A Comparison of Seeding Uniformity of Agronomic and Vegetable Seeders

Manufacturers of certain vegetable seeders have promoted their products as precision seeders and implied that their products are more accurate at seeding uniformity than typical agronomic seeders. A comparison of the seeding uniformity of several vegetable seeders and agronomic seeders was made to evaluate this assumption. Two vegetable seeders and two agronomic seeders were evaluated for seeding uniformity and precision using soybean seed. The Stanhay S870 (belt-type) vegetable seeder had the best seeding uniformity and precision spacing of all the seeders tested. The Gaspardo SV255 (vacuum) vegetable seeder and the John Deere 7200 MaxEmerge (fingermeter) agronomic seeder were comparable in seeding uniformity and precision, although fewer skips were noted with the John Deere. The Great Plains 8030 (brushmeter) agronomic seeder had a large number of skips and multiples and poor seeding precision.