A reader in the Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group is thinking about building a 6-row strip-till rig out of an old 6-row planter. The Michigan native aims to utilize the dry fertilizer boxes off the planter while running Rawson coulters to make strips.

“Has anyone built a similar rig or have pictures of something similar?” Rob Rowley asked the group.

Colchester, Ill., strip-tiller Alex Ruebush chimed in, saying he built a 6-row rig out of an old John Deere 7000 planter and relocated the dry boxes to feed into the unit behind the frame.

“There have been a few challenges along the way, but overall, it works great and makes good strips on a budget,” Ruebush says. “We can normally cover 40-50 acres a day in the fall. I’m on my 5th year running it.”

Northeast Missouri strip-tiller Garett Gordy replied with pictures of his heavily modified strip-till unit.

MODIFIED RIG. Garett Gordy’s modified strip-till rig can apply up to 600 pounds of product. He builds his strips in the spring with a mole knife that runs 6 inches deep. Fertilizer is placed 4-5 inches deep.

“I think you could buy a bigger, older unit and cut it down a lot cheaper than trying to modify a planter bar,” Gordy says. “We run a Schlagel unit modified to a mole knife and apply a dry blend using a Montag steerable cart. The original toolbar cost us $4,500, and when all is said and done with modifications, we probably invested $6,000 on the toolbar. Like any project, we’ve modified and added to it as we progressed, but we are still running the original setup on the bar. It works very well in our clay soils.”