Almost a year ago, Lemken launched its Solitair 9+ pneumatic seed drill. Now, the German manufacturer is introducing its new Duo version which comes with a divided seed hopper.

This latest development means the drill has the ability to sow two adjacent rows of seed at different depths.

The machine will offer a range of options for simultaneously spreading seeds, fertiliser and catch crops.

Hopper

The seed hopper on the Solitair 9+ Duo holds 1,850 litres. Lemken says its capacity can be split 50:50 or 60:40. This means two application variants are possible.

In the single-shot version, seeds and fertiliser are combined downstream from the two metering units in each of the two hopper segments.

The different components are guided to the double disc coulters via a seed pipe and deposited in a seed furrow. This allows a suitable starting dose of fertiliser to be added for winter sowing or a complete fertiliser application for summer sowing.

An automatic tramline mechanism is integrated into the distributors.

Meanwhile, with the double-shot system, the two components flow separately to a double disc coulter via doubled distributors in two seed pipes.

They can then be spread either in a single row, as with the single-shot method, or separately and alternately in two rows following a quick exchange of the tramline cartridge in the distributor.

In addition, the deposition depth of every other row can be adjusted separately via the pressure roller up to a difference of 5cm.

This allows two different seeds to be placed at different seeding depths or inter-row fertilisation to be applied while seeding.

The Solitair 9+ Duo is available in working widths of three and four metres. Lemken says full availability is scheduled for January 2022.