A very basic seeder showing all of the standard parts. A drive wheel in the font uses a belt to drive the metering mechanism in the hopper. That feeds seed into a tube that drops it in a small furrow opened with the furrower. A chain fills in the furrow and the press wheel in the back helps set depth, but also presses seed into the soil for better germination.
This Earthway seeder is being used to seed high density salad greens one row at a time. The rows are pre marked with a Cultipacker. Earthways use different plastic plates to meter out different sized seeds.
Another hand pushed seeder, the JP1, which uses a changeable rollers with different sized detents for different sized seeds. A chain with different changeable cogs allows it to set different spacings.
A four row seeder from Johnny's. This seeder has no press wheel so the bed needs to be rolled after seeding in a separate operation. The drive wheels are on the sides of the seeder which makes it more compact for tight spaces. Different sized detents in the axle are used to seed different sized seeds.
This high density seeder from Sutton Ag. has a single seed hopper at the top which feeds multiple furrowers through plastic tubes. Spacing, the number of rows and size of seed can be adjusted for.
The inside of the hopper shows the brushes which keep seed flowing. There is a plastic plate with holes at the bottom of the hopper which can be changed to adjust the flow rate for different sized seed.
It's common to mount seeders off the back of a tractor for larger operations. These are JD71 Flex planters with extra seed plates hanging off the front.
The back side of JD71s with the hoppers removed. This shows a set up with double rows being planted.
These StarCo seeders are being used for beet seeding, four rows off the back of a tractor.
A detail of the insides of the StarCo seeder showing the plate with holes for seed. There is a thin metal piece that makes sure seed gets kicked out of the holes in the plate. Changeable gears determine the seed spacing and double disks with shoulders open the furrow and set the depth (one disk is removed in this photo and the seeder is upside down).
This is a custom seeder mounted on the belly of an Allis Chalmers G tractor. It uses a Seed Spider which is electrically driven to meter out seed. The rollers smooth the bed and press the seed it while helping to set the depth for the furrowers.
This Monosem vacuum seeder allows very precise placement of small seeds. These seeders are very expensive, but can save large farms in seed costs and thinning labor.
This is a hand pushed vacuum seeder used for smaller plantings where accurate seed placement is critical.
A close up view of the fingers that rotate past the seed hopper. Each finger sucks a single seed to the tip and then as the fingers rotate past the tube that feeds the furrower the vacuum is broken and the seed is brushed off and down the tube. Different sprockets with a chain drive allow the fingers to rotate at varying speeds which changes the spacing between seeds.
A close up of the double disk opener on the hand pushed seeder. Using a double disks prevents clogging, and opens a very clean furrow to deposit the seed into.
Larger seed drills for field crops like grain and clover are basically just gangs of single row seeders. Typically the wheels on the outsides help set the depth and drive the metering mechanisms.
This is a very heavy no till disk. The weight, combined with heavy wavy coulters allow narrow slots to be cut into existing sod, or heavy field residue, so that seed can be buried.
