Terry Belzer, Cando ND

Tramlines-leaving skips in our grain fields! Most of the time we try to avoid skips but on second thought maybe there is a place for them.

My first introduction to tramlines was in the early eighties when I rigged my air seeder for their application. I used them for several years before building a 112 foot sprayer and a year later a 30 foot seeder. Simple math tells you and I would have a hard time deciding what runs to tramline. Since '85 I have not used them; however, they may have a place in certain chemical applications.

We should be able to agree there is little if any savings in seed, etc. in blocking off a fun or two every 80 to 100 feet (multiples of your seeding width). We can also "see" easily preventing spray skips and overlaps. However, I remember a couple of years when crops were stressed early in the season by heat and drought, followed by ample moisture that allowed weeds to establish themselves in tramlines-causing harvest problems. We also have to think about laying a swath in tramlines-are we willing to not cut a till width on occasion? I also experienced some problems straight cutting durum and having it not feed properly because of tramlines?

For my present spraying operation, I get along fine without trams. Eye level when spraying is about 12 feet up, providing excellent visibility. I can make accurate U-turns at the headlands because my sprayer has a wheel 8 feet from each boom end, and it leaves a track easy to see on a 180 degree turn. My sprayer also has foam capability but I seldom use it, as I find trying to follow a foam trail 56 feet to the side is not easy.

In my opinion trams may or do have an advantage over foam or just eyeballing rows to follow in these circumstances: 1) If our airseeders solid seed as some boots do. 2) If we spray at night as some people advocate we should be doing-it is a must. 3) If we are going to spray 3-4 times in the same field-such as regular weed herbicide: then again at 70% heading for orange wheat blossom midge: and maybe again for fungicide. Pre-harvest Roundup also might add another pass through the field. Here trams would ease the job and assure accurate swaths.

I did not address the trampled crop topic as there are many variations in tram width, whether we have one or two trams, sprayer tire width, etc. All of these variations will have to be addressed by the individuals. I certainly would not advocate a tram width over 7-8 inches even if the sprayer tires are 15-18 inches in width. When I applied fungicide to winter wheat after heading I didn't find the trampled crop to be a problem. In the end, seeding equipment and sprayer rigs have to be compatible widths for trams to work. Also, if seeding equipment has a monitor for individual seed runs, then the tram run will have of be muted or bypassed to allow monitor to work.