As promised, here is the thrilling second part to my as-of-yet-undetermined-number-of-parts series on small farm equipment: The Jang Seeder.
On our farm, we make vegetables in two ways; we either start them in the greenhouse and, when they are big enough, transplant them…
…or we direct seed them.
Direct seeding, at its core, is how plants propagate themselves. Seeds carried by wind, animal, or gravity end up on or in the ground, whereupon they germinate, put down roots, and grow. When Siri and I had a garden, we direct seeded vegetables by hand – scoring a line in the soil, dropping seeds in every little bit, and then covering them with dirt. This method works fine for small spaces, but as the length and number of rows you want to seed increases, using a mechanical seeder is much more efficient.
There are a variety of mechanical seeders available. For the smaller scale, push seeders such as the well known Earthway seeder and the Planet Jr are inexpensive small-farm staples. We have an Earthway and a European Push Seeder for using in our greenhouses (and as backups in case something happens to our big seeder). Push seeders are great, and many farms larger than us use them exclusively. The advantages of push seeders are that they are inexpensive ($100 for an Earthway, $400 for a push version of our Jang seeder), don’t need any additional equipment to operate, and can be used by anyone. It has also been our experience that, because the operator has such a great view of the seeder and the seeds as they are dropped into the furrow, push seeders work better in imperfect soil. The person doing the seeding can respond to issues – blockages, clods, etc – immediately.
As you start using tractors for tillage and cultivation, and as the acreage you want to direct seed increases, using tractor mounted seeders becomes more efficient. Larger tillers (see my previous post) can create a very fine and level seedbed, and with three or more seeders ganged together, you can put a lot of seeds in the ground in pretty short order. For small farms like ours, the Planet Jr. seeder, mounted on a tractor, has been the gold standard since it was invented some 60 years ago. The problem with the Planet Jr is that it’s imprecise. The seeder works by brushing seeds through varying sized holes. The operator determines the seeding rate by choosing larger or smaller holes holes. We found that seeds go in too thickly or too sparsely and rarely just right.
So, given the opportunity this past spring to start afresh, we decided to try an untested (for us or anyone we knew) but decidedly more modern seeder. There are many very expensive, fancy vacuum seeders that big farms have used for decades. These seeders can cost upwards of $5000 per row. They use vacuum technology to separate seeds and drop them, one at a time, at predetermined intervals. Seeds are spaced very precisely, such that farmers on large farms can precisely plan how many seeds they’ll need, and how many plants they’ll get per acre. The Jang seeder, which can be calibrated nearly as accurately as the vacuum seeders, costs about $1100 per row for the 3-point hitch mounted version we chose.
Instead of using a vacuum to singulate seeds, the Jang seeder uses a nifty combination of brushes and a roller with precisely spaced divots sized for the type of seeds you are using.
If you look closely at the picture below, you’ll see a black roller with divots in the middle of the clear plastic hopper. Each divot is sized (more or less) precisely for each particular type or family of seeds.
When the hopper is filled with seeds, the seeds fill the divots in the roller. The roller passes by a brush, ensuring that only one seed remains in each divot, before it drops the seeds, one by one, into a furrow created by the seeder. An interchangeable gear and chain system, similar to one found on a bike, can vary the rate the seed roller turns. In this way, the seeder can space seeds as closely as 1/2 inch and as far apart as 9 inches.
Using a precision seeder has changed the way we farm. In years past, we’d invariably have spaced our turnips, beets, carrots, etc too close together (the advantage of spacing seeds closely was that the number of bunches we’d get per bed would be higher, even though the time to maturity and speed of harvest was slower). Harvesting would involve searching through a sea of leaves for appropriately sized roots to bunch. The smaller, unharvested neighbors would be left for days or weeks to be given time to grow. Harvesting took a long time.
Now, all our roots are spaced exactly 1/2 inch or 1 inch apart. They mature mostly all at once, and harvesting is very fast. The issue we were dealing with changed from, Will we have time to harvest all the radishes we can sell? to, Can we sell all the radishes we have harvested?
This altered the way we think about seeding, harvesting, farm labor, what size farm we should be… with this new seeder we found that we were able to harvest much, much faster. We brought more food to the market, so we sold more food. We also turned beds over faster. This year, we put nearly every bed we used directly into a cover crop when we were done. But if we had wanted to plant a second crop, there were more opportunities to do so.
The seeder does have a few drawbacks…. the biggest issue we had this past season is with beets. The seeder does a great job of picking up one seed at a time, so long as the seeds are uniform in size. The problem with beets? Their size varies a lot, their shape is not uniform, and each beet seed is actually a bunch of seeds clumped together. So seeds ended up getting jammed in the divots and seeds went in too thickly or much to sparsely. We did a few things to semi-solve this problem. First off, we bought a special roller that was extra deep, to keep the seeds from getting jammed in the divot. Second, we raised the brush a little and removed the curved, felt-covered seed guide. This stopped the seeds from getting jammed in the roller. The problem this created, unfortunately, is that it resulted in seeds going in too thick, since the deeper roller often had two seeds in it and there was no system to knock the second seed out of the divot. I think we’ll try spacing our beets even wider next year to see whether that effectively counteracts the spacing problem.
Another drawback of the seeder is that you have to buy a lot of seed rollers. We have a three row unit, which means that for each type of seed we use, we need three rollers of that type – and the rollers cost between $20 and $40 each. We bought rollers for turnips, radishes, two sizes of lettuce (we only use the larger size), three different sized rollers for beets (sigh), spinach, and carrots. I think we ended up spending an additional $300 on rollers. Also, as I mentioned above, some rollers work better than others. The rollers for turnips, radishes, and carrots are phenomenal. You could set your ruler by the seedlings. Rollers for other things, irregularly shaped seeds specifically, aren’t so precise. We also ended up using some rollers for seeds they weren’t intended for, because we hand’t bought, for instance, the parsnip specific roller.
One last note on salad mix. For things we like to plant super thickly, like salad mix and arugula, we ended up using a roller that picks up many seeds at a time because the seeder can only space seeds as close as 1/2 an inch. This worked really well. We used the larger lettuce specific roller (a divot shaped like a plus) for all direct seeded arugula, lettuce, mustards, etc. We found that this system spaced the plants more widely than we had been accustomed to, but adequately close for harvesting baby-sized greens. We noticed that the greens grew faster, due to the slightly wider spacing, and seemed healthier, also due to the wider spacing.
One of the coolest aspects of the Jang seeder is how it has introduced us to other farmers around the country. We seem to be one of the few farms out there that have one, and certainly one of the only farms out there blogging about them. So we’ve been contacted by a bunch of farmers out there who want to know more about the seeder. I think the information sharing this has facilitated is amazing. When we started farming, it felt a little bit like we were alone in the woods, trying to reinvent a million wheels all at once. Information felt hard to come by and frequently outdated or not specific to our operation. We love getting the opportunity to teach and learn and share with everyone out there trying to reinvent their own wheels… hopefully, together, we can make all our lives just a little easier, more efficient, and more profitable.
Thanks for the thoughts on the Jang- any chance you would share your chain/roller combinations for different seeds?
For nearly everything, we used the 1/2″ spacing. I can’t recall which is which, but it equates to the smallest gear on one side and the biggest on the other. The exceptions were for beets (occasionally), parsnips, bok choy, parsley root – all of which we spaced at an inch.
Hey guys – Love your posts from afar. I missed you guys and your produce so much. Living here in VN the farming is still mostly by hand and water buffaloes and very little organic or even transitional stuff. The one benefit is a two crops growing season so fresh produce are plentiful.
Hope to see you yous the next time I am back in Seattle.
Much LOVE, Chuan
Thanks for blogging about the Jang seeder. I am interested in that you seed salad greens (arugula and cut lettuce) with it. You said you use the larger lettuce specific roller to do so. Is that the XY-24 or the XY-36 I see is available? I am interested in the 3 row hand push model because I plant many small successions (50 bed feet every 3.5 days) of lettuce and other greens to keep a steady supply with out them getting to large. It is nice to know that the Jang has worked adequately for you. Thanks for answering if you can!
Hi Stephen,
We use the XY-24 for our salad mix & arugula. The 36-hole version wasn’t available when I bought our seeder, or I probably would have got that one. However, in retrospect, I’m very happy with the seed density we get using the XY-24. I suspect, if you get the 36 and it’s seeding too densely, you can adjust the gears to be 1/2″ like we get with the 24.
As for the 3-row push model… if you are mainly doing baby greens, why not get the 6-row?
We purchased our Jang from Woodward Crossings last year and they offer a roller exchange program for the first year where you can exchange rollers for free. love the Jang
Thanks for the details on the rollers. It sounds like the XY-36 roller might work well for baby lettuce mix. I guess that’s what’s nice about the Jang seeder; you have a lot of options with seed spacing. You’re right the 6 row Jang model would be best. It’s a bit complicated but my reasons for going with the 3 row mainly have to do with expense and weight. I thought it might be too heavy and awkward to move around to different fields (they are spread out). But maybe not? A 6 row model would work great attached to a tractor but I don’t seed that much at a time yet. I should just bite the bullet and grow more cut lettuce since it is profitable. Only I don’t have enough well drained soil or cooler space yet. Thanks for listening to my complaints! Sorry to fill up your site with such!
P.s. like your modification for attaching the 3 row Jang on to the cub
We purchased our Jang from Woodward Crossings last year and they offer a roller exchange program for the first year where you can exchange rollers for free. love the Jang
Thanks for the Jang review. We’re looking at the same seeder and your post was most useful. Will likely use on our L245HC which is set to cultivate a three row bed using a Buddingh basket weeder. Have you used the Jang for corn and beans?
Again, thanks.
PS, nice looking farm and inovative way to unload the Kubota. I faced the same thing when mine arived a year ago. Luckily there was a loading dock at the county roadshed a few miles from my farm.
I haven’t used the Jang for corn or beans… We transplant our corn (!!) and had reasonable success using the earthway for beans. However, this year we will be getting the roller for beans. I have to say, using a tractor with a real 3-pt hitch will make the Jang even better. My 3-pt modification on our Cub doesn’t work perfectly, and I’m excited to use the 245H for seeding.
Enjoyed your posts a great deal. Do you have any comment on forward rotating tiller tines vs reverse rotating tiller tines such as offered by Landpride. What works best for green manuring? What works best for preparing a seedbed? I am developing a 5 acre property in Northern BC.
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the comment. I’m not sure I have enough experience to answer your question, but I’ll tell you a few things I know about forward and reverse rotating tillers. We used to use a normal tiller, but having found a reverse rotating tiller at a great price last spring, we now use a reverse one. The main difference we’ve noticed is that it requires more power to till deeply. We try to till as shallowly as possible, so in a sense, this is great for us; when the soil is damp, it almost forces us to till very shallowly. It’s a sort of idiot proofing. My other observation is that it does a fantastic job of burying trash. As far as green manuring goes, my hunch is that if you have a big enough tractor, reverse rotation might be the way to go… as buried cover crops should break down better. On the other hand, if you don’t have enough power you might end up not incorporating your cover crops enough.
I have a Land Pride RTR2072 6′ reverse tine tiller. It has a soil separation grate (A bunch of steel rods (attached to a spring-loaded frame so they don’t get bent) hang down in back of the tines. There is about 2″ between them). It catches big rocks and clumps and covers them with dirt, so the beds are extremely smooth and clean. My tractor is a Ford 4000 that is old and abused so it probably puts out about 35 HP. I can till 8″ deep no problem with it. If the soil is too wet, it is much harder to till. When I till real shallow, there is not enough dirt to bury the rocks and debris, though. So the the stone-burying function of this tiller works best when tilling 6″ deep or more, I’d say.
My only experience with forward rotating tines is with a 30″ BCS I used for three years. The reverse rotation is extremely aggressive, making it easy to till, but you have to watch the hitch height, or it will suck down too much and bog the tractor down or till deeper than you want.
The reverse rotation digs from below and throws it around the spindle, whereas the forward rotation chops straight down like an axe. So I think the forward rotation will chop up residue better since it is chopping down against the hard ground, like an anvil.
Johnny from Edible Earth Farm has been blogging about the Jang since ’09. They have many different Jang seeders and have been helpful in answering questions about it.
Hi! I don’t remember exactly how I landed here, but your page was the result of a google search for jang seeders, farmalls, and cultivation. I have a small farm in southwestern NYS, and have grown from a quarter acre to about four acres in cultivation/covercrops over the past four years for our CSA. This past February, we’ve also become foster parents to four very young kids. I need to step up the efficiency of our farming systems: most everything is done by hand, except for the tilling. We bought a Massey 165 last year, and a landpride RTR58″ tiller. I love them both! Cultivation and seeding are the two tasks that are consuming all the time, though.
There is a farmall 140 for sale nearby with cultivators that is very tempting. I’m skeptical about a one-row tractor…we plant 54″ inch beds, 200′ long. Most of the crops are 2 or three rows a bed, sometimes four (radishes, beets) or more (lettuce mix, arugula). I see a cub in your photos of beds that have three rows in them. How did you set it up to cultivate the three row beds? How do you handle beds with more than three rows? What is your tillage/seeding/cultivating system? What would you do again, and what would you do differently? I see you also have one of the newer cultivating tractors. Is it worth waiting for one of those, or perhaps an Allis G, to come up instead of a Farmall? When should basket weeders be used vs. knives and shovels? I’m not sure how to “scale up” from the handwork. I read thru your blog entries, and I really appreciate your transparency. If you have any advice for someone who doesn’t know much about tractors and equipment, please share! Thank you for what you have written already!
I have been meaning to write a blog post about cultivation, and now I’m going to. If you have any specific questions, send me an email directly.
Hi there. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the Jang seeder. I’m ready to buy one but am a bit confused about all the different rollers. Would you mind posting the specific rollers you use for Turnip, Radish, Carrots, and Beets. Your description of harvesting beets before and now after the Jang is what convinced me to finally buy one. Have you come up with a solution for getting better spacing on the beets? Would you recommend a roller for spinach? Thanks in advance.
I am purchasing one of these in the next couple of months. I am located outside of Portland OR. Where did you get your from? And have you planted any squash with the small seed unit? If so what wheel would you use to plant sqash? Does the cuk wheel by chance work for Squash? thanks again.
Hey, thank you for sharing about the seeder. I’m working for an Agricultural development project in Niger, West Africa and I appreciated reading about it – its seem a technology that could be useful in Africa. In Niger, 70 percent of the population is in farming and almost everything is done by hand. I reckon this level of technology would be really good there as its better than dropping the seeds in the ground one by one… and yet not super fancy. Thanks so much for posting.
God Bless,
David B
I noticed you have 5 rows with your Jang now. Are you setting up to a five row system and just leaving the middle hoppers empty for three row crops an setting all your cultivators up for five rows? I have been playing around with five rows (9″ centers), it is scary to cultivate so many rows, but that is why i am considering a tractor mounted seeder. But I also see these big farms that just mark their rows and follow with a push seeder and that also seems practical if you have a marking system that maintains consistently parallel rows. My system wasn’t working since the row markets constantly bent or where pushed aside.
Have you seen any good row marking systems? Would you buy a 5 row seeder over again now that maybe other expenses seem worth while?
Thanks for your consideration
For everything we seed at 5 rows (mustards for salad mix, radishes, turnips, bok choy) we don’t cultivate. They all grow so fast they tend to out compete the weeds between them.
When we plant 3 rows, we either leave the middle two blank or just take them off the toolbar. Those seeders come off the bar in 2 minutes very easily.
I do know of farms that mark rows to follow with a push seeder, but I don’t have any experience with it myself. As for a row marking system, you might consider putting bolts through the back flap of your tiller (or whatever you use right before seeding) that will make little lines in your bed top.
Hi there,
I was just doing some tuning up on our Jang push seeder. This will be its third season in use on this farm, and I noticed that the rollers are now rubbing against the little white guards that are screwed to the side of the hopper, right above the roller. It puts up resistance at exactly the same point each rotation. This happens when the hopper is free from the rest of the seeder, so it’s not a drive chain issue. I think it’s allowing many seeds to drop at once, and then contributing to gaps in our seeding.
I was wondering if you had ever noticed this happening with your seeders, and what you did about it.
Thanks so much,
Gillian
Hi Gillian,
We have not noticed this issue (yet), but that’s a good thing to keep an eye out for. We have just started using our older Jang units, since our soil has been too cold and wet to do much field seeding yet. In the spring we see lots of uneven seedling emergence, but we will certainly check out the issue you mention when get started seeding again next week.
If we see a problem and are able to come up with any solution, we’ll let you know.
Thanks!
Could you use something like several 5 gal buckets w/ different sized holes drilled in the bottom to sort the seeds into 2-3 different seed sizes?
We plant between 60 to 100 acres/year of onions with planet jr(s) on a 3pt toolbar with a tractor. My question is, are the jang seeders as durable as the planet jr could they possibly standup to the wear and tear of 100ac farm? A
I do believe the Jang is durable enough to handle that much seeding. We only grow 15 acres, less than half of which do we direct seed…. but still, it’s a very well built seeder. There are a few non-essential parts on the seeder that have broken or worn out. The felt seed guide has been worn down by seeds, and I didn’t replace them and the seeder still works fine. The covering wings are prone to being bent, but are easy to bend back and/or replace. I’ve also had one of the tabs that hold the hopper break, but again, it’s a very easy and cheap repair. We’ve had ours for 3 years now and it’s going strong with no major issues. I think it’s possibly the most important piece of equipment we own.
Where is your farm? I know a guy in Oregon who used to grow 100s of acres of onions selling a 15′ wide Gaspardo vacuum seeder.
We are in deep South Texas.
Hey there, thanks for doing this blog and the question and answer thing! I’m buying my first Jang and am a bit bogged down with what rollers to buy without spending too much money. Would you be able to tell me what rollers you now find best for the following seed: raw carrot, radish, turnip, beets, raw lettuce, mustard, arugula, mizuna, corn salad, cress? Thanks so much!
Hi Michael,
I use the X24 roller for carrots and radishes, the YYJ 24 (I think, I’m doing this off the top of my head) for turnips, I don’t direct sew lettuce, but for all mustards and other salad mix ingredients I want tightly spaced I use the XY-24. It picks up 4 or 5 seeds per hole and gets us nice thick stand of mustard, mizuna, tat soy, arugula, etc.
Ooops, I forgot to mention beets. They are the most complicated because they are all different sizes. The jang definitely works best with uniformly sized seeds. I have two rollers I use for beets, an MJ 24 and an MJ 24 I had custom drilled to be extra deep. I always spend a lot of time adjusting the brushes to try and get it just right. I also remove the felt/copper guide, as the beet seeds tend to tear the felt.
Perfect timing! I was just reviewing the plantings I did last year and was trying to figure out what seemed to work well and what needs to be tweaked. I like the XY-24 for arugula, mustard greens and watercress but found it way too thick for turnips; I’ll try your suggestion of the YYJ-24 for the other smaller brassicas. I was wondering if you would use the same roller for larger brassicas like bok choy, Komatsuna, Rutabaga, etc.
Also, what do you like for spinach? I used the LJ-12 but often had spotty germination — not sure if it was the seed or the roller (it couldn’t possibly have been the operator!). And would you recommend a 12 or 24 for spinach?
Regarding beets, I bought the MJ-12 and the LJ-12 and found I used the LJ almost exclusively (the seeds seem to fit in the holes better). I’m considering getting the custom MJ roller you mentioned — two questions — who did you get it from and what number of holes (12 or 24)?
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Amy
Thanks so much for answering all of my questions, extremely helpful!
Could you say whether you use pelleted or raw carrots, and which roller you use? I grow in very sandy soil in South Jersey. Thank you.
I use the X roller for larger seeded carrots, i.e. Nelson, Red Cored Chantenay, Purple Haze. It looks like it’ll pick up two seeds per hole, but it doesn’t seem to. For smaller seeded carrots, I’ve just bought the Y roller, which is 0.5mm smaller and I’m hoping it’ll improve accuracy for varieties like Scarlet Nantes etc. Not sure soil type will play a factor in which roller to use, unless you think it impacts germination.
We use raw carrot seeds and I use X-24 for most carrots and Y-24 for small seeded carrots. The Jang does a really great job singulating them for us.
You mentioned before that you recently bought the Y roller for smaller carrot seed. Have you had chance to test it out yet and see any results from it?
I have used it this year, and I can’t believe I just bought it. I always used the X-24 for carrots to excellent results (except for Scarlet Nantes, which had smaller seeds). I put in my first round of Nelson about a month ago and noticed that seeds were going in really fast. I checked the roller, and the X was picking up 3-5 seeds per divot. I switched to the Y and it was perfect. I guess Nelson seeds are substantially smaller this year than they were the past 3 years. I really bought the Y roller for direct seeding kale, but it’ll now be my go-to carrot roller too.
Ya, I’m having the same problem, I was seeding Yaya carrots and 2-3 seeds were coming out of each divot.
Thanks so much for the info, I’ll order the Y-24 right away!
Yes! The Y roller has been working great for us so far this year
I commented a couple years ago at the beginning of this comment string, still using our European push seeder for nearly 4 acres of direct seeded crops (carrots, radish, parsnip, beans, and 2nd corn planting)! Did you ever move towards beans and corn with the Jang JPH? I know they make a large seed planter but would like one that does it all!!
A tip on beets, transplant! we grow 3-4 beets per cell (72 cell trays) and transplant at 12″ spacing between transplants, 16″ between rows, 3 rows/bed with a Rainflo waterwheel. The beets slowly push themselves apart as they grow (we plant onions the same way). We get nice sized beets and do 3-4 plantings/season, 3-4 varieties/planting.
We still use the earthway for beans, peas, and corn… when we direct seed them. Funny you should mention transplanting beets. We now primarily transplant peas and corn…. beans we still use the earthway to seed. But beets…. we have tried transplanting them, but we have such good success with direct seeding I don’t see any need to rock the boat.
How about parsnips with the Jang? They are so light and fluffy that they don’t settle into the holes on the roller. I even raised the brush and took out the felt thing. Is there a roller that works for parsnips? Thanks for taking the time to write about all this stuff.
You are welcome. I’ve used a few different rollers for parsnips. I’ve used a custom drilled MJ-24 that I use for big beet seeds. I’ve also used an L-12. Both worked fine, but not great. Last year we ordered pelletized parsnips seeds and the G-12 roller for them. I used the G-12 for both pelletized and raw seeds and both came out great.
Hi Jason, I’ve been following this conversation for awhile. Really appreciate you sharing information like this. It’s so hard to find actual user feedback. This is my first season using the Jang. I did tests using the hopper lid and tried to determine which rollers I needed. I have a pretty large array now but I am going to buy a few more since I don’t have some of the rollers you mentioned. Am I understanding you correctly that you don’t use the felt piece for any of the seeds?
Correct. I scuttled the copper & felt rollers a few years ago. At first it was just for beets. But after a few of them got scuffed up I took them out permanently. I have seen no difference in performance. What I really like about having them out is that I can watch the rollers pass by the brush and make sure everything is working as it should.
Correct. I took out the felt piece a while back and have never replaced it
We just started using a JP-1 this week but are not having any luck achieving a a 1/2″ spacing. Using a 14 tooth sprocket front and a 9 tooth rear and any of the 24 divot rollers I am achieving only a seed an inch- one seed every 2 inches in each row using the two row splitter. Any idea what I could be doing wrong
Shalebank Farm
Are you sure the sprockets aren’t reversed? If the wrong one were in front, you’d be getting 2.5″ spacing
This reply is nearly a year late… Sorry bout that. Babies do get in the way of proper internet etiquette. Anyway, i wonder if you are using the right size roller or if your brush is knocking seeds out of their dibble.
Re: “Anyway, i wonder if you are using the right size roller or if your brush is knocking seeds out of their dibble. ”
Yes and no. Yes we were using the right size roller and gearing. No the brush was not knocking seeds out of the dibles. The JP 1 is simply not capable of singulating seeds at 1/2 inch spacing with the standard 12 or 24 dibble rollers and gearing (unless you are using a larger dibble so that more than one seed falls into the drilled furrow – my solution).
Mechanical Transplanter Company has confirmed my observation. The printed chart is simply wrong on this one spacing. If you look at the chart carefully and extropolate the spacings ratios from one gearing to the next you can readily see that this one (1/2″ spacing) is wrong.
They have promised me 36 dibble and 48 dibble rollers to solve the problem.
Denis
Shalebank Farm
Hi there, I’m a former Washingtonian transplanted over here in Southern Maine now farming. My wife and I bought the jang originally for seeding pelleted carrots (mostly mokum and bolero). I did a major seeding two weeks ago with pelleted Bolero and noticed the seed was quite spaced out. I’ve got it set at 1/2″ spacing with the x-24 plate. I lost my notes on what plate has worked best. The MJ-24 has a larger hole but seems to dump less than the x-24. Do you have any experience with pelleted carrot seed?
I actually used pelletized bolero seed for the first time this year. It worked great for me. I have two MJ-24 rollers, one of which is drilled out deeper than the other. I’m not sure which I used, but it spaced them perfectly. When I feel like the seeder isn’t picking up enough seeds, I start adjusting the brushes. Did you try that? Not sure if it’s too late over there in Maine to get a last seeding of carrots in. If it’s not, try raising the brush. As for using the X roller with pellets, that seems way too small to work.
The Jang Seeder will not singulate seeds at 1/2″ spacing with either a 12 hole or 24 hole roller.
I worked at this for quite some time before I started looking at the spacing table on the side of the chain cover. If you do so you will note that all of the spacings listed increase or decrease in the same ratios (one line to the next) except for the very last one for 1/2″ spacing. That number should read 1″ for the ratios to match and that is if you are using the double shoe and split seed funnel with the 24 hole roller. The actual spacing within each single row is closer to 2″ As in a 12 hole roller). The distributor has confirmed this to me and is making me a couple of 48 hole rollers.
We have gotten around this by fiddling with the roller size and brush opening so that a little more seed drops out (not singulation). It sort of works and is still a big improvement on the old ways. We are not using pelleted seed though. We do the same thing for radish though and it works well.
By the way, how is your germination rate on the pelleted seed. We have been thinking of switching for next year.
Where did you buy the the Jang Seeders, and mounting setup, did you work with a dealer to find the right attachments to mount on the tool bar, etc.
Sorry for the delayed response. I haven’t checked our comments recently. I bought our seeder through Mechanical Transplanter Company. It came with the toolbar.
I have the six-row Jang push planter. I can’t seem to get the seed depth to go below 1/4 in. When it is set as low as it can go, it is still very shallow. I talked to Woodward Crossings and they said I could weld an extension onto the shaft of each shoe. They indicated others have had success doing this. This seems like a design flaw to me. Am I missing something?
Has this been discontinued? Nothing after December 2015 and no response to my email.
Can I use this system to plant garlic. As you are aware, garlic gloves are planted with pointed side up.
It is handy machine highly recomended