Sowing on narrow VF-culture tires or wide 1050 tires?

VF-culture tires under the tractor. But what works best: sowing and planting on wide 1050 tires or narrow VF-culture tires? - Photo: Roel Dijkstra.

VF technology has also made its way into culture tires. These VF (Very Flexible)-culture tires, with their higher load capacity at the same tire pressure, can serve as an alternative to wide tires for certain applications. But which is better: sowing and planting on wide 1050 tires or narrow VF-culture tires?

Sowing or planting in untraveled soil is the ideal starting point for a good crop. This favors using a tractor on VF-culture tires during sowing and planting to fully protect the seedbed. However, over the years, tractors have become larger, and machines heavier. The limited load capacity of narrow culture tires makes it difficult or even impossible to sow or plant on narrow tires.

On wide 1050 tires without leaving tracks

The introduction of wide tires with flexible carcasses, which also have sufficient load capacity to operate at low pressure (well below 1 bar), provided a solution. These 1050 tires made it possible to drive straight over the seed or planting bed on wide tires without excessive soil compaction and without leaving a track. If such a tire also has sufficient load capacity at low pressure to transport the combination at high speed on the road, then all problems are basically solved.

However, although many users are satisfied with the use of wide tires, there are still some comments. One spring is not the same as another, and one soil type is not the same as another. Despite their low ground pressure, wide 1050 tires sometimes still leave visible tracks. In onions, this can lead to some irregularity in emergence. In a dry spring with emergence issues, onions sometimes emerge slightly earlier in the tracks of the wide tires due to slightly higher capillary action. This irregularity makes chemical weed control more difficult.

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Sowing onions on 3 meters with wide 1050 tires. Farmer Mark Geling uses wide 1050 tires to sow onions on 3-meter-wide beds. The front axle of his tractor is equipped with culture tires set at a 3-meter track width to create defined beds. – Photo: Ton Kastermans

More load capacity with VF-culture tires

Sowing on narrow VF-culture tires or wide 1050 tires? There is something to be said for both. The major limitation of a narrow tire is its lower load capacity. The air volume largely determines the load a tire can carry at a certain pressure. The result is that a culture tire for a heavy load must be inflated to a significantly higher pressure than a wide tire. Deflating for less ground pressure is then often no longer an option. VF-culture tires offer a solution. Compared to a conventional tire, VF-culture tires can carry 40% more weight at the same pressure. Conversely, VF tires can handle higher speeds without increasing tire pressure if the weight remains constant.

However, there are other limitations besides how much weight a tire can handle at low pressure. For spring work, the tire pressure often goes well below 1 bar. For VF-culture tires, 0.6 or 0.7 bar is not uncommon, and in many cases, the tires can handle it. When turning on the headland, the tires can be pushed off the rim, making inflating necessary.

Future Farming spoke to two users who recently made significant investments in tires for spring sowing. Contractor Jaco Poldervaart consciously moved away from wide tires and switched to VF-culture tires. Farmer Mark Geling, on the other hand, chose to swap culture tires for wide tires. Each made their choice based on their specific circumstances, as each situation is different and requires a tailored solution.

Farmer moves from VF-Culture tires to wide 1050 tires

Dutch farmer Mark Geling made the switch from VF-culture tires to wide 1050 tires last spring for sowing beets and onions.

Geling sows both crops with a 3-meter-wide sowing machine. He grows onions on 3-meter-wide, flat beds, and harvesting is done with a 3-meter-wide self-propelled harvester, which requires super-flat sowing work. That’s why he combines onion sowing with a light treatment using a rotary harrow.

Previously, onions were sown with a WKM implement carrier, which was on culture wheels with a 3-meter track width. “A relatively light vehicle, but because of the 3-meter system, every track is driven over twice during sowing. This causes too much rutting on our soil in,” Geling explains. This is not always ideal for the onions next to the tracks. The culture wheels with VF-culture tires did not seem the right solution for his situation. Even when the surface looks nice and gray, the clay in our region remains low in load-bearing capacity and prone to compaction underneath. Driving twice over the same track is just too much.

Arable farmer Mark Geling. – Photo: Ton Kastermans

Two years ago, Geling switched to a lightweight tractor, a 4-ton three-cylinder and the lightest tractor on the farm, to sow using dual tires. However, this wasn’t ideal either. The tires were too close together to reduce tire pressure significantly, and they had 4-centimeter-high lugs. Despite the low tire pressure, the lugs still pressed into the ground, which was noticeable in the sowing results. After consulting with tire dealer Bevri in Zeewolde, this year he installed a set of Michelin 1050 tires with only a 2-centimeter tread under a 4,800 kg MF 5713 tractor. “They run at 0.55 bar, almost like driving on flat tires. Going too far down with tire pressure can backfire because the tire then relies too much on its flanks, which doesn’t distribute the pressure evenly. But it worked out really well: you could hardly see where the tractor had been. The beets and onions emerged evenly.”

Culture tires on the front axle

It seems contradictory to switch to wide tires, but during onion sowing, the front axle of the tractor runs on culture tires with a 3-meter track width. These create a slight track, which makes harvesting with the 3-meter-wide self-propelled harvester easier. A roller mounted in the front lift evenly presses the soil over the entire width. “The goal is not compaction, but firming the soil. Zero pressure on the ground is not always ideal,” Geling notes. For example, soil insects thrive in very loose soil. The root centipede, for instance, stops at the spray path, as Geling has observed. Soil care has long been a priority on his farm. Avoiding driving over the same track twice has become a strategy. During the harvest of beets and potatoes, the trailer no longer enters the field.”

Contractor trades wide tires for VF-culture tires

Poldervaart Contracting put a Case IH Maxxum 150 on narrow VF-culture tires for onion sowing two years ago. Poldervaart doesn’t want to go back to the wide 1050 tires used previously.

Jaco Poldervaart of Poldervaart Contracting put a Case IH Maxxum 150 on narrow VF-culture tires for onion sowing two years ago. Poldervaart doesn’t want to go back to the wide 1050 tires used previously. Poldervaart sows onions on three beds of 2.25 meters with a Monosem precision sowing machine, a fairly heavy machine that performs excellently in terms of sowing quality. However, in dry conditions, onions in the compressed track often germinated a bit earlier. Switching back to narrow tires seemed not an option due to the risk of too much rutting.

Jaco Poldervaart, Poldervaart Contracting. – Foto: Roel Dijkstra

Poldervaart found the solution by combining culture tires with an Agribrink air pressure change system. He opted for VF-culture tires: Alliance VF 354, 320/105 R50 rear, and 320/85 R38 front. These tires are inflated to 0.7 bar during sowing, which flattens them considerably in length. The tires flatten significantly in length. If you were to lift the sowing machine with 0.7 bar of air pressure in the tires, the tractor would immediately ride on the rims. That’s a mistake you definitely want to avoid. Therefore, when turning on the headland, the pressure is increased to 1.4 bar. With the Agribrink air pressure exchange system mounted in the front lift, this takes less than 10 seconds. About 10 to 15 meters before the headland, you activate the system, and you can turn at 1.4 bar without pressing the tires off the rims. After turning, lowering the pressure from 1.4 to 0.7 bar takes just a few seconds.

Some rutting

Lowering the tire pressure to 0.7 bar reduces rutting by about 3 to 4 centimeters. Two years ago, the spring was drier than this year. At that time, there were almost no visible tracks. This year, due to the later sowing in the wet spring and the different soil conditions, there was a bit more rutting. Since it’s difficult to completely avoid rutting on narrow, inflated tires (especially when turning on the headland), extra attention is required when sowing ridges. “With wide 1050 tires, you can get away with a steering mistake because you won’t see much of it,” Jaco explains. “On narrow tires, you need to make the right turn in one go to avoid leaving unnecessary tracks.”

He also uses the tractor for harvesting, but with narrower, 270-millimeter-wide culture tires underneath, which have a more rounded profile. “The Alliance VF 354 tires are excellent for sowing, but they have a very square profile. Combined with the 6-centimeter wider width, this causes some damage to the onions during harvesting.” For road transport, the VF tires are inflated to 2.5 bar. Compared to the 1050 tires, you remain narrower, which is a practical advantage. Overall, the switch has worked out very well, Jaco says. “We probably wouldn’t have taken on this venture with conventional tires.”