ACCURATE, SHALLOW SEEDING

• Placing the seed close to the surface promotes fast, uniform germination, to boost yield and grade.
• Minimum till provides more moisture so shallow seeding is possible to speed up germination.
• The Seed Hawk seeding system provides ideal seed and fertilizer placement, and overcomes the two risks of
  The ‘furrow effect’ places the seed in the optimum position for access to fertilizer and moisture.
• fertilizer placement commonly found with other sideband and inter-row banding systems: fertilizer that is too close
• Independent, hydraulically controlled, 4-inch wide packer wheels pack and seal the furrows to prevent moisture loss.
• Quick, even emergence delivers a crop that can compete with weeds, makes crop staging for herbicide and fungicide applications easy, and promotes even maturity across the whole field for easier harvesting.

WON’T DAMAGE SEED –WON’T STRAND FERTILIZER

• When using either the single sideband or the Twin Wing knife system, fertilizer is placed close enough to the seed to promote early season growth, but far enough away to avoid seedling damage.
• In phosphate (P) sensitive crops (such as canola, flax and peas), P can be safely sidebanded and still generate the 'pop-up' effect – something that P banded between the seedrows cannot provide.
• Precision fertilizer placement means better nutrient availability to the plant all through the growing season, to feed the crop and not the weeds.

NOT ALL SIDEBAND KNIVES ARE CREATED EQUAL

• Seed Hawk uses two independent, narrow knife openers to place seed and fertilizer in separate bands to guarantee ideal separation between seed and fertilizer.
• The trailing seed knife helps bury the fertilizer band before placing the seed.
• Maintains optimum seed-fertilizer separation to eliminate fertilizer toxicity.
• Eliminates fertilizer placement issues common with worn, all-in-one sideband shank openers.
• Independent packer wheels packs each seedrow to the correct seed depth.

FASTER SOIL WARMING

• The Seed Hawk system with its 4-inch packer wheels leave a packed blackened furrow, an ideal environment for seedling establishment. (See photo previous page)
• This furrow means faster soil warming and quicker emergence, even in cool, wet soil.

FARMERS KNOW IT –RESEARCH PROVES IT

Farmers see the difference in the field, and independent research backs them up. Seed Hawk precision seed and fertilizer placement gets the crop off to a safe, fast start, and a high-yielding finish.

The Seed Hawk seeding system provides ideal seed and fertilizer placement, and overcomes the two risks of fertilizer placement commonly found with other sideband and inter-row banding systems: fertilizer that is too close or too far away from the seed.

Fertilizer placed too close to the seed or in the seedrow can have a toxic salt effect if rates are too high. However fertilizer placed in a inter-row band can be stranded away from the seed, resulting in poor early season growth at the time when the crop is establishing its full yield potential. At the same time, fertilizer in the inter-row band is readily available to weeds.

SAFE SIDEBAND FERTILIZER PLACEMENT

With the Seed Hawk system, placement of the fertilizer band 3/4-inch deeper and 11/2 inches to the side of the seed provided just the right separation for seedling safety, yet also provides fast, early season access to the fertilizer band at just the right time in the growing season when the seedling requires rapid uptake of nutrients.

An independent trial conducted by the Western Agricultural Diversification Organization (WADO) at Melita, Manitoba confirms Seed Hawk's safe sideband fertilizer placement. The trial looked at Seed Hawk's single sideband and Twin Wing knives in 2007 and 2008 with similar results. The researchers found that even at very high rates of nitrogen (N) at 120 lbs per acre in canola, both systems showed no statistically significant differences in emergence compared to the non-fertilized check - even in very dry, sandy soil - indicating that fertilizer toxicity is not a concern with Seed Hawk's sideband seeding system.

EARLY SEASON ACCESS TO FERTILIZER IS CRITICAL

Research at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research station at Melfort looked at nutrient uptake in spring wheat, and illustrated the importance of early season access to nutrients. During the first three weeks after seeding, for example, wheat took 33 percent of its total accumulated N, and by six weeks had accumulated 88 percent of N. Clearly, for full yield potential to be achieved, early season access to nutrients must not be limited by placement of the nutrients too far away from the seedrow.

In other research, The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute pointed out the risk of stranded interrow band N, noting in Research Update 768 dated July 2007, Emergence and Yield Comparison of Mid Row and Side Banding Seeding/Fertilizer Systems that: "...if dry conditions prevail during the first few weeks following seeding, access to N by the emerging crop may be more limited with the midrow band placement."

THE OPTIMUM SEED AND FERTILIZER PLACEMENT

The Seed Hawk seeding system was designed with these agronomic considerations in mind, and it is safe to say that independant research supports what Seed Hawk farmers know: that precision seed and sideband fertilizer placement with the Seed Hawk system results in minimal seedbed disturbance, fast uniform emergence, early season access to fertilizer, and consistently high yields.

No fertilizer toxicity. No stranded inter-row fertilizer bands. No compromise. That's the Seed Hawk difference, and with more than 1,200 seeders in the field, farmers continue to see the benefits from the emerging leader in seed and fertilizer placement.