Ed Yanos, IN

Last year we ran our Kinze 3600 16/32 planter with Mohawk closing wheels over nearly 2000 acres of no-till soybeans. We saw a real improvement over cast iron wheels in performance – closing the seed trench, preventing the slot from opening when the soil dried out, and in seed emergence.

We used my Kinze 3800 corn planter for some trials on tilled and no-till fields; rubber tires, Mohawks, Zippers, Thompson wheels, and Martin spike closers.

While the Martin spikes have always performed fairly well in no-till, and still performed the best in planting no-till corn into a dry June hayfield, the Mohawks and Zippers performed best overall. They handled tilled soil, they handled no-till, they firmed the seed while leaving loose soil above it, and they didn’t tip out seed in the most challenging conditions. The Zippers also did fairly well in the hard dry hay field in June.

The Mohawks and Zippers still look almost new, they should last many years more than the plastic spikes some companies sell. We will be all Mohawks and Zippers this year.