I'm going to be doing my first plot this year. I've already got the ground prepared for seeding. My question is once you get the seed out what do you recommend I do since I don't have cultipack. I've thought I could just take and drag some trees behind atv. Lol. Would this make seeds be to deep? Should I pack it down by just going back and forth? Should I just spread the seeds and leave it be?
depends on what you are planting. bigger seeds like oats/wheat do best if buried abit. small ones like clover/brassicas cab be broadcasted right onto bare dirt. a rain will pound them into the ground.
I planted some clovers and brassicas last week without a cultipack. After tilling and dragging, I packed the ground by going back and forth with my four wheeler. Then I broadcasted the seed and packed it again. My plot is only on about .5 acres though, so this wasn't too bad. The smaller seeded broadleaf crops like brassicas and clover really only need to be planted .25" deep, so it doesn't take much. However, the more seed to soil contact you can get, the better chances you have for germination. Good Luck!
I just planted about half an acre of Egyptian Wheat(pretty late, but better late than never). I hand broadcast them into a tilled seed bed, then I used a cultipacker to pack them in. In the past, I have just drove over and over and over with the tractor tires. I've made a homemade drag with a piece of ladder stand, a log chain and a couple tires for weight. I've drag a section of chain link fence with a couple tires on top. As long as you can get the ground packed around the seed, you will probably do just fine. Some seeds do better at deeper planting depths(like Corn, but obviously it's too late for that). In those cases, you can lightly disk the seeds in then pack however you can figure out to get it done. FWIW, a cultipacker is a great tool.
I planted brassicas,clover, turnip, and rape, the second to last weekend of July. Just discd the ground thoroughly till powdery the sewed with a hand sewer then discd back over it all. Had three decent rains since and pleanty of hot sun and it's doin great.
