Opinions on planter, please

outdoorstom · Aug 3, 2013

I'm very close to buying a Covington TP-46 with cultivator, in excellent condition for $600.00. I'm only planting 2-3 acres of food plots. My question is - does this seem like a fair price, and roughly how much time would it take to plant this acreage? I'm using my 52 hp Kubota. I've heard from several people that this is too much money for this planter, and the planter is too small for this job. I'd love to find a 2 or 4 row, but can't find any in this area.

Deerherd · Aug 3, 2013

It sounds like a fair price for a single planter with cultivator and it makes a great tool for planting a large garden. And yes, you COULD plant three acres of corn with it, it just takes more time.

But I suspect after one planting it would be in the same place it is now, for sale!:laughing:

Now if the cultivator is large enough you could buy another new planter to match and you could cut your time in half. (Many of us on here like spending other people's money)

I too have been looking for a used planter but keep getting beat to the punch by the Amish. For people with no Internet, they sure are quick to respond to Craigslist!

kneedeep · Aug 4, 2013

If you are planting corn, a Covington works great. Mixing beads or other legume will make a good wildlife mix.
My experience with wildlife foodplots are mostly mixtures of oats, clovers, peas, ryegrass, wheat, chufa, etc. This type of planting requires a broadcast or drill type planter. The Covington will not plant close enough for a foodplot. It is more a garden type planter that will plant long single rows that need cultivating or regular spraying to keep weeds from taking over the crop.
A cone spreader and a cultipacker will plant great foodplots.

LouieJunior · Dec 21, 2013

What would be recommended for planting sunflowers, sorghum, or buckwheat -- only a few acres? The drill type planters seem very expensive relative to the 3-point Covington unit. Is the single row planter useful without tilling the soil first? I have some marginal ground that is no longer rented and would like to enhance my hunting opportunities next year.

FarmWrench · Dec 21, 2013

I'm a farmer.

I love the market for old and smaller equipment that the food plots have created.

Equipment is less important than the system. Perfect seeding at the wrong time of the wrong crop in the wrong location with the wrong nutrients is typical of deer "farmers".

Put the money into soil samples, nutrients (based on the sample not just thrown out more!) Drainage (add an old school water tank fed by supper clean tile water!) Weed control (I had a neighborhood food plot that was surrounded, more like fenced in, by poison ivy and multflora rose. )

LouieJunior · Dec 21, 2013

I probably shouldn't have said "marginal ground". It is rich, fertile, black bottom ground. The problem is access with a combine. It is on a peninsula and one must traverse 8/10 of a mile on a dyke to get there - often requiring a chain saw to clear the path. I can more-easily get there with my CUT but it is too much trouble for our tenant. There is a 16 acre field and another 4 acre field between the river and some backwater sloughs. I'd like to make use of this land.

Keadog · Dec 22, 2013

kneedeep said:
If you are planting corn, a Covington works great. Mixing beads or other legume will make a good wildlife mix.
My experience with wildlife foodplots are mostly mixtures of oats, clovers, peas, ryegrass, wheat, chufa, etc. This type of planting requires a broadcast or drill type planter. The Covington will not plant close enough for a foodplot. It is more a garden type planter that will plant long single rows that need cultivating or regular spraying to keep weeds from taking over the crop.
A cone spreader and a cultipacker will plant great foodplots.

I'm thinking of a one row Covington. With a one row, I don't see why you can't plant the rows as close together as you want? Just make the return pass close to the row you just seeded. I'm looking to have rows of corn at the north edges of my food plots to give the deer a more secure feeling route into the main food plot. Also from the woods along the pasture for the same reason. I can't see how that could be done easily with my broadcast spreader. A two row with an adjustable tool bar would be nicer, but that prices a new one over $3K, more than I want to spend.

kneedeep · Dec 22, 2013

Most row crop widths are determined by the tire width. Years ago, I had a JD 950 and used a 2 row Covington. The middles were evenly spaced as the tires ran in every other row. I could cultivate until the corn got about 3 foot tall.
It may be possible to plant multiple rows without running over a planted row which would prevent seed from sprouting. Cultivation would be difficult as well.
Since it is a food plot, low production may not be a issue.

Saw this on a TV show, I asked for a quote on the Seeder/Cultipacker only model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4CGJSUi7w&feature=player_embedded

PS- My experience tells me a Covington is NOT going to plant without a prepared seedbed.

Keadog · Dec 22, 2013

kneedeep said:
Most row crop widths are determined by the tire width. Years ago, I had a JD 950 and used a 2 row Covington. The middles were evenly spaced as the tires ran in every other row. I could cultivate until the corn got about 3 foot tall.
It may be possible to plant multiple rows without running over a planted row which would prevent seed from sprouting. Cultivation would be difficult as well.
Since it is a food plot, low production may not be a issue.

Saw this on a TV show, I asked for a quote on the Seeder/Cultipacker only model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4CGJSUi7w&feature=player_embedded

PS- My experience tells me a Covington is NOT going to plant without a prepared seedbed.

Ah, didn't think of that. I was planning on preparing the seed bed, but didn't think about the tire preventing germination. It is a food plot, but obviously the more productive the better for the deer. I'm planning on only a few rows of corn as a screen/security path with my primary goal to plant soybeans, winter oats, beets, clover, etc.