Fertilizer hopper?

[jjeff]

To be clear I'm not looking for an alternative to applying fertilizer, just a means to store and dispense it into spreaders for application.

 

[jjeff]

Some heard the saying cart before the horse my vast reserves of free repurposed plate steel I thought I had to build a hopper have dwindled down over the years. So back to looking for an alternative lol.

 

[jjeff]

Speaking of dialing in spreaders frequently use this small old John Deere branded yard tractor pull behind it was free of course still works unlike several others I've owned I assume it uses steel Instead of plastic gears to turn wheel anyways getting ready to spread grub killer which have decimated a lot of my new bare root transplants over the last few years msds says 80 lbs ber acre. It's a cheaper generic version of mallet can't buy in one ton totes. Does anyone have experience dialing one of these in? Or pointers. I figured if I had to I can stake out multi half acre plots measure 40 lbs in spreader and adjust accordingly? It has a dial to regulate flow currently have it set at 5 of the 10 settings. More pics available on request.
Fortunately I saved instruction sheet for flow settings on my three point. May use that if I have to.

 

[jjeff]

Not wanting to reinvent wheels or spend extra time and money on this idea I sacrificed an old shop vac, that I had to replace switch on (luckily I save junk including switches lol.) anyways took the casters off and cut out the bottom fits perfectly and securely in a old 5 gal bucket. So I'll suck out 5 gal buckets full of fertilizer use the full buckets to fill my small pull behind spreaders and see how this works. Initial tests showed it's better and less of a mess than hand shoveling. Still planning to fill big 3 point spreader directly from totes with mini x. Thanks for the insight.

 

[BigGG]

Not wanting to reinvent wheels or spend extra time and money on this idea I sacrificed an old shop vac, that I had to replace switch on (luckily I save junk including switches lol.) anyways took the casters off and cut out the bottom fits perfectly and securely in a old 5 gal bucket. So I'll suck out 5 gal buckets full of fertilizer use the full buckets to fill my small pull behind spreaders and see how this works. Initial tests showed it's better and less of a mess than hand shoveling. Still planning to fill big 3 point spreader directly from totes with mini x. Thanks for the insight.

Actually, that's not a bad approach. You could expand on it by elevating the bucket and fabricating a cone bottom with a gate of some type. Close the bottom, use the vacuum to fill it, then shut off the vacuum and open the gate to fill the hopper. You've created a pneumatic conveyor. You may need to adjust the air and solids flow at the suction to keep it from plugging. You could build a larger hopper to handle the larger spreader.

Another approach would be to have the fertilizer loaded in a bottom spout bag. These have a tube made into the bag's bottom to discharge the material. Then you could suspend the bag above the spreaders and fill as desired. The spout is tied off with a rope or belt to stop the flow. You'd need the supplier to fill the bag and you might have to furnish the bag.

 

[jjeff]

Yep some sort of a hopper system is still in the back of my mind and I know if I get enough fertilizer out of totes initially i can lift them over hoppers cut the bottoms out and fill the hoppers but i don't have enough of what I need on hand to construct something that big. more time and experiences loading these spreaders will help me determine what exactly i would like to try and make, currently i can use old shop vac to fill multiple 5 gal buckets by placing vacuum on empty 5 gal. buckets that I've accumulated a lot of over the last decade, for the folks who don't understand why i buy fertilizer by the ton price out a 50lb bag compared to cost of a 1 ton tote lol. good idea with feed bags.

 

[rswyan]

Not wanting to reinvent wheels or spend extra time and money on this idea I sacrificed an old shop vac, that I had to replace switch on (luckily I save junk including switches lol.) anyways took the casters off and cut out the bottom fits perfectly and securely in a old 5 gal bucket. So I'll suck out 5 gal buckets full of fertilizer use the full buckets to fill my small pull behind spreaders and see how this works. Initial tests showed it's better and less of a mess than hand shoveling. Still planning to fill big 3 point spreader directly from totes with mini x. Thanks for the insight.

Why not just create a plate (plywood?) with a hole in it for the shop vac that could sit on top of the tow-behind and 3-point spreaders and suck the fertilizer directly into the spreaders from the tote(s) with the shop vac ?

 

[jjeff]

Why not just create a plate (plywood?) with a hole in it for the shop vac that could sit on top of the tow-behind and 3-point spreaders and suck the fertilizer directly into the spreaders from the tote(s) with the shop vac ?

I don't believe that old shop vac is powerful enough to create adequate suction. Briefly tried something like that with a scrap piece of ply wood with vac cut out on top of my pull behind it didn't work, It does have enough sucking power when used over a 5 gallon bucket though.

 

[jjeff]

I've come to believe that the plastic collection bin is an integral part of the suction power, and a unperforated plastic bucket seems the best I can do producing enough suction with that older shop vac.

 

[rswyan]

Edit: never mind then … lol