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Not True? Agriculture takes a 321 year leap ahead with placement of fertilizer....
Yes Sir, 321 years later....What did Squire Jethro Tull know about drilling cereal grains?

1.

What is the optimum spacing of a barley or wheat seed berry in a seed row?
Why is offset leading double disc superior in raising top yields?
In cereal grains what is the optimum spacing in a seed row?

2.

Joel McClure discovered that planting winter wheat with a 20 inch planter with wheat seed metering discs produced good yields as compared to 10 inch spacing at half rates and planting twice.  

Planters have distinct advantages when planting on 20 inch…it is the tool of choice for winter wheat. SRS can also be used in irregular soil moisture conditions.   

The hybrid Corn seed is expensive and must be accurately spaced to allow roots to develop rapidly and light to be absorbed efficiently on 30 inch row spacing to 20 inch row spacing.  

Small grains like winter wheat and brewing barley are spaced a lot differently to use water and light more effectively.

Breeders know why seed must be properly spaced. Barley breeders are especially aware of seed spacing.   Simulating the barley or wheat head spacing in a tight row is optimized spacing and seeding rate. Soldiers in a closed rank line and marching off to war.  

Jethro Tull (1674 – 21 February 1741, New Style) was an English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1700 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. He later developed a horse-drawn hoe. Tull's methods were adopted by many great landowners and helped to provide the basis for modern agriculture.

Circa 1731 Tull's book upon husbandry also influenced cotton culture in the American Southern Colonies. Tull's system taught that to ensure a sufficient number of plants, they did not just need to increase the quantity of seed, but to plant the seed at regular distances.

The Seed Drill
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill in 1701 as a way to plant more efficiently. Prior to his invention, sowing seeds was done by hand, by scattering them on the ground or placing them in the ground individually, such as with bean and pea seeds. Tull considered scattering wasteful, because many seeds did not take root.

His finished seed drill included a hopper to store the seed, a cylinder to move it, and a funnel to direct it. A plow at the front created the row, and a harrow at the back covered the seed with soil. It was the first agricultural machine with moving parts. It started as a one-man, one-row device, but later designs sowed seeds in three uniform rows, had wheels, and were drawn by horses. Using wider spacing than previous practices allowed horses to draw the equipment 3.   and not step on the plants.

4.

Your seeding questions have simple answers.   ….study the spacing of the barley seed in the head.

• Thus the in-row seed spacing is correct if it is between .45 inches to .625 inches apart depending on the seed size in a tight soil vee design.
• This in row seed spacing forces the seminal roots to initial compete strongly and reach for moisture.
• The seed spacing forces the coleoptiles to push to the surface. A push of 1.25 to 2 inches with good turgor pressure from ample soil moisture.
• The seed is surrounded by soil that provides osmotic movement of moisture into the seed berry.  Soil cracking and air pockets must be avoided.
• From 1701 to 2021 the story is the same, we march together in tight closed rank and drive the seminal roots deep and coleoptiles toward the sun as fast as possible.

A review of Paired Row and why Yielder Drills consistently yield 20% to 30% higher in winter wheat.

A review of Paired Row and why Yielder Drills consistently yield 20% to 30% higher in winter wheat.

5.

Number 1, It takes a good sprayer with low compaction and coverage. 
Coverage is the key word.
Eating acres in step Palouse Hills.
An acre goes fast at165 feet at 4 to 6 mph (8V-71) with a steady boom, three pumps, pressure compensation, an Aircraft Gyro Compass and a Harley out-rider.

6.

A sprayer that can cover all acres in wet, snowy conditions.
Tough going, whereby and when other machines can not go.
Superior weed control in late fall and early, wet spring conditions.

7.

A 2020 Yielder Paired Row 5/15 (left) outyields mid row banding of a 2020 Yielder 10 inch spacing at the same fertilizer rate.
Paired Row Yield Punch is 10% or 12.6 more bushels per acre in Palouse conditions.
In this case with Stephens, Soft White Winter Wheat, Don Quist, Pullman, Washington/Moscow, Idaho.  

 8.

Leveraged Fertility Drives the producers to change.  The row spacing is changed to 5/15.

The plant root system gets full seminal root access to placed nutrients,  
By 1980 Fertilizer Placement arrived. Banding fertilizer with double disc openers between rows hides the fertilizer from the weeds.  

Feed the growing crop with leveraged fertility and starve the weeds.  
Another leap ahead with winter annual Dwarf Essex, Yielder Drills with high capacity allowed Dwarf Essex Winter Rape to be seeded with Water Injection or SRS.

 
Paired Row Seedings on 5/15 inch or average 10 inch allowed water to be injected in the seed row to establish Dwarf Essex in 1984. A technology that is applicable today.

 9.

The Floating Tool with 24 inch banding and seeding openers.
Each tool bar weighs 1,100 lbs.  Each tool bar is typically in a different plane position adjusting for roll, pitch and yaw.
The tool bar follows the changing terrain and maintains the correct slope angle interface for seed placement.  
The seed release is controlled into tight V Slots. Osmotic movement to the seed is now enhanced.
The seed is held by the 24 inch blades releasing all the seed to the bottom of the V slot.
A means to germinate all seeds timely and together. This produces vigor in the young plant by marching into war together.
The geometric force of the seeds competing for moisture and light as the team is aligned for survival.  
 

 10.

Paired rows drive nutrient efficiency.

A Yielder drill seems to be the only machine that can meter seed with the openers on 5/15 spacing.

“Where the rubber meets the road “ or right at the opener ground line in steep rolling conditions requiring lots of horsepower.  

The challenge is to align seed rows at proper seeding depth and within the boundaries of the NPKS deep band located at about 5 inches in depth and 2.5 inches to the side of the seed row.

Anhydrous Ammonia is the key nutrient which makes this system in fall and spring conditions, secondarily Aqua Ammonia, Ammonia is stable and the most crop available form of nitrogen.

Only Anhydrous ammonia becomes part of the soil.

• Fall or Spring applied NH4 is connected to Carbohydrates,C-6,H-12,O-6 and introduced polymers which pulls the most moisture from the soil because it is part of the soil and non-mobile.
• Other types of nitrogen are either not crop available (Urea) or are connect to the water (32-0-0, 28-0-0),   
• These second and third tier nitrogen sources are part of the water or the wetting front as water perks into the soil.
• These third tier nitrate type materials (32-0-0, 28-0-0,) are negative valence allowing nutrient mobility beyond the root zone.  
• Only Anhydrous Ammonia and Snow go together Hand and Glove.
• Just like peas and carrots ammonia is naturally part of the soil when uniformly applied.

  11.

Paired Row 5/15 Yielder Seeding, model 2020, Spring of 1983.  The Breakout of Paired Row.  Soldiers marching together.

• As the snow is leaving the Stephens Winter Wheat crop breaks dormancy and starts faster with phosphate formulated into a deep band of NPKS and Micros.
• Winter annuals are controlled in the fall and with leverage fertility of Paired Row.
• The fertilizer is trapped by the growing crop whereby the weeds are starved.
• Soil Heaving and thawing in the early spring is avoided in No-till.
• The soil is thermally uniform due to no-tillage and residue on top of the deck.
• The Cercosporella foot rot or eyespot is avoided.
• No dangerous mercury based chemicals are required to control a yield robbing, root invasion fungus.
• Top dressing, spring or fall,  of fertilizer is never used in Yielder Paired Row systems when NPKS is banded between the seed rows.
• Anhydrous Ammonia and Snow go together hand and glove.
• It takes a good sprayer that can go late in the fall.
• The key is a Yielder drill with hidden technology that can carry out the practice of Paired row with metered seed tied to the band of Anhydrous Ammonia.  

        Your Great Plains Reporter.  

                 Guy J Swanson.