Bob from PA and OH asks,
Hi Bill. I was just curious as to your opinion on the RTP Genesis drills. I have 20 or so acres in OH to plant and recently bought an 8HD. I've only used it one time so far. It seems like a pretty solid piece of equipment. I was just wondering how the plantings you did in the past went. Were they successful? Do you have any tips for using it? I've planted one stand of clover/oats this past weekend. It seemed yo work great but the proof will be in the end result I guess. Thanks and have a great day!!
Bill responds,
Topic: My Experiences with the RTP Genesis Drill
I used the RTP Genesis drill for several years and found that it did a great job with the larger seeds, but that you need to mix smaller seeds (like clover and turnips) with a filler, like cereal rye, to get them to flow from the seed bin at the correct rate.
Bob,
I used the RTP Genesis for several years. Actually, I tried several models but settled on the 8 foot lightweight version for use with a smaller tractor on the three point hitch. The soil in my area was soft enough that I didn’t need a heavy drill to get the cutters into the ground.
I had great success with it planting larger seeds such as soybeans, wheat and oats. I planted corn with it one year by blocking every other seed dropper, but I found that while it got the job done, the corn was not planted to the correct depth consistently (typical of drill versus a full on corn planter). So, it will work in a pinch for corn, but is not ideal. It did really, really well with sorghum, however.
When it came to the smaller seeds such as clover and brassicas (like the Big N Beasty I used most often) I had to mix the smaller seed with something like cereal rye or even oats so the small seeds would feed out slower. I was not able to set my seeding rate low enough with the model I had to keep from drilling too much of the small seed per acre. But by mixing it in the seed hopper with the larger seeds, I was able to get a very good stand of clover or brassicas using the drill. I probably planted 75 acres this way, so I had plenty of experience.
It takes a bit of time to calibrate the unit for each seed, but once done, you should be set for many years of good service. Good luck. (5/5/21)
Bill, what is your opinion on how much deer like sorghum? In south central MN, I’ve heard of many people using sorghum and brassicas but the deer really don’t seem interested in them. I want to diversify my property to have lots of different types of food sources to draw deer and pheasants in. I’m short on bedding cover which will hurt me, but I’m hoping additional preferred food sources help a little anyways.
Cody, the sorghum will definitely help with both pheasants and temporary bedding cover. It is pretty thick and the deer lived in it on my farm during the times it was standing (basically late summer through mid-spring of the next year). Sorghum is not as attractive as corn, but in areas where the deer density is high enough to wipe out corn when it is growing during the summer (usually shortly after the ears start to push out silk) the sorghum is a good alternative. Also, I have not seen nearly as much damage from raccoons in sorghum as in corn. However, once the deer figure out that they like sorghum (may take a year or two) they will start to eat it right after the seeds form and are still soft (called dough stage) in late summer. Ideally, they would wait until November – and later – to eat the sorghum (a good winter food source when everything else is gone), and they will at first. But over time, they will start to eat it earlier and earlier. That is just something to watch. I really like sorghum in places where the deer numbers are too great to grow corn in small plots. Good luck.