Amazing Amazone drill - 75 years and counting
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first Amazone seed drill – the 2m wide horse-drawn D1 launched in 1949.
Dubbed as a universal seeder, Amazone’s new GreenDrill 501 is said to be ideal for one-pass sowing of ‘catch crops’, fine seeds and undersown crops in combination with the company’s trailed cultivators.
The 500 L hopper has a wide opening for rapid filling, being accessed using steps and a platform. The bottom section of the hopper contains a protective sieve in order to prevent foreign bodies entering the electrically driven metering unit, a fill level sensor monitors the contents and a screw lock on the hopper lid protects the seed against dust and moisture.
A range of easily changed metering rollers are available to suit different seed sizes, with seeding rates adjusted via the in-cab terminal, that also serves for one-touch calibration.
Alternatively, the process can be carried out using the mySeeder app on a suitable smart device. The GreenDrill 501 can be controlled, using section and variable application rates, using any ISOBUS terminal.
Mounted on a trailed cultivator, such as the Catros compact disc harrow, the GreenDrill 501 utilises a hydraulic blower fan to transport the seed from the metering unit to the sowing coulters.
The blower fan is not required if the GreenDrill 501 is mounted on a Cirrus trailed cultivator-drill combination.
Seed is transferred from the distribution head to the baffle plates, which ensure an optimal lateral distribution across 16 to 48 seed rows, while also offering the ability to create tramlines.
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