FIELD PERFORMANCE OF A FLUID DRILL

Fluid drilling is a technique whereby seeds are dispersed in a fluid medium and subsequently extruded into the soil.
It offers the possibility of sowing either imbibed or pre – germinated seeds.

A fluid drill, with rotary self-cleaning rotors, was developed; and field tests were conducted on both cabbage and Spring – sown onions.
Results indicate that, while inferior spacing distributions were obtained, nevertheless, fluid drilled pre – germinated crops compared favourably with conventionally drilled crops.
For example, emergence occured approximately 30% sooner; and crop growth and vigour was comparable with that of conventionally sown crops.

I International Symposium on Mechanization of Vegetable Production

S.M. Ward

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1986.187.4