High Calorie Gardening: single seed jab planters for planting larger seeds like corn and beans

Hand seeders, also called jab seeders

When I first moved to the Midwest back in the late 90’s I used to talk to a lot of the old timers at small livestock shows. One of the things I found interesting was the ways their parents and grandparents farmed. So much of what they knew was a lost art since almost no one used manual corn planter or tobacco planter in the 1990’s. You could find these items at antique stores or auctions. From the stories I was told and what I could research the corn planter was a major revolution to small farmers. It allowed a single farmer to plant around four acres of corn seed a day in a plowed field. I have had some experience planting trees and other plants when I lived way up North. But I used shovels and planting bars. Using the right tool can really make a difference.

Well with high calorie gardening I am assuming that mechanical equipment will not be available. So tools for planting become very important. Now some seeds you can broadcast smaller seeded plants like annual ryegrass, cereal rye, turnips, rapeseed and canola. The larger seeded plants like corn, beans, squash, etc. need to be planting in the ground. Having to put large seen underground explains the invention of the hand corn planter. Another factor that led to the development of the hand corn planter was having plants in rows makes weeding and harvesting easier. The corn planter was one of the most advanced tools in the family of planters called jab planters in its time. It was said that a farmer could plant four acres of corn in one day with the corn seed jab planter.

An interesting take on the jab planter was using marked string to plot a square grid for planting. What this allowed was rows in both directions. With such a system you can run a wheel cultivator between both rows of corn. It also allows for planting legumes in the same grid. You can experiment with planting corn, beans, and pumpkins using the string grid to space the planting.

What was interesting was that Jab planters did not disappear. There are still used in many third world countries on small farms where farming is done with only hand tools. I also found that I could obtain these in USA.

easydigging.com
Jab planter

The planter is just pressed into the ground, then the solid rod (with the ball on top) is lifted a short distance, and a seed is dropped down the bent tube.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com
Easy-Plant Jab-Type Planter

Farmers have relied on the Easy-Plant for years. A hand planter for corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and sunflowers on open ground or through plastic mulch.

http://www.seedburo.com/
http://www.seedburo.com/productDetail.asp_Q_catID_E_537_A_subCatID_E_2699_A_productID_E_3594_A_Hand_Held_PlantersStandard_E_Hand_Held_PlantersStandard
Almaco Hand Held Planters-Standard

Seed is manually dropped into top seed port and is conducted via the seed tube to the closed planting bit. The seed then remains captive within the planting bit until the planter is rocked forward and the bit is opened. These are useful for small to medium sized plot planting or for selective replanting of previously seeded plots.

http://smallfarmtoolbox.com/greenseeder
The green seeder

The GreenSeeder is a hand-planting device originally developed by Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma to improve the corn, and other crop planting methods of upland farmers in the third-world, who are farming on marginal lands. The GreenSeeder helps marginalized smallholder farmers by decreasing the effort of planting, and decreasing the treated seed to skin contact for farmers. The planter can also be used to make appropriate side dressing applications of dry fertilizer next to the growing corn plants. This planter makes it possible to easily apply fertilizer near the growing plant roots, which results in less, and more efficient fertilizer use by farmers. This means better crop yields and less fertilizer runoff, which is better for the environment.

http://www.simpleseeder.com/
Simple Seeder

Effective in both conventional and no till gardens, this quality, steel constructed garden seeder creates ease and accuracy in planting. The innovative step bar adjusts up and down to control seed depth. Two viewing holes allow the gardener to space the seeds easily at the desired distance.

http://www.standnplant.com/
STAND 'N PLANT seeder

Acres of pumpkins of all sizes, gourds and thousands of onion plants plus small quantity specialty crops, i.e. zucchinis, were planted using this Seeder. Onion plants and seeds were planted in plastic covered beds using closer spacing and multiple rows.