Section 2: Operating Procedures
FPS48 Plot Ranger Food Plot Seeder 322-118M
12/7/18
16
General Operating Instructions
Before putting your Land Pride FPS48 Plot Ranger into
service you must thoroughly review the Operator’s
Manual. Once you have read the Operator’s Manual and
properly set up your Land Pride Plot Ranger system and
attached it to the vehicle you intend to pull it with, you
should be ready to head for the planting site. You should
have already removed any sizable tree limbs, rocks, or
extraneous debris, and should have mowed any tall
grass or weeds. You might have already plowed this area
previously in preparation for planting. Do not attempt to
disc wet or mucky soil and all areas should be well
drained and capable of being walked on without having
the soil stick to your shoes.
The disc can be lowered to the ground with either the
manual ratchet lever or the optional 12 volt linear actuator
with electrical lead. Discing action will commence as
soon as the unit is lowered to the ground and you begin to
pull the unit forward. You will need to make sure you raise
the transport wheels high enough to allow for adequate
disc penetration. Your travel speed forward will be
determined by soil conditions, depth of penetration, and
available horsepower of the pulling vehicle. Never try to
disc in reverse and when you reach the end of a pass,
either raise the unit up on the transport wheels, or make
a wide sweeping turn to realign for the next pass. Turning
too sharply with the disc in the ground will cause extreme
side loading on the discs that could result in damage.
Disc gang adjustments may be required to make discing
and cultivation action more or less aggressive. This is
achieved by raising the disc into transport position,
pulling the locking pins, and making the required
adjustments to the front and rear gangs. The Operator’s
Manual illustrates this process very clearly.
Ground conditions and the seedbed finish you require will
determine how you position the angles of your front and
rear disc gangs. Both of the front and rear disc gangs
have four angle adjustment positions. The more
aggressive you set the angle of the gangs, the more
aggressive the cutting action in the soil profile will be. The
more aggressive the cutting action is, the more
horsepower will be required to pull your unit. Achieving
the desired effect may require a little experimentation in
your given conditions. If the soil is building up on or
sticking to your discs, then the soil is to wet and discing
operations should be discontinued until the ground is
drier and more workable.
Once you are satisfied that you have achieved the right
finish, it’s time to determine what your spin spreader
settings need to be. Land Pride has furnished you with
the seed rate charts that provides suggested settings for
eleven of the most popular types of seeds typically used
in wild game food plots. We have also provided
suggested guidelines for distribution of fertilizers,
gypsum, and lime. Due to the wide number of
possibilities and variables that can and do come into play
when planting, fertilizing, or making soil amendments,
Land Pride makes absolutely no guarantees or
warranties with respect to fertilizer applications, or
actual seed distribution and germination rates
.
Initial calibration and set up of the seeder mechanism
should be accomplished with no seed in the hopper.
Using the rate charts you will need to determine which
one of the six position settings you will need to use. You
do need to determine whether or not you will need to use
the restrictor plate in the seed gate opening. You will also
need to determine what your forward travel speed needs
to be. We highly recommend the use of a global
positioning device (GPS) to help maintain your actual
ground speed when planting. To calibrate your seeder
metering system connect your power cable to a 12 volt
receptacle. Turn the power on. Now hold down on the off
button and press the on button momentarily to
synchronize the controller with the seed gate. While in
the calibration mode, the lights will flash rapidly. Once
calibration is complete, the lights will go out and the gate
will close. The unit is now ready for operation.
Press the + positive or - negative control button until the
red light is on directly below the position setting you want.
Now when you hit the off button, the seed gate in the
hopper will close and you can safely put seed in the
hopper.
When you hit the on button, the seed gate will now
automatically open to the position setting you have
chosen and spinner will begin rotating and distributing
seed. At that time you should also be traveling at the
ground speed you have preselected for the proper
distribution rate, you should have the disc on the ground
in working position, and the fluted roller/packer should be
flipped down in working position to help achieve
maximum seed to soil contact. When you hit the off button
again the seed gate will automatically close and the
spinner will stop. If you need to adjust the seed rate up or
down this can be done at any time by simply pushing the
negative or positive control buttons to change the
indicated position settings. This seeder has some
minimal overlap which will generally result in a more
uniform stand between adjacent planting passes.
Once you are finished using your Plot Ranger, park it on
a dry and level surface, clean it, and make it ready for the
next use. Never leave seed, fertilizer, or any other
materials in the hopper or serious damage to the seed
metering system could result. Put the lid on the seed
hopper and store the electronic lead controls in a clean
and dry manner. Attaching and detaching the ball or pin
type pull hitch can be easily accomplished by lowering
the disc to the ground and slightly raising the transport
wheels to achieve neutral or slightly negative tongue
weight. Be careful not to achieve to much negative
tongue weight or the hitch could jump quickly upward
when released from the hitch With a little practice you
will be able to achieve excellent results from your Land
Pride Plot Ranger. See
“Features and Benefits”
section
or
“Product Specifications”
for additional information
and performance enhancing options.
