"The goal of the closing system is to completely demolish the seed trench without disturbing the seed

​ ​The closing system on a planter is one of the most important parts of the planting pass. The row cleaner and/or coulter has prepped the pass, the opener disk has opened up the furrow, and now everything needs to be closed back up. The closing system can truly make or break the end result that you end up with at the end of a planter pass. But it is also something that can be almost impossible to set perfectly correct.

​ ​The ultimate goal of the closing system is to demolish the “Problems” which the disk opener has created by forming out the Furrow for the seed to land. We are wanting to try to return the soil back as close as its original state as possible. This involves 2 key actions. The first action we are going for it to demolish the entire profile of the furrow horizontally. We are trying to take any of the “Smears” or “Compaction Layers” created by the seed openers and break them back down into mellow consistency. The second action we are trying to create is to return our soil back to a good density vertically in order to ensure we have good seed to soil contact. There are 2 primary concepts of closing system on the market which are outlined below. 

Single Stage (V) Closing Systems​

​ ​The V closing system basically consists of 2 wheels set at an angle pressing down on the soil with the pressure of a spring. This system accomplishes the horizontal and vertical actions in one step. Since the wheels are set to an angle, as they spin, they are pulling the soil inwards and the downward pressure from the spring is obviously packing the soil back down in order to try to achieve a good soil density. 

​ ​In the early years of planting technology, there were really only a couple players in this market. Several companies offered smooth rubber closing tires. The main issues with the rubber tires are that if you had wetter conditions, they could cause compaction and if it is too dry, they wouldn’t have enough aggressiveness to close up the horizontal furrow.  Martin Till was one of the first companies to ever start offering Spiked closing tire. It was a fairly aggressive wheel which oftentimes was used in conjunction with the standard rubber. But as planter speeds started to increase, the long spiked closing wheels started creating some issues. First off, the aggressiveness of them tends to be a problem since they have a tendency to dig seed out of the furrow. They also tend to “Rooster tail” soil up out of the ground and all over the planter. Years later, Copperhead Ag brought to market something called the FurrowCruiser Closing wheel. This was a poly closing wheel with shorter spikes than the old Martins. there was a depth band which keeps it from being too aggressive. This wheel worked very well compared to the other alternatives in the market at the time.  Today,  there are dozens of companies making different versions of these closing wheels with all sorts of designs and modifications. 

Below are the ones that we have chosen to carry:

​ ​Copperhead FurrowCruiser

This closing wheel set the standard for versatility in the single stage closing wheel world. Years ago, we trialed a bunch of different combinations of V closing wheels on our personal planter and these 2 wheels together seemed to stand out above the rest. To this day, this is our highest seller and one that we typically see out performing the standard rubber wheels. One nice thing about them is that as they wear, you can flip them side to side in order to get a little more wear surface. The solid depth band helps them maintain a consistent depth so that they don't go too deep and dig up seeds.

​ ​Yetter Twisters

​Several years after the FurrowCruiser came to market, Yetter release the Twister. This wheel is almost identical to the FurrowCruiser only there is a slight twist in the spikes. Performance wise, it seems to perform very similarly to the FurrowCruiser. These wheels are directional, so they need to be installed with rights and lefts. 

​ Martin FCrushers

If you are looking for something with a little more aggressiveness, but still don't want to risk digging up seed, the Martin FCrusher is an excellent choice. They use a cast hub which is heavier than the poly wheels, but not as heavy as some of the other alternatives on the market. This machined hub also helps secure the bearing so that it doesn't start wearing out the inner housing. Another advantage of these is that each point tapers to one side. This way you can rotate them 180 degrees depending on whether you want them to be more or less aggressive. 

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2 Stage Closing Systems

​ ​The second type of closing system in the market is called a “2 stage” closing system. This involves 2 separate stages of closing the furrow. The first step is hitting the furrow with a set of disks which is primarily for destroying the furrow and breaking it up. The second phase, is a closing packer wheel. Its job is simply to push all of the soil back down onto the seed in order to get the vertical soil density back to where it needs to be. Case IH lead the industry with this design on their planters. And then over time, several other companies have come out with other alterations of this design. Below are the 2 stage closing wheels which we carry and some key points that distinguish them.

​ ​Martin-Till 2nd Stage Closer:

This is a 2 part closing system that you can add to an existing closing wheel arm. The nice part about this system is that you can use your existing closing wheel arm and re-use your existing closing wheels in the front if you wish. Or you can add the Martin Razor wheels in the front. And then it uses a Cam Adjusted press wheel in the back. In order to control this system, you would basically adjust the press wheel Cam in order to adjust the depth of the 1st stage wheels. And then you adjust the spring pressure to control the overall down pressure of the press wheel. It's a simple design and more cost effective than others especially if you re-use your existing closing wheels. The one drawback that we see is that the spring that you are using to set the tension can weaken over time or break. And so you are basically relying on this to set your entire system pressure which may not always be the most reliable.

​ Ag Focus FastTrac:

The FastTrac is one of our favorite closing systems. This system uses 1 spring for the 1st stage closing disks and another spring for the rear press wheel. Each of these stages move completely independently of each other. The benefit of this is that if you are running over uneven terrain, each stage will float over it without throwing off the other stage. Overall this system works very well, however, one negative of independent control is that there is not really anything maintaining consistent depth of the 1st stage closing disk. So in lighter soils, it could run deep and in harder or wet ground it may not be able to penetrate well enough. There are adjustments that can be made for this with the springs, and you can use a spiked 1st stage disk instead of smooth which can also help in certain situations. You can also order it with an optional air adjust cylinder which you can control from the cab. 

​ FurrowForce

​Lastly, we come to FurrowForce by Precision Planting. This closing system uses beveled disks with blades in the front and a 2 piece press wheel assembly in the back. It uses an air bag which presses down evenly on both the 1st and 2nd stage wheels. Then there is an adjustment crank which adjusts the depth of the 1st stage wheels in relationship to the press wheel. There are several different levels that you can go with on this system. To start with, the lowest cost option is a Manual Control where you would simply use a hand knob in the cab to adjust the air target across the entire system. Next, you can add Load Cells on the rows so that you can actually map out and measure the down pressure of each wheel from a Gen 3 2020 display. This also shows you ground contact which will tell you if the press wheel is not able to keep pressure on the ground. (Implying that your 1st stage disks are also running shallow). Next up, you can add automatic section control actuators to whichever combination of rows you would like to control. This will allow you to set a target downforce setpoint adjust automatically of off feedback from the load cells. Finally, you can add a control module to each individual row. At this point, each row is operating completely independently to maintain proper down pressure for any soil type. The nice thing about this system is that you can start at the very basic manual level and then step your way into more advanced technology as you go. Unfortunately, this will also be the most expensive option that we carry.

As you can see, there are quite a few options for closing systems on the market. At Solid Rock Ag, we are continuously working to learn which closing systems work the best in different environments. If your are uncertain which system is the best for you, give us a call and we can help you make this choice.