TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION Cover crops provide many benefits including reducing erosion, improving soil, competing with weeds, enhancing nutrient and moisture availability and helping control pests. At the same time, they can reduce costs and increase profits. Inter seeding them into standing crop gives the cover crop a chance to get started before harvesting the cash crop giving them more time for growth both under the ground and above, enhancing the benefits. With our double duty Biomass Builder Row Unit you can add cover crops to your side dress application thus doing two jobs at once. The row unit is designed to plant two rows of covers on either side of your liquid nitrogen application. Cover crops are planted with single disc openers mounted on either side and behind a liquid coulter/knife arrangement. They are followed up by a press/gauge wheel to hold the moisture/depth and give good seed to soil contact required for consistent germination throughout the field. These openers can be placed at either 7.5 inches apart or 10 inches apart depending on the farmer’s system. The single disc openers also help to close the trench that the coulter/knife make, keeping your nitrogen from volatilization. The seed for the cover crops can be delivered in a number of ways. A common way to deliver the seed is by using an air delivery seed box mounted centrally on the frame. We can also configure the centre coulter/ knife to apply a dry fertilizer such as urea. The complete applicator can be configured in many different ways to accommodate your ideas. Our tool bar can be 3-point hitch, 2-point hitch with lift assist or can be configured as a tow type similar to the traditional 28% applicator. Aside from inter seeding cover crops and side dress application, the biomass builder can also accomplish other tasks. It has been used as a relay planter for interseeding wheat into standing soybeans and for planting soybeans into standing wheat. It can also be used to plant cover crops into standing soybeans late in the season so that your cover crops are up before harvesting your soybeans. In this application we can configure the centre coulter to plant seed as well allowing a third row in the system for better coverage. The Biomass Builder Row Unit provides the versatility and adaptability to work in many farmers’ systems. You can check out our website for more info at www.hflfabricating.com. Or call 519-247-3806. ARE YOU LOOKING TO ADD COVER CROPS TO YOUR SIDE DRESS APPLICATION? 58 Technology & Innovation | February 2024 Promotional Supplement
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