2968 Single Fertilizer Opener

After he saw a Yetter Farm Equipment magazine ad, Sixtus Laskowski ordered one Yetter 2968 Row-Unit Mount In-Between Fertilizer Opener for his thousand-acre farm near Stockdale, Texas. He mounted it on his 7300 John Deere planter, tested it, and immediately ordered seven more.

He used the opener for his spring planting of corn, grain sorghum, and cotton. Sixtus says the fertilizer openers work well across his range of soils, from black loam to pure sand. He describes his tillage method as "minimum conventional tillage."

He places the fertilizer two inches below and two inches to the side of his cotton rows. "It’s far enough away so that it doesn’t affect germination, but available when the cotton starts setting roots," he said.

To protect the equipment from corrosion after exposure to fertilizer, he flushes it thoroughly with water and applies a coat of oil.

"I looked around for years for something like these fertilizer openers so that I could apply fertilizer without wrecking the seed trench," said Rob Goblirsch. After he put Yetter Farm Equipment's 2968 Row-Unit Mount In-Between Fertilizer Openers on his 1770 John Deere 16-row planter, he knew he had found what he was looking for.

Rob uses the fertilizer openers while applying nitrogen, as well as other fertilizers, to his 600 acres of corn. "These give me more flexibility to put down what I need without worrying about the mud or wrecking the furrow," Rob said. "I apply fertilizer two inches off the row, and it works great. I also like that it is a compact system."

"We concluded that for our no-till operation, we needed to get fertilizer deeper into the ground. Because the Yetter injection system places the fertilizer in the ground, we don't lose nitrogen through nitrification or because it sits on the top of the residue. They've provided a big cost benefit because they've lowered our nitrogen needs per bushel. Yetter coulters are also are a pretty fuel-efficient option.

"I like Yetter products because they are well-researched and the designs advance with the times. Yetter sales reps are great—always willing to help me execute new ideas."

William and Robb Hinton stand behind their investment in the Yetter 3600 toolbar. The Hintons are a father-and-son team farming in Virginia's Northern Neck. This location is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and is very sensitive to environmental pollutants. "We feel very strongly about protecting this natural resource and use continuous no-till in our farming operation to help control runoff," said Robb. "The concept of injecting our nitrogen makes sense to us. It is not only environmentally responsible, but also profitable."

The Hintons are using no-till to build soil structure. This, in turn, adds organic matter and the possibility that they may be able to reduce their fertilizer requirements. Because of the build-up of residue that comes with no-till, the Hintons needed a better way to get the nitrogen they use to side-dress their corn directly to the root zone instead of on top of the ground, where it can be tied up in residue, evaporate in the heat, or run off with a heavy rain.

They turned to Yetter Farm Equipment for a solution. "The Yetter 3600 Fertilizer Toolbar meets all of our needs. We have been using it for two years and have seen a six bushel-per-acre increase in our yields, and we are working with our local extension office to statistically prove our results over different growing conditions," said Robb.

"This is a well-built piece of equipment that hooks up easily, transports safely, and has performed flawlessly in our side-dress operation," Robb added.

The Hintons were able to attach the 3600 toolbar to their 4730 John Deere sprayer with Swath Pro—they work perfectly together to reduce overlap and costs. Robb adds that the quick hitch is a must to attach the toolbar to the sprayer.