How you seed what you reap!
Superior seeders are now being sourced by Fix Engineering from Jang Automation, a South Korean company. The company is producing roller types that are able to seed from very small seeds to beans and disc type seeders for the larger seeds and large areas.
Mike Fix, of Fix Engineering, said all types can be combined to seed as needed, either single rows or multiple rows.
“The seed rollers singulate the seed or distribute close in rows depending on the spacing needed. Each seeder has gears to allow 11 different row spacings. There is a choice of seeder with about 40 different distribution rollers, including two rows to cover virtually any seed and spacing.
“Also available are Disc openers, double soil openers and openers for band seeding from 60 to 120mm and granular distributors. These are particularly handy for soil inoculating granules in to the seed rows.”
Mike said Jang seeders are sold worldwide to small and large vegetable and herb growers.
Many types, from single hand-pushing models to tractor-drawn and self-propelled are available.
All of the JP small-seed seeders, including the self-propelled, have the same seeding mechanism and gearing. Mike explains some of the models available: • JP1 - Single hand pushing Seeder. JP Seeders can be combined for up to six rows.
• JPH seeders are designed to mount on tool bars from single to many multiples. The seeder distributing units are the same as JP1. However these units are mounted on to their own parallelogram to allow independent movement to maintain exact depth of seeding across the whole row of seeders.
In addition Fix Engineering construct tool bars to allow the seeders to pivot along its track maintaining even load on the wheels regardless of terrain.
JPH seeders can also be adapted to some tilling machinery to enable working the soil and seeding in one pass. The self-propelled, walk-behind versions are handy for greenhouse seeding where space is of value and a tractor might be wasting space. They are available in various seeding widths and spacings.
• JD1 disc type hand-seeders and JDT disc type tractor-attachable seeders. These are designed for maize, corn, beans, barley and bean sprouts or similar other seeds in multiple rows as needed. Double openers and two-row seeding discs are available for these also.
“I wish these seeders were available when we were growing vegetables and seed,” said Mike. “We did use very expensive seeders at the time with results no better, if not worse, than what can be achieved with Jang seeders. And apart from just seeding vegetables and herbs, cover and green-manure crops can also be sown.”
Fix Engineering, formerly Fix Vegetables, have a lot of farming know-how from previous farming enterprises in vegetables, orchard, dairy and seed production. A number of implements designed and constructed by Fix Vegetables are still marketed with upgrades for vegetable growers and general farming. Mike explains their uses: • The Rehabilitator plough; a deep aeration system with two tusk rollers that deep-till the soil and break up the surface at the same time - still keeping the soil open but not rough.
• The Weed-Fix weeding system for row crops both on the flat and on beds. Cultivation is between the rows and accurate soil movement - without covering any crop - leaves in the row or as needed, excluding soil from the row. This is available with hydraulic steering for side sloping ground.
• The Till Fix is designed to kill the first flush of weeds before seeding. It does not displace the layers of soil so it takes longer for the next flush to emerge giving the crop a chance to get above the weeds.
• The Crop Lifter is designed for lifting root crops for harvest and alliums for field-curing and harvest.
• The Crimp Roller is designed to roll down greenmanure and cover-crops to break capillary action in the stems creating a mulch layer still anchored to the ground. It is also efficient in reducing thistles and lolling Phalaris to reduce red eye in cattle.
There are other implements designed and built by Fix Engineering as well as some efficient equipment from Austria.