Dust causes gauge wheel axles to seize up, can’t be adjusted

The Problem

We regularly hear from growers who plant large areas with John Deere drills or Air-Seeders, that tell us their gauge wheel axles have seized up and can’t be adjusted as seen above. This is most common in low rainfall regions where a cloud of dust often surrounds the seeder during most of the planting season and it is especially common on drills or air-seeders that don’t have adequate down pressure or ballast (or a combination of the two).

Without adequate down pressure (or ballast), the gauge wheel doesn’t remain in constant contact with the soil surface and this loss of target seeding depth causes the handle to constantly rattle within the depth adjusting cover as shown in image A. Not only does this reduce crop emergence as a result of shallow placed seeds, or seeds on top of the ground, it also causes the gauge wheel arm to constantly pivot back and forth. The constant movement wears out the O ring as shown in image B.

Once this O ring deteriorates as shown above, it lets dust into the assembly, causing it to seize up. Some clay-based greases actually made this locking up problem worse, as the dust mixes with the grease to cause a “cake-lock failure” where the gauge wheel arm seizes solid. When the gauge wheel arm can’t be moved with a large crescent wrench, hooked to where the gauge wheel mounts, the only way to free them up is to push the gauge wheel arms out of the assembly with a press as shown in image C.

Wear on cast depth arm allows gauge wheel movement

Another wearing part, especially on older or higher acre 60 and 90 series John Deere drills and air-seeders is the cast depth arm, part number AN282108 (RH) and AN282109 (LH). These wear within the jaws as illustrated right. This wear allows the gauge wheel to move up and down and change seeding depth, plus it accelerates wear within the depth adjust cover as shown.

The Solution

We have a new range of depth adjust parts to help eliminate the wearing and seizing up problems.

New Depth Adjust Axle

Key Benefits

  • Heavy duty assembly replaces John Deere part numbers N282117, AA92485 and AA73951, which fit all 60 and 90 series John Deere openers.
  • Dust cap is welded all around, rather than spot welded like the OEM versions. This helps keep dust and moisture entering the inside of the dust cap.
  • Maintains the OEM milled area on the outside of the axle to help with lubrication along the axle.
  • Includes grease zerk.
  • Yellow zinc coated to minimize corrosion over time.
  • Allows around 1/8” of additional adjustment of the gauge wheel towards the disc. So as the lip on the side of the gauge wheel wears away, more adjustment is available to help shim the gauge wheel against the disc to help keep mud out.

New RH and LH Spindle Assembly With Triple Lip Seal

Key Benefits

  • Heavy duty spindle assembly replaces John Deere part numbers AN282118 (RH) and AN282119 (LH) on John Deere 60 and 90 series openers.
  • Each spindle comes complete with high quality triple lip seal to help keep dust out of the assembly over time.
  • Hex head allows to help with installation.

New Depth Arm

Key Benefits

  • Our single Depth Arm can be used on the RH and LH side, so one part replaces the John Deere part numbers AN282108 (RH) and AN282109 (LH) which install on John Deere 60 and 90 series openers.
  • Heavy duty steel construction for longer life.
  • Works with OEM gauge wheel axle, handle and depth adjust cover.

Video

Watch the video for more information on the Needham Ag Depth Adjust Parts.

Upgraded firming wheel arms provide longer service life

The Problem

The factory John Deere 750 series box drills (after serial number 3834) and all 1850 air-seeders have a welded pin on the firming wheel arm as illustrated right. This pin wears over time and results in excess side to side travel. This assembly didn’t come with seals from the factory, so it often fills with dust (especially when planting in dry, dusty conditions), which accelerates wear.

John Deere sells a new arm assembly for around $87.00, but this only has a roll pin to hold it in position, so its often difficult to shim with washers to keep it tight.

The Solution

The Needham Ag – 50 Series Firming Wheel Arm Upgrade offers numerous improvements to the John Deere replacement assembly.

Key Benefits

  • Comes as a kit, which includes a quality steel arm and high quality precision ground pin to improve service life.
  • Same arm works on both the RH and LH side.
  • This kit offers a replaceable firming wheel arm pin (just like the John Deere 60/90 series firming wheel arms).
  • Comes with our high quality seals and poly bushings.
  • Comes with a 4 ¼” Grade 8 Flange bolt, Grade 8 flange nut and 1” ID Grade 8 washer.

Video

Watch the video below to see how to install our 50 series firming wheel arm kit.

Needham Ag bushing kits for wheel arms improve longevity without lubrication

The Problem

Abrasive dust often mixes with the grease and causes the factory seals (on newer models) to erode, then dust enters the pivot assembly. This grease and dust mixture often causes “cake lock failure” and results in the closing wheel arm or firming wheel arm locking up. For those of you planting into similar conditions, you understand the severity of this problem.

Factory and aftermarket steel closing wheel arm and firming wheel arm pivot bushings are designed to be greased regularly to reduce friction and extend their life. However in dry, dusty conditions, fine dust is often flung up into the closing and firming wheel arm pivots by the disc blades and gauge wheels, especially in dry, windy conditions.

The Solution

We learned early on that within dusty conditions (as illustrated above), its either necessary to grease the pivot points regularly (daily) to help purge the dust out, or not grease the pivots at all. The latter was further reinforced by the fact that the 60 series (and the later 50 series) openers were shipped from the factory without grease fittings on the closing and firming wheel pivot points. Without any grease, the seizing up problems discussed above disappeared, even on drills and air-seeders that operated in the most severe dry and dusty conditions. However, the service life of the pivot points was reduced without lubrication, even when using the newer John Deere oil impregnated powdered metal bushings, because fine dust enters the housing and dries out the small amount of lubricant they release.

Based on many challenges, including those discussed above, we began looking for a closing and firming wheel arm pivot configuration that provided good service life, ideally without lubrication. We field tested many different combinations for at least 2 years within different operating conditions, especially across the dry, dusty conditions of the Central Plains and the dry regions South East Australia, before settling on the yellow poly outer bushings and hardened plus precision ground pin.

Key Benefits Of The Needham Ag Closing Wheel and Firming Wheel Arm Bushing Kits

  • Our closing and firming wheel arm pins are made from high quality heat treated steel, with the highest hardness value (measured on the Rockwell C scale) of all the factory and aftermarket pins we have tested.
  • Our closing wheel and firming wheel arm pins are precision ground, making their outer surface very smooth, which extends the life of the closing and firming wheel arm bushings.
  • Our yellow poly bushings have been tested for 2 seasons on high acre per row openers. We have found their life matches or exceeds factory closing wheel and firming wheel arm bushings without lubrication.
  • Our yellow poly bushings don’t require greasing because they incorporate teflon, which acts as a lubricant to lower the friction around our smooth, precision ground closing and firming wheel arm bushing pins.
  • Our yellow poly bushings are much easier to install than factory and after-market steel bushings.
  • We supply 2 x seals per row to keep dust and moisture out of the closing and firming pivot assembly.
  • We supply a 1” ID washer to help remove the side to side play which is often present within openers with enough accumulated acres to require the closing and firming wheel arm bushings to be replaced.
  • We supply a new grade 8 – 5/8” flange lock nut, as many existing lock nuts don’t have sufficient torque to hold the assembly tight after the existing bolt has been torqued, re-torqued and removed in the past.

Video

Watch the video to learn more about our Closing and Firming Wheel Arm Bushing.

Smooth internal seed tubes improve seed flow for consistent placement

The Problem

Most seed tubes on the market drop seeds evenly if the tubes remain almost vertical in operation. However, as you drive up or down slopes, especially when seeding lighter seeds such as radish or grass seeds, seeds often hang in the corrugations of the seed tubes. Often these seeds fall out in clumps when the seed tube straightens back out or when enough vibration shakes the seeds loose, resulting in inconsistent seed placement down the rows.

The Solution

We have been able to source a new design of rubber seed tube to help improve seed flow, especially when seeding smaller seeds, such as cover crops or when seeding on rolling ground (or both). These new seed tubes are made from natural rubber and provide excellent flexibility. They also incorporate internal folds above each corrugation, so as the seed tube stretches out, the folds direct the seeds away from the corrugations and help eliminate any seeds being held in the seed tube.

These seed tubes also incorporate a small amount of peroxide into their formulation, this has been found to be a safe and effective way of deterring rodents from damaging the seed tubes.

When installing these seed tubes, be sure to install them the correct way up, so the folds point downwards.

Video

Learn more about Needham Ag Rubber Seed Tubes

Patented seed boot bushings improve consistency in seed placement

The Problem

As the acres on a John Deere single disc drill or air-seeder accumulate over 200-300 acres per row (+/- 10,000 – 15,000 acres on a 30′ air seeder for example), the holes which mount the seed boots to the arm become worn and/or egg-shaped as illustrated below.

This wear (together with wear in the seed boot holes, plus the bolt which mounts the boot to the arm) can all add up to cause significant forward/backward seed boot movement which translates into upward/downward movement. This excessive vertical movement has been found to significantly compromise seed placement, especially when seeding shallow and/or when working at higher speeds in no-till conditions.

How do you know when the bushings should be added? Based upon our field observations, when the seed boot can be moved up and down more than ½” (measured from the lowest rear corner of the seed boot), seed placement begins to significantly deteriorate. Many drills and air-seeders have 1″ or more vertical travel, therefore this is one of the major reasons for lots of seeds on top of the ground and poor stands, especially when seeding at higher speeds in no-till conditions.

The Solution

We are proud to release a great new method of almost eliminating the undesirable play, even within very worn seed boot mounting points on 50, 60 and 90 series John Deere drills and air-seeders.

Our solution to almost eliminate this undesirable play involves drilling a larger hole within both sides of each seed boot and inserting two long-life hardened steel bushings. With a sharp drill bit (used within a good drill press) each hole can be drilled out in a couple of minutes (Some growers drill new holes when they replace the boots, this saves time removing the boots just to drill the holes).

Once the holes are drilled out, the bushings are then inserted. Finally, the original bolt (with washers) is then pushed back through the bushings and the arm and the nut is added and torqued.

The secret which makes this kit so successful is that once the nut is tightened, it presses both bushings against the lugs on the arm. This allows both bushings to now become the pivot point for the seed boot to rotate around. The combination of increasing the distance between the two pivot points and the limited tolerance between the hole and the bushings allows the seed boot to pivot easily and to help it tight against the disc.

The kit almost eliminates any forward/backward or vertical movement – even on the most worn arms and boots within older John Deere drills and air-seeders.

Videos

Watch to learn how the Needham Ag Seed Boot Bushings work.

We have made a short, six-minute instructional video, illustrating the process of clamping and drilling the seed boots in preparation for installing the seed boot bushings.

Martin Spiked Closing Wheels reduce sidewall compaction

The Problem

Many producers across the Northern Plains and other areas are forced to seed their crops (such as spring wheat) in higher than ideal soil moisture conditions. If the crop must be planted into such conditions, sidewall compaction commonly results – especially in higher clay content soils. This photo illustrates sidewall compaction, which can be easily identified as a flat appearance of the wheat roots and the shiny furrow walls.

The Solution

Martin Spiked Closing wheels can be added to John Deere and Case IH single disc seeders to loosen the sidewall compaction caused by the smearing action of a disc opener in higher soil moisture conditions. Martin Spiked Closing Wheels also lightly till the soil surface above the seed slot to facilitate faster soil warming, which is very important in northern climates.

Another modification that will reduce sidewall compaction and enhance the performance of the Martin Spiked Closing Wheels is the Reduced Inner Diameter Gauge Wheels.

A Reduced Inner Diameter Gauge Wheel fitted to a John Deere 750 drill, closely followed by a Needham Ag Technologies V6 Seed Firming Wheel, finally followed by a Martin Spiked Closing Wheel. The ideal combination for higher moisture seeding conditions.

A standard John Deere Cast closing wheel did very little to close the seed slot when no-tilling wheat into corn stalks in damp soils. By comparison the Martin 13″ spiked closing wheel (below) did an excellent job closing the seed slot in addition to lightly tilling the seed zone to accelerate soil warming and improve emergence. Closing the seed slot consistently is critical for uniform emergence in addition to maximizing winter hardiness, especially when no-tilling winter cereals across the Central and Northern Plains. Any open seed slots can cause cold temperatures to descend down around the crown roots, resulting in stand losses.

Keeping seeds in the seed slot

The Problem

Many John Deere drills and air-seeders struggle to keep seeds in the seed slot. This becomes an even greater problem in no-till fields with heavy residue, surface undulations (such as previous wheel tracks) and especially when operating at higher speeds. While these concerns are more pronounced with air-seeders (because they can blow seeds out of the seed slot), it can also happen with no-till drills like 750/1590.

Factory seed tabs quickly wear and lose their down force. When this happens the seal above the seed slot is lost and many seeds can either bounce out of the seed slot or be blown out of the seed slot with an air-seeder (especially when the units bounce over heavy residue or when working at higher speeds).

These images illustrate a soybean seed being blown out of the seed slot when the factory seed tab does not provide an adequate seal.

The Solution

After observing the problem for a number of years, we finally have a solution. The new product helps prevent seeds bouncing out of the seed slot, plus it pushes seeds down into the bottom of the seed slot, to improve the performance of the seed firming wheel. It’s a heavy duty seed tab we call Bonila and its made from UHMW Quartz, a highly wear resistant flexible poly material which offers long life. It quickly installs on the John Deere 50 and 90 series seed boots, the same way as the factory seed tab and uses the same mounting bolt.

When field testing the Bonila seed tabs alongside factory seed tabs we quickly observed a difference in the number of seeds retained in the seed slot. We have also found the Bonila wear characteristics are significantly less compared to the factory seed tabs as a result of the greater thickness and durability characteristics incorporated into the design.

The Bonila seed tab has a 7o angle (compared to the factory tabs which are straight). This angle allows the Bonila to better follow the seed slot behind the boot and help reduce wear over time. The Bonila seed tab also provide greater down force as a result of their thicker material. Both principles help maintain a better seal which in turn helps reduce seeds bouncing or blowing out of the seed slot, even within heavy residue no-till conditions.

Firming wheel modifications improve seed placement

Phil Needham spends many hours testing and evaluating different drill/air-seeder attachments and modifications. This enables Phil to make sound seeding system recommendations to producers around the world. The John Deere 750 drill (pictured) was evaluated with most of the currently available attachments, plus more still under development. The modifications on the drill to the right included 11 different styles of firming attachments (including two different plastic seed firmers and 9 different firming wheels), plus 3 different style gauge wheels and 4 different style rear closing wheels.

John Deere Single Disc Seed Slot Characteristics

This image illustrates the John Deere single disc seeder seed slot when viewed from above. Within moist no-till conditions (and when using a new disc blade), the seed slot frequently measures between 5/8 and 3/4” of an inch in width, with a slight tapered furrow wall opposite the disc blade. As the disc blade (and boot) wear, the width of the seed slot decreases in width and the angle of the taper increases. Close inspection of the image to the right will reveal that the factory installed John Deere 1” firming wheel (which was sold until summer 2006) was too wide to fit down within the seed slot to effectively press seeds into moisture. Pressing seeds into moisture is very important, especially when trying to obtain a stand in lower moisture soil conditions.

This image illustrates the John Deere single disc seeder seed slot when viewed from the end. This image was obtained by lifting up the seed firming wheel and closing wheel with string and driving forward with the seeder engaged in the soil. Notice the profile of the seed slot within a moist silt loam soil type in a no-till system. Also notice how the seeds are loosely dropped into the bottom of the seed slot. Pushing these seeds in the base of the seed slot (we call it imprinting) is critical within low moisture conditions to create uniform emergence. Most commercial seed firming wheels on the market are too wide and the wrong shape to accomplish this task consistently across different soil types and moisture conditions.

This image illustrates some of the many concrete seed slot molds Phil Needham utilized in the wheel design process. Different soils, seeding speeds, seeding depths and moisture levels all have an influence on seed firming wheel performance and most seeding environments across the US have been tested.

Current John Deere Firming Wheels

This image illustrates both the former 1” x 10” seed firming wheel (right wheel) together with the more recent John Deere 0.8” x 9” seed firming wheel (left wheel) which was introduced during the summer of 2006. Despite the new wheel being 0.2” narrower and tapered on both sides, these improvements still don’t allow it to fit down into the seed slot in most field conditions. Increasing the firming wheel down-pressure does help to push it down into the seed slot within loose soils, but any weight transferred to the firming wheel must be subtracted from the down pressure available to the disc opener. Weight transfer is important because weight on the disc blade is frequently a factor which limits performance of the John Deere single disc seeder, especially in hard dry soils or when working with heavy residue.


Notice how the 1 x 10” John Deere firming wheel tears soil out of the sidewall as it exits the moist soil.


New Needham Ag V8 Firming Wheel

The next generation of Needham Ag V8 firming wheel was released during fall 2017. This new version retains the proven profile (the only one on the market which matches the shape of the seed slot), but it now comes with a urethane tire.

The urethane tire offers the benefits of increased durability, plus flexibility to help shed mud, especially in moist clay soils. The flexible tire is also beneficial to help keep the firming wheel down within the seed slot, especially when operating on hillsides and when making slight turns.

Needham Ag V8 Firming Wheel – Specifications

  • 0.65” wide (at the outside of the tire), with tapered profile to match the seed slot.
  • 10″ diameter.
  • Uses button head bolts to help improve residue flow, especially in no-till conditions (see image right).
  • Each V8 wheel is shipped with a longer (3.5”) Grade 8 x 5/8” low profile head bolt, nylon lock nut and washer, to mount the V8 firming wheel to the existing firming wheel arm. (A longer bolt is required, because the long-life bearing is wider than all other firming wheel bearings).

Stream bars increase yields and profits

Background

Since its introduction in the late 1980’s, Intensive wheat management has contributed to a doubling of the Kentucky average state yield (reference USDA state wheat statistics) while states such as Kansas remain almost stagnant. When asked, many Kentucky producers suggest that there are at least 4 factors which contributed to the majority of the yield increases, these include the following:

  1. Stand Uniformity: Many producers trip over at the starting gate by not establishing a uniform enough stand to generate maximum yields. The concept of placing quality seeds in the soil to the same depth, across the width of the seeding equipment and across the field sounds easy but it’s a big challenge for many producers. While most seeding equipment has improved over recent years (partly through the consulting work of Needham Ag) there are still improvements to be made, especially when it comes to no-till seeding equipment.
  2. Weed, Insect and Disease Management. Prior to the adoption of intensive wheat management, many producers applied their nitrogen one time in the spring. If weeds were a problem, many producers used to mix liquid nitrogen with the herbicide to save a pass across the field, a practice which was unheard of in many European countries on account of crop damage, antagonism and yield losses. Few fungicides or insecticides were utilized to manage diseases or insects. Now producers are doing a better job positioning varieties, then scouting their fields to determine which products are required on a field by field, variety by variety basis. The crop uniformity improvements discussed in section 1 (above) also helped the performance of the fungicides by allowing them to be applied at the correct growth stages.
  3. Nitrogen Rates and Timings: There is a now a significantly higher level of understanding when it comes to nitrogen rates and timings. For example, many years of replicated research and field trials have helped growers understand how much N should be applied to each field (or regions within each field) and at which growth stage. These recommendations are based on crop health, tiller density, soil tests and yield potential.
  4. Uniform and Accurate Applications of Nitrogen. Most producers switched to liquid nitrogen many years ago because the standards of uniformity and application rate accuracy couldn’t be matched with the spinning disc fertilizer spreaders they used to use. This has been further improved with the use of tramlines, swath control and auto-steer systems on sprayers which almost eliminate the doubled up areas on the ends of the field which often used to lodge. Many producers also found that liquid nitrogen provided higher yields compared to dry fertilizers such as urea. Research from Ontario reinforces these observations: Nitrogen Sources For Wheat.

The Problem

Some producers still apply liquid nitrogen to wheat in the spring with flat fan or flood-jet nozzles. Even when the wheat is small in the early spring, significant levels of leaf injury can occur. Leaf scorch causes infection sites for foliar diseases and reduces early spring plant health which is critical to the grain site formation process. Yield reductions of sprayed liquid nitrogen applications vary by conditions and nitrogen rates, but 5-10 bu/ac yield losses have been frequently documented. Additional plant injury and yield losses occur when liquid nitrogen and herbicides (especially SU herbicides) are tank mixed and sprayed on cereals in the spring. This practice should be avoided, in fact many producers should consider applying their herbicides in the fall to remove weed pressures before they begin competing with the crop in the spring.

Liquid nitrogen was sprayed on this field of wheat early in the spring with flat-fan nozzles. Plant health was significantly compromised at a time when yields are being determined.

While three-hole nozzles are an improvement over flat fan spray tips, they do not apply nitrogen as evenly or accurately as a stream bar.

Three-hole caps produce a triangular-shaped distribution pattern that’s very height-sensitive. As the boom rises up, two streams come together to deliver a 2X N rate as illustrated in the image to the right. As the boom is lowered (either intentionally or unintentionally on rolling ground), there may be areas that don’t receive any N, as illustrated in the middle image. With N prices at record levels, you need to apply the nutrient evenly so each plant receives a consistent quantity, 3 hole caps don’t allow this to happen.

Three-hole nozzles are also influenced by forward speed and/or wind speed. As producers buy larger and more powerful sprayers, they want to run faster. The pattern produced from the 3 hole caps narrows as effective forward speed increases, so constant changes in boom height are required to compensate for the changing distribution angles.
Burnt wheat

The photo above illustrates a wheat field that had liquid nitrogen applied using three-hole fertilizer caps.

The photo below also illustrates a field that had a single application of N delivered with the three-hole nozzles just prior to green-up. The N was the only application that was made at a 90-degree angle to the drill rows, so the streaks could be easily traced back to the three-hole nozzles on the 120′ boom.

The photo below shows two of the main stem wheat heads that came from the previously discussed photo. The one on the left came from one of the yellow N deficient streaks and the larger head on the right came from one of the green streaks. Look at the difference in head size and flag leaf health. Based upon spikelet counts, we suggested that yields were halved in the streaks where little to no N was applied.

There are lots of opportunities to increase wheat yields, don’t let poor N distribution be one of the weak links.

When applying liquid nitrogen with multi-hole nozzles, most producers have found they are extremely susceptible to wind. Wind can be caused directly from fast forward speeds, or the combination of driving into headwinds.

Applying nitrogen within either (or both) of these conditions frequently results in the streams not spreading out sideways, causing a concentrated band of nitrogen to be applied under each nozzle cap, as illustrated in the photo below.

The photo below illustrates another producer who used 3 hole nozzles to apply the second application of spring N around the jointing stage. In this example, the pass was made at an angle to the planted rows.

Close inspection revealed significantly increased scorch where the streams narrowed as a result of the combination of wind and forward speed. The final result appeared to be most of the liquid N was delivered to about 1/3 of the surface of the crop.

Multi-hole caps produce smaller droplets than a stream bar, this results in more leaf retention on the wheat and additional leaf tissue injury. Research shows that leaf injury translates into yield loss. As illustrated in the photo to the right, streams of nitrogen also collide when using the multi-hole caps, which further adds to the leaf injury problems. Multi-hole caps are height dependant. When operating on rolling ground, it’s difficult to hold the boom at a consistent height above the crop. Height variations can result in 2-3 streams hitting the ground in the same area, which also results in 10-15″ areas of the ground which receive no nitrogen at all. As expensive as nitrogen is, it must be applied accurately and uniformly. A set of multi-hole caps don’t achieve this goal.

The Solution

Most producers or dealers own mounted, trailed or self-propelled sprayers. Most of these sprayers can be equipped with stream bars to allow accurate and uniform liquid fertilizer application. We sell stream bars for many different brands and configurations of sprayers around the world and some are illustrated below. If you have questions regarding specific configurations, please contact us.

When you order stream bars, we will need to know the following information to help us determine the optimal configuration and maintain the ideal application rate and pressure range.

  • Nozzle spacing: (15″ or 20″ for example)
  • Spraying speed: (We need an approximate operating speed range, for example 10-12mph)
  • Application Rate Range: (For example, 12-20 gallons per acre of 28% nitrogen)
  • Sprayer Plumbing Brand: (For example, Spraying Systems, Hardi, etc)

Benefits Of Stream Bars

  • Accuracy Stream bars are designed to evenly apply liquid fertilizers such as 28%, 30% or 32% nitrogen to wheat and other crops. Each of the four outlets on the stream bars are ported to ensure consistent delivery of fertilizer over the range of operating pressures.
  • Excellent for no-till  Stream bars deliver concentrated streams at equal distances, minimizing the amount of N tied up on residue, compared to the 3 hole nozzles (and especially flat fan nozzles) which increase the coverage on surface residue (in addition to the wheat leaves). 3 hole nozzles (and flat fan nozzles) also increase the amount of N which is tied up on surface residue and also potentially increase the N losses via volatilization.
  • Unaffected by boom height Stream bars produce vertical streams of fertilizer with no overlap, so product application is unaffected by boom height.
  • Minimal leaf scorch Stream bars deliver streams of fertilizer, so contact with the crop is minimized. High rates of nitrogen can be applied in one pass with minimal leaf injury, even on windy days.
  • Available for 15″ and 20″ spacing Stream bars are available to fit most sprayers around the world and are available in 15″ and 20″ spacing.
  • Adaptable for different product rates By using orifices, the operating sprayer pressure can be maintained within the 25 to 50psi range.