Martin Industries – Martin Row Cleaners
5 Steps to Solid Results
Step 1: Clean & lightly till without furrowing out.
Properly designed row cleaners provide a very desirable type of tillage. !e row cleaner teeth continuously engage the soil to the shallow depth of 1" to 1 1/2". !is scarifying of the soil's surface layer makes it easier for the seed openers to open a welldefined "V" but without furrowing out or causing slabbing or fleaking. Eliminating furrows is the key to preventing erosion in the row on slopes and the ponding of water over the row in level areas. Martin Row Cleaners come in two basic types: rigid and floating.
Rigid
Our rigid models are more aggressive row cleaners and are particularly useful when a furrow is needed to reach moisture. Rigid models are available for all popular planters.
Floating
Our floating models have the advantage of always moving residue and lightly tilling the seed zone and leaving no skips or furrowed out places. Floating models fit most popular planters and may be used ahead of most no-till coulters or certain fertilizer openers including our UMO-100 Unit-Mounted Fertilizer Opener.
Side Treader Wheels
Our side treader wheels are a very good option, one most customers order, for the floating row cleaners because they help prevent unwanted trenching in softer parts of the field. Recent Farm Journal tests show a large yield increase when using this option.
All Martin Row Cleaners have the following features:
- 3/8" thick, high-strength, right- and left-toothed wheels with diamond shaped points
- Stationary triple-lip seals
- Heavy-gauge oval dust caps
- Double tapered bearings
- Greaseable hubs
Step 2: Place fertilizer in soil, not on trash or planter
Our fertilizer opener mounts directly to the planting unit and is compact enough to be used with our C125 and WA1360 Row Cleaners. Because the opener mounts directly to the planter unit, the fertilizer is always precisely the same distance from the seed even when planting on the contour. The lateral spacing from the seed can be 1", 2", or 3", and there are three vertical settings that allow fertilizer to be placed 3/4" above, even with, or 3/4" below seed depth. We like the way it consistently places the fertilizer in the ground without splattering it on the planter.
UMO-100 Fertilizer Opener
- Sturdy compact design
- Double tapered bearing hub
- 5mm thick (0.197") blade
- Adjustable furrow control device
- Can be set to place liquids 1", 2", or 3" from seed row
- Can also be set to place liquids 3/4" above, even with, or 3/4" below seed depth
- Fits Deere 7000 - 1700 series planters, Kinze, White 6000 & 8000 series planters
- Patent pending
Step 3: Use Reduced Inner Diameter Gauge Tires to allow the seed disk to lift part of the sidewall and leave it less dense.
To reduce sidewall compaction to a minimum, JD style planters will need the gauge wheel tires changed to reduced inner diameter style to allow the seed trench walls to lift slightly. Because this style of gauge wheel tire is so friendly to the seed trench wall, we recommend them for 750 drills. This change allows us to return to the field a day or two sooner after each rain.
RID-01 Tire
- Reduced inner diameter gauge tire
- Allows seed trench to lift and fracture
- Fits existing John Deere, Kinze, and White rims
- Two required per row
Step 4: Close without surface compaction
Martin Spading-Closing wheels move soil toward the seed at planting depth, while lifting and fracturing the surface layer to achieve compaction- free closing of the seed trench in wet, hard, or sod conditions. With soil firmed around the seed from each side and the surface layer loosened, crops emerge sooner and planting can be done at the proper depth, even in wetter conditions, without fear of crushed soil above the seed preventing emergence.
Our Spading-Closing Wheels do not attempt to close the seed trench by a crushing action from the top down. The soil is wedged toward the seed from either side at seeding depth by a pair of Martin Row Cleaner wheels. The ends of the teeth have full bevels cut on them. The beveled sides of the teeth on each wheel are placed toward the row and the narrow edge enters the soil first producing a wedging action. As the teeth on the wheels rotate up out of the soil, a slight lifting and crumbling occurs in the surface layer. The area on either side of the seed and immediately above it is not fractured, and because of the shape and spacing of the teeth on these wheels, wet soil does not bind to them.
Specific Advantages
- Speeds up warming of the row area
- Closing wheel arm pressure can be greatly reduced
- Seed trench is closed in the most severe conditions
- Seed depth does not have to be raised to insure emergence
- Soil above the seed is loose and slightly mounded allowing quicker emergence in a compaction-free environment
- Sidewall compaction is greatly reduced
In the past we thought the only way to grow no-till crops successfully was to wait until the soil was dry enough for the planter's smooth closing wheels to crumble the soil over the seed. Our long-standing struggle with the problem prompted us to find a solution that we have since patented. Customers around the country are praising it.
Step 5: Level row and seal air pockets
Following behind the Spading-Closing Wheels our Twisted Drag Chain helps to further crumble and level the soil. This helps even out the rate of drying and insures the soil does not dry past seed depth. This is a low cost, low maintenance way to help increase uniform emergence in the drier parts of the field and is a must when using the spading closing wheels in minimum till. By the way, some of our customers still feel the need for some shallow tillage in the spring and the spading closing wheels and drag chain combination do an excellent job in that situation.
DCK-01 Drag Chain Kit
- Heavy square edge cross chain and brackets
- Bolts to all MaxEmerge units
- Fits Kinze and White units with bolt-on wheels
- Kinze units with roll pin attached closing wheels will need holes drilled for mounting