User Manual
SEEDHAWK®TOOLBAROPERATOR’SMANUAL36
4.11 PRIMARYOPERATIONVARIABLES
4.11.1 PACKING
Positive soil to seed contact is essential for optimum seed germination.Soil type, extent of
tillageordisruptionandmoisturecontentallinfluencegerminationpercentages.Therearesix
primaryvariablesthataffectthequalityofsoilpacking:
PackerTirePressure
FieldTravelSpeed
PackingandTripPressure
MudScraperAdjustment
Cornering
FurrowDepthandWidth
KnifeLateralSeparation
4.11.2 PACKERTIREPRESSURE
Ensure that the Pneumatic packer tires are inflated to the appropriate pressure. Semi‐
Pneumaticpackertiresdonot,ofcourse,requireairpressureadjustment.
4.11.3 FIELDTRAVELSPEED
Select a fieldtravel speed that willallow productivity, but willnot compromiseaccurateseed
and fertilizer placement.Higher field travel speeds tend to cause excessive soil disturbance
and can throw soil into adjacent furrows resulting in deeperseed depths.Higher field travel
speedsalsoreducetheeffectofsoilpackingbyreducingpackingpressure.
4.11.4 PACKINGANDTRIPPRESSURE
Determining and setting effective packing and shank trip pressure allows for optimum seed
germination rates. Setting the packing and trip pressure too high may result in:more rocks
being pulled out of the ground, higher wear on shanks and opener parts, excessive packing
pressureandlesstrippinginhardersoils.
4.11.5 PACKINGANDTRIPPRESSURETIPS
Itmaybedesirabletofurtherincreasepackingandtrippressureindrier,sandiersoils.
Higherpackingandtrippressurescanresultinmorerocksbeingpulledoutofthesoil.
Higherwearonopenerpartsmaybeexperiencedwithhigherpressure.
Soilpackingwillbe
morefirmwithhigherpackingandtrippressure.
Areductioninshanktrippingactionwillbeexperiencedinfirmersoilconditions.