Okay, so a while back I got this idea to put a flow monitor on my liquid fertilizer setup. I mean, it makes sense, right? You want to know what’s going on with your fertilizer, make sure it’s all flowing evenly across the planter. You don’t want any surprises when it’s go-time.
I started looking into it and, man, there are a lot of options out there! It’s kind of overwhelming, to be honest. I saw these redball monitors that seem pretty popular. They let you see each outlet’s flow individually. I got two of them for my setup. But then there’s also those electronic ones. I went down the rabbit hole to select a flow meter with various parameters, and it got my head spinning a bit.
Eventually, I figured I’d go with a simple setup, just to get my feet wet. I didn’t want to drop a ton of cash on something fancy if I wasn’t even sure how it would all work out. So, I grabbed some basic flow meters, the kind you can just eyeball, and hooked them up to my lines.
Here’s what I did:
- First, I mounted the flow meters on the planter where I could easily see them while I’m working.
- Then, I connected them into the fertilizer lines. I made sure to use smaller, quarter-inch tubing to help with any surging issues. Seemed like a good tip I found.
- Next, I ran some tests. I filled up the tank and ran the system, just to see how the fertilizer flowed through the meters.
It was pretty cool to watch, actually. I could see the liquid moving through each meter, and I could tell right away if one section was getting more or less than the others. It’s kind of like a visual confirmation that everything is working as it should.
Now, this is just my first go at it, and I’m sure there’s plenty more to learn. But I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It gives me some peace of mind knowing that I can monitor my fertilizer flow and hopefully avoid any issues when I’m out in the field. I might upgrade to a more high-tech system down the road, but for now, this simple setup is doing the trick!
I just want to share this, it is really not a big deal. I just hope it will give you some inspiration, or help you a bit. If you are like me and want to try this out, I would say just go for it! It is always fun to try things out and get your hands a bit dirty, right?
