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View Full Version : Earthway Seeder/Old Time Planter (corn)


Penny_Plinker
04-24-2008, 01:12 PM
Results weren't good with the Earthway...

Soil was looser in some places and the Earthway did okay other places it was wetter and so the soil had clods and you couldn't push the thing very good. It might have been better if i could have waited a few days but it is supposed to rain. The chain thing mostly didn't work to cover the seed so i had to use my feet to scrape dirt over exposed seeds.

Went back to the house and got my two handled corn planter i got at a yard sale for 12.00. It has a compartment for seed and a compartment for fertilizer, but i didn't put down fertilzer. You spread the handles wide and the bottom ends make a point which you jab into the ground. The seeds drop and you press the handles togeter while pulling out of the dirt, and that makes the dirt fall in over the corn to cover it. You can plant almost as fast as you can walk once you get a rhythm going. Got about half the field planted, ran out of corn.

The Earthway would prob be fine in soft, dry, loose soil, but it didn't work in the clay in less than perfect conditions. Sometimes conditions just aren't perfect, but you plant when you can. I planted potatoes this year by sinking the shovel in, wedging a gap, and dropping in the potatoes and they're already up instead of just now being planted.

Penny

Deberosa
04-24-2008, 04:29 PM
Oh this is not good news! Mine still sits in the living room waiting for the field to be something other than a sea of mud! Maybe July??? I got it because the market gardeners around here swear by them, their soil must be worked to a much finer stage? Not sure, I'll let you what happens when I finally get to use mine.

Penny_Plinker
04-24-2008, 06:24 PM
If the market gardners in your area swear by them, it'll probably be okay. You probably have the same type soil they have. I used mine for beans last year and it worked (in loamy soil). I think it was a combination of clay and and a little bit not dry enough today. WV, ugh, we do have the clay soil, although it'll grow anything once you get it planted.
Good luck with your Earthsay and i'm really looking forward and have my fingers crossed that you have good luck with it.

Penny