I'm considering an Earthway seeder to sow cover crops in my raised beds - not a broadcast seeder but the roll-along-the-row kind. I'm trying to get more of a feel for how it would work. Could I push it along in the raised bed while standing on the path? Also, I don't till much, but usually loosen my beds with the broadfork Eliot Coleman recommends, so the machine would have to cope with an uneven surface. What's your experience?
Tiny Farm Forum » Tiny Farm gear
Seeders
(29 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Hey, Nancy: I've grown literally tons of stuff over the last five seasons with nothing but an Earthway Precision Seeder, other smaller growers at the market use 'em, I've read about 'em everywhere, so they obviously work reasonably well. They're also relatively cheap, at around $100US (plus $30 for the 5 extra plates). Still, they're not exactly GREAT. All you have to do is take a hands-on look at one, maybe run some seed through, and you'll get the picture.
It's very light and maneuverable, so it's easy to push along from the side. I do all of my seeding, mostly in 42" beds, from paths on the side.
If you can rake your beds reasonably level, it should be fine. I don't have a problem with obstacles (like the ever-present little rocks), but if the surface is not level, very wavy, you may have problems especially with small seed/shallow depth settings, because the seeder is light. But really, reasonably flat is OK.
The lightness is also a big plus when you're sowing lots of varieties. You can pick the whole thing up with one hand and pour unused seed back into its container.
The main downside is in precision. It depends a lot on the type/size of the seed. The seed plates mount flat vertically, against one side of the hopper, and rotate through the seed as you push (belt-driven from the front wheel), catching seed in the openings, and carrying it up until it reaches an opening in the side of the hopper. They fall in and go down a chute. Here's a picture where you can see the edge of a plate. This set-up means seed can get behind the plate, and with the plate away from the wall, seed can fall back down before making it up to the chute opening. Someone recently called the Earthway the Brassica-grinder, because indeed small round brassica seeds are particularly prone to getting behind the plate and getting ground up.
So, the plate mechanism isn't fantastic. It can use too much seed, and also seed unevenly, all due to the way the plates work.
Mostly, it's getting a feel for it. You can play around with it in advance, run different seed over a stretch of brown paper or newspaper so you can see how it drops, to see what's up. The depth of the adjustable ground opener (the chisel-like part that opens the drill for seeding) is also something to get the feel for depending on your soil texture, moisture level, etc.
You should definitely get the set of 5 extra plates, for flexibility.
Overall, it's surprisingly durable with minimum care. Also, easy to modify and fix if you need to. I have two, but have used the same one, with zero repairs, for five seasons. I use it for carrots (usually, the light plate), lettuce/mesclun/greens mix, peas, beans, green onions, leek, radish, spinach, beet, Swiss chard, corn. I transplant all the cucurbits and the brassicas (except for radish and some Asian greens).
I found an old Planet Jr. in the barn which I believe is the classic heavy duty push seeder, same general two-wheel push principle. I'll try it next year. The seed drops straight down through an opening in the bottom of the hopper, and the weight helps even out bumpier beds, so it's probably way more accurate than the Earthway, but it's also heavy, and purchased new, around $500. For me, I doubt it'll entirely replace the Earthway, just for some crops.
I haven't seen many other small seeders, though there may be. One I may get to try is the Saalet Seed Master (the pic is from a European site, it's also available through Veseys in North America). It's only $35, looks like it may be a little small for the market garden, but may be good for something!
Hope that's useful...
Posted 2 years ago # -
So if you were starting fresh today at year one- would you buy one? Or go with something different?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Thanks! The Saalet looks cute, but I notice Veseys says it really requires a smooth even seedbed, so the Earthway is probably worth it for me. I posted a list on our local urban farm network list, and a friend nearby has invited me to come try theirs out.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Starting over, I'd buy an Earthway and a Planet Jr. Although I haven't really tried my PJ yet, given its rep, I'm sure I'll grow to rely on it. Knowing the Earthway's weak points, I'd get both and use a combination of the two. For example, for close-spaced rows of lettuce for mesclun, the Earthway is great: compact, light, maneuverable. For peas, where the Earthway can choke and misfire, the Jr. And so on. On a supertight budget, you can certainly get by with just an Earthway (with the extra plates)!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I would like to suggest a Jang Clean Seeder. We bought one this year and it made an AMAZING diffrence. Our seed costs dropped a lot because the unit is so accurate, and the time we have had to spend thinning is also reduced. Since the Seeder is pretty heavy it does not need as smooth a seed bed. Although the seeder is not to heavy to carry at all.
We now say that the earthway just basically pouring seeds in a line (although we still used it for beans and corn.) For smaller seed the Jang is the way to go...
We went back and forth about buying one for a year, but are considering a 3 row model ($1999) for our 2010 season.
The one row model was $350. We got a second foot and 5 seed plates ($20 ea.) Including shipping it was around $540... But next year our seed costs will drop (because it is SO accurate) and we figure in 2 more years it will pay for itself. Even if it had not we would still recommend them, they are amazing units...
Posted 1 year ago # -
CSA-Farmer_Girl: That sounds great! I did a search and found the company web site, with product pics and descriptions: Jang Automation (Korea). I also found a US retailer.
I did try an 50-year-old Planet Jr a bit this summer, for peas, beans and spinach. It is also heavy, with steel wheels, so it doesn't need as smooth a seed bed. It's way more precise than the Earthway, but quite heavy (not convenient to pick up and carry), and a little awkward if you change seed a lot, at least, until you get used to it. There are plates for tiny seed, and from my experience so far, it should be a lot more accurate than the Earthway for small seed as well. Overall, it's pretty cool, and a hand-push model is still available, around $500 I think: Cole Planet Jr.
There's also the Thilot Holland HZ423, a new hand seeder from a big European ag company. It's around $1,000 US, so I assume it might be good because of the price and the manufacturer. Haven't heard anything else about it.
Yeah, that's a funny and accurate description of the Earthway: basically pours seed in a line. Between seed waste and the need for thinning, I'd say it's definitely worth paying at least up to $500 for a more precise hand seeder (the Earthway's about $150 with extra plates). I was happy to have the Earthway, but when you think back over a few seasons of using it, it's pretty clear that it's worth paying for something better right from the start. This applies if you're market gardening probably a half acre and up. So, it's great to hear there's at least one good alternative!
Posted 1 year ago # -
The Jang uses little rollers as opposed to a plate which I think helps it's accuracy. It will drop exactly one round seed (radish, beet, pelleted lettuce or carrot, ect) at exactly the spacing you set (using gears) of between 4" apart to 3/32". It can get a bit tiresome changing gears and the rollers until you get used to planting similar things at the same time. To change seeds and the roller you remove the seed hopper from the unit (it slides out.) This makes pouring seeds out really easy, as you don't have to lift the seeder to dump seeds...
I guess the Jang Clean Seeder was developed by the Korean Government for their farmers. I really cannot say enough goof things about this unit. I think to get the same level of performance you would have to go to a belt seeder (like Stanhey) or a vacume seeder (and who can afford that!?!) I think any plate sytle seeder will have some of the same problems as the Earthway.
Think of not having to thin carrot beds! Think of buying 10,000 pelleted seeds and after planting four hundred feet still having half your seed left! We are going into this winter without having used all our pelleted carrot and lettuce seed, because we did not have enough bed space, because we were able to put one seed every inch with carrots and 2 inches with lettuce... We direct seeded lettuce into beautiful heads with it... http://www.utterli.com/CSAFarmerGirl
The Thoilot hand seeder you are showing looks like it works a lot like the Planet Junior, if I had to decide, I would get the Jang in a heartbeat... This thing is the best kept secret in small farming today! (I might become a sales person for them! :)
CSA_Farmer_Girl
http://csa-days.blogspot.com/Posted 1 year ago # -
I think I might have found a Canadian retailer of this seeder. These guys are near Lake Huron, north-west of London, Ontario:
Posted 1 year ago # -
This year we found the greatest seeding tool ever. Johnnys six row precision seeder.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=292&subcategory=621&item=9156
We had heard about it from some friends running csa's in the south and decided to give it a try. It sows 6 rows of small seed (round, peletized or just loose fine seed) in a 15 inch wide bed. One pass down the 100'long bed and one pass back up, planted a 30 inch wide bed We used it for Mesclun, Onions, spinach, Radishes and Carrots.It was so precise we ended up with a perfect grid of carrots, no thinning. It was absurdly simple to use and paid for itself with 2 beds of mesclun. I'll still use the earthway for beans, corn and peas, but there's no going back for the finer seeded crops now.
The only downside is it needs a fine, level seedbed to work. Eliot Colman designed a little cordless drill operated "tither" to make fine seedbeds for this seeding system, so we got that too and tried it out.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?scommand=search&search=tither&item=9286
It worked like a dream, with no gas engine either! Taken together the two devices made our farmwork a lot simpler this summer.
And this may not be the right place for it, but there is one more small scale tool we experimented with this year that also seriously changed the time in our field.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/search.aspx?scommand=search&search=mesclun%2bharvester
The mesclun harvester, cut down our harvest time by 95% (for mesclun and other leafy greens) After we learned how to use it, we had no problem harvesting a 30" bed 100' long in 5 minutes. It made such a huge difference compared to the old knife method, I would recommended it to anyone still hand cutting mesclun.
Glad to be able to share experiences here in the forum,
Thanks Mike,
Matthias
Posted 1 year ago # -
Here's an anti-6-row precision seeder comment from Tiny Farm Gear:
This things a piece of crap. I bought one. I works very poorly. seedbed has to be perfect and packed. Earthway much better performing in real life non eliot Coleman condidtions ( even with i’t obvious idiosyncrities)
I sold mine straight off after many failed attempts and endless frustration that my hero/mentor put his good name on such a worthless gadget. -JohnThat seems to further what Matthias mentioned above. The tilther is probably a good investment, as part of a little precision-seeding system.
It's a sign of the times a changing that the Earthway in action is a prominent illustration in Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower, last published around 15 years ago. This 6-row precision seeder is a Coleman design...
Posted 1 year ago # -
This is all very interesting. We have a small mixed farm in Australia daylesfordorganics.com and have been using the earthway. Its been good but plants way too heavy. The Jang sounds amazing..any more comments on it.
Thanks
BrendonPosted 1 year ago # -
Earthway comparison:
This season, we've used the heavy old Planet Jr. much more heavily, for the first time with some smaller seed, like beets and chard. Results have been good, although a bit hard to judge because there's still a fair amount of broken up sod in the ground that I think is making seeding uneven. Also, I'm not yet familiar with the soil in different areas of this new garden. So, germination has been overall good, but patchy for some crops in some areas, and I don't know if that's due to the seeder, or the seeding rate, or just the conditions. (We haven't done any side by side tests yet.)
That said, the amount of seed saving for some crops over the Earthway is kinda stunning. I knew the Earthway overseeded, but when a $25 pouch of Bright Lights Swiss chard is going 2-3 times as far in the Planet Jr, the saving is pretty dramatic (like, in that case, with relatively very expensive seed, at least 50%, $12 on 150'!). Most seed is cheaper than Bright Lights, but still... Seeing is believing.
And then there's the savings in thinning time and improved growth. This year, with cloudy weather and slow growing, we did some quite intense thinning-harvesting of Earthway-seeded carrots and baby beets, more than usual. I used to thin minimally, and take the mix of larger and smaller beets and carrots. But when you really get up close and observe the effects of proper seed spacing, the difference is also kinda stunning.
This may sound odd considering it's my seventh season, but really, the Earthway can be its own mindset and way of tiny farming life. As long as the seed is cheap enough, and you have sufficient space, you get used to it, use some tricks, adapt. But more precise seeding is really a major advantage in many ways.
So although I haven't fully done it, I'm now really a believer that spending relatively quite a bit more upfront on efficient seeders for the tiny farm IS the way to go.
Still, $100 for an Earthway is hard to beat, it's dead easy to use, and it does work!!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks Mike,
We have been doing the same with the earthway..we thought it was actually a good thing that it was so close less weeding more moisture retention etc..we don't even thin out.It works well in the peak growing time but outside of that things go pretty slow. we want to buy a new seeder and are prepared to pay to get something good and then do side by side tests . The options seem to be a planet jr or jang, still not sure.
Thanks.Posted 1 year ago # -
I need some kind of planter that I could use in untilled soil that I will losen the soil with some type of metal garden rake. Would the Jang planter work for this, would it be strong enough to go through the untilled firm soil?
Posted 9 months ago #
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