Claydon, who will be attending this year’s National Ploughing Championships, has developed a new fertiliser application system for the Claydon Hybrid drill range, designed to help growers potentially reduce fertiliser usage and cost, yet make better use of expensive fertiliser through targeted placement whilst drilling.
The new fertiliser option will be available both on new drills, but can also be retro-fitted to existing drills and has been developed to meet demand from users both in the UK but also throughout Europe, especially Germany.
“Because the Claydon Strip Tilling System only works the soil within the immediate seeding zone and leaves the areas between undisturbed, by being able to accurately place fertiliser within the seeding zone at drilling, this ensures that the fertiliser is exactly where the young plant needs it,” explained Claydon research and development manager Matt Bowe.
“This avoids fertiliser being wasted on the 50 per cent of ground that is not disturbed, so will ensure that the optimum amount of nutrient is available to the young seedling, ensuring better utilisation and a potential fertiliser cost saving.”
Claydon has also developed a new 3.0m drill, the Fertiliser Hybrid, which features a new split hopper that is positioned further forward on the drill for improved stability. This has the capacity to carry 750kg of seed and 750kg of fertiliser, which are fed through two individual metering units so that varying application rates can be applied.
On larger 4.0m, 4.8m and 6.0m Hybrid drills a front-mounted 1500kg capacity hopper has been developed, with fertiliser blown through to a second distributor head. There is also a 1,000 litre front tank option for applying liquid fertilisers.
In standard format, the fertiliser is fed down the back of the leading rigid chisel breaker tine and is placed 75-100mm below the seeding zone so that it is perfectly placed for the young seedling. However, if required the design also allows for the fertiliser to be fed down the back of the seeding tine, so that it is mixed with the seed, or placed on the surface.
Solid
The application rate for solid fertilisers is set and controlled using the drill’s RDS Artemis Electronic control system, so no separate control unit is required. The liquid fertiliser system requires its own dedicated control box. Both solid fertiliser systems can also be used to apply microgranular-fertiliser, and the RDS Artemis control unit enables application rates from as little as 2.0kg/ha up to 450kg/ha to be applied.
For customers that only require the ability to apply microgranular fertilisers, Claydon is also able to supply a specific micro-fertiliser application system for all Hybrid drills. The micro-fertiliser is metered into the seed flow using a modified Stocks Rotor Meter and these are available with a choice of three control systems; through the drill’s Artemis system, via its own Wizard variable rate controller or a simple Vari-Speed system.
Claydon 12.3m roll
Claydon has also extended its range of equipment with the addition of a set of 12.3m wide Rolls. The addition of these new rolls to the Claydon System range provide an important part of the overall Claydon Drilling System, by enabling the thorough consolidation of the soil within the seeding zone to ensure optimum soil to seed contact, moisture retention and a reduction in slug activity.
The new Claydon Rolls comprise of five 2.5m wide sections that fold down horizontally to just 2.85m for transport. Each roller unit is fitted with 24-inch breaker rings with a working weight of 682kg/metre to provide optimum consolidation. Incorporated into the frame is a load transfer system to ensure that weight is evenly distributed across the full working width of the roller for an even, uniform finish.
With a minimum power requirement of 100 horsepower, working at 6kph the Claydon rolls are capable of covering around 6.6ha/hour. The standard specification also includes full road lighting and hydraulic braking.
