial for uniform timing of emergence), no one has emphasized this more than Exapta—everything we do is focused on improving seed placement.

Mojo Wires for Planters Videos

“The Keeton places the seed at the bottom of the trench and then presses it into the soil for excellent seed-to-soil contact. There were some situations where I had trouble with the Keetons building up with dirt, and the Mojo Wire completely fixed that for me. I won’t plant without the Keeton and Mojo Wire.”
Aaron Easton
Remsen, IA , Exapta customer since 2011 (Mojos on JD 1770)
“We would not run without the Mojo Wires. They not only do an excellent job pushing the seed firmly into the trench, they also stop the Keetons from building up with mud. They are a ‘must’ on our farm.”
Dan Forgey
Gettysburg, SD, Exapta customer since ’06 (Mojo Wires & T-whls on 16-row JD 1700-series planter)
“For my dollar, the Mojo Wire was the most effective product purchased for my planter. I get more uniform emergence due to better seed-to-soil contact.”
Dean Stevens
Falls City, NE, Exapta customer since ’08 (Mojo Wires on a 12-row Kinze 3650)
“I did have Mojos on this year [2012] for the first time. With the dry, hard conditions we had this year, I’m sure the added down-force was a good thing. We’re getting good even emergence. And I was super pleased with how the Thompson wheels worked in dry, hard conditions. They shattered the sidewall and made a beautiful strip of loose crumbled soil over the seed.”
Chuck Zumbrun
Churubusco, IN, Exapta customer since 2010 (Mojos, T-whls & toe-out wedges on 8-row JD 1700-series planter)

Chris Horton

Chris Horton brings 25 years of management with him. He grew up on his grandparents farm in Reno County Kansas where they mainly grew wheat and cattle feed. He worked on feed lots as a pen rider and cow-calf operations before moving to Southern California where Chris started a new career in the transportation and transport logistics, eventually managing the western region for a large commercial vehicle leasing company. Chris moved home to Kansas, to manage a local Farmers Coop and then eventually the service dept for a tractor dealership. The opportunity to join the Exapta team came up, and he knew he wanted to be a part of this team.

Bob Pagel

Sales & Service Representative

Prior to joining Exapta, Bob Pagel was an Agricultural Territory Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers, serving parts of MN, WI and IA. He continues to support his family farm in SE Minnesota.

Jon Zeller

Current Product Engineer

Jonathan Zeller joined Exapta excited to return to working with no-till planting equipment. He supported research of no-till planting and other ag related projects for 7 years with Kansas State University’s Agricultural Engineering Department after getting his engineering degree. He later worked 3 years for Landoll Company, LLC. where he gained experience in a design engineering role. Jonathan grew up on a small family farm in NE Kansas working with row crops, hay and cattle. Jonathan enjoys solving engineering problems and improving or creating products to be robust and easy to install and service.