Combines harvesting sunflowers

[DAB]

We use 9" pans on 12" centers on a 300 series head. The thing I like is that you can harvest any row spacing, We've even cut flowers at an angle

 

[Kurt]

9" pans on 12" spacing, do you cut oils or convectionsIJ I had one irrigated convection grower tell me that sometimes this spacing was to close, the stalks were that big. Have you had any trouble with thisIJ Thanks Kurt

 

[wildcat1]

There are guys here in Kansas who have used corn heads to harvest sunflowers. Seems to work very well. Next time I plant sunflowers I'll give it a try since I don't have a row head.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

I bought an old 300 series platform and put 9" pans on in 12" spacing. You have to modify the feeder a bit on the header to hook up to the newer rotaries and the reel has to come off, but it is not needed anyway. By having a header just for the pans, it saves me the hassle of putting them on and taking them off. Not a huge job but it does take some time. I have harvested solid seeded flowers and 30" rows. Both work real well. Weeds don't bother much as they tend to go under the pans. You can drive about as fast as you want. We only had a problem with dust igniting from static on a combine one year. It was EXTEMElY dry with very low humidity. We're talking less than 15% humidity. We were dragging a chain but it didn't help. The ground was bone dry, also. From about 10:00 in the morning until early evening it was a real problem. That was the time of day when the humidity was at its lowest. If I had it to do again, I would run only at night as there was no problem then. This only happened one year so I think the conditions have to be just right to be a problem. As for using a cornhead, you have to buy some adapter plates to cut the stalks off to go on the cornhead. Not cheap and again, somewhat time consuming. Buying a row crop head is an option that works OK but you won't harvest as fast with them as you will with pans. I've never used these pans for confection flowers. I hope they'll work as I'm trying some confections this year. I think the key there is to get a decent stand so the flowers are not real thin so the stalk won't be quite a large. I can't hardly think that the stalks are going to be larger than 3" in diameter 3 or 4 feet above ground.

 

[Kurt]

Thanks for your post. What size of combine do you run and how big is your headIJ The reason I am asking is because I have located a 20' head and the cutter tells me that will be plenty for my R72 to make sure the rotar isn't overloaded and to not be able to clean them properly. This comes from a custom cutter that runs R72. Thanks Kurt

 

[Silver_Bullet]

I was running a 24' head on an N7 at the time in 1,000 to 1,800 n flowers running over 6 mph. This year it will be on an R62. I'd have to disagree with the custom harvestor on the size of the head. We found if you could keep the machine full we could clean the flowers better with less loss. I don't think you could keep it full enough with a 20' head but maybe you are in better flowersIJ

 

[hwy19farm]

I have a 300 series three 30 foot header I would sell. If you need pans I have 9" lucke pans to go with it. Header runs real smooth,nice srtaight head.$2500U.S. DOllARS 701-249 3550 Central North Dakota