How to Calibrate a Grain Drill: Setting Transmission Speed

In this blog installment, third of the series on calibrating a grain drill for multi-species cover crops, farmer Jason Carter gives a tip on transmission speeds for planting multi-species cover seed.

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“What I've found with lower rates of cover crop seed is it’s best to have the drill in the slowest speed that it will go,” says Carter. “This drill is equipped with a transmission that has a standard speed, a half speed, and a double speed. So what we have it set at now is the half speed, that way the drill is turning as slow as it can, that way we can open the metering rolls up as much as possible. That way we're not closing them down so tight. Another thing that is helped by having the metering rolls open as much as possible is if you get any trash on the metering roll, the wider it is open the less likely it is to clog up.”

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This tactic also helps with the variability in seed size when planting a mix.

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“This helps with variable seed sizes because one problem is if it's a real small fine seed like clover, well you can close it on down pretty tight but if you have something like peas in it or if you're doing a summer mix with sunflowers in it, you want that metering roll open as wide as possible,” says Carter. “So I like to slow it down and then go back to our adjustment in the back and open it as wide as possible to get the desired rate that we need for all the seed.”

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To watch the full "How To Calibrate A Grain Drill" Series CLICK HERE

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Keep following along on the Soil Health Labs blog for the following installments explaining the steps to calibrate your grain drill to multi-species cover seed.

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