Nathan Brabec; Schuyler, NE

We farm no-till soybeans in clay hills using a 3650 Kinze©. (We do not use row cleaners in planting soybeans.) This past Spring we planted with the Kinze for the first time; the Kinze came with Schlagel planter wheels. Before selling our 7000 John Deere© we moved the 12 rows of Mohawks™ off it, and bought 4 new rows of Zippers™ for the back 16 rows. We left the Schlagels on the front 15 rows. The Mohawks have done an excellent job for us over other closing wheels we have tried in prior years; and this year it proved again.

The Mohawks leave a feathered light close to the seed trench while also breaking through any no-till trash outside the seed walls. The Mohawks work well in dry or damp soil conditions and play a good balance between the two; where some closing wheels work well in one condition and not the other. The Schlagels seemed to leave more of pinching affect and didn’t close the trench as well, leaving the seed uncovered, especially in damper soil conditions. Schlagels also tend to ball up in muddy soils vs the Mohawks.

The Mohawks gave us better stands by about 20-30,000 population vs the Schlagels on soybeans. I recommend 100% to use Mohawks in similar soil conditions! We defiantly will next year!