Whether you’re a commercial cotton grower or just trying your hand at this crop, at some point you’ll need to harvest it. The best way to do so for most operations is to bring in a mechanical harvester. This will quickly and inexpensively harvest your cotton crop. After all, harvesting cotton by hand is back-breaking work, typically involving hauling up to 70-lb bags in the blazing hot sun. However, like all machines, harvesters will need regular maintenance and repairs.
Knowing something about cotton harvester parts is a good first step. Or, you may choose to go the old-fashioned route and pick the cotton by hand. Read on to find out how to best prepare for the next cotton harvest:
Harvest time: The season begins in July in the south and extends all the way to November in the north. It becomes clear that the cotton should be harvested when the bolls open up, exposing the fluffy white cotton beneath. Harvest time lasts for about six weeks. If you choose to harvest by hand, you’re going to need thick gloves to protect your hands from the razor-sharp bolls, which can cause serious injury.
How to pick the cotton: Grasp the cotton ball at the base and twist and remove it from the boll and drop it in a bag. Not all the cotton will be ready to harvest at the same time, so leave immature plants for another day.
Separating by hand: Now you can spread all the cotton out in a cool, dark area. Make sure it’s also well ventilated so that the cotton can dry. Once this process is complete, the cotton’s ready to use.
Of course, picking cotton by hand is laborious and inadvisable. Instead, consider purchasing or renting a cotton harvester. These machines include a wide range of parts and components to function, including:
Row unit: This claw-like fixture sticks out of the front and includes spindles that are used to snatch the cotton plants. They typically come in six or 10 row units.
Doffers: These are used to remove the picked cotton from the spindle. They rotate very quickly, removing cotton and debris from the slower-rotating spindles.
Moistening system: This is used to facilitate cleaning the cotton. It’s essential for the cotton to be moistened and cleaned so that the machine doesn’t become clogged with debris and grime.
Are you looking for a reliable provider of cotton harvester parts? Then you’ve come to the right place. At Certi-Pik, USA, we fabricate replacement parts for picking units and offer a broad list of specialty items and sheet metal parts for rebuilding units, including cam tracks, drumheads, spindles and spindle nuts, picker and grid bars, slip clutches, lubrication hoses, stalk lifters, idler gears, CTX scrapping plates, CTX pressure doors and more!
Find out why we’re the leader in a wide range of farming equipment. Contact Certi-Pik, USA today to receive up to 50 percent savings on quality replacement parts for your John Deere or Case IH Cotton Harvesters!
With all of the action that skip row planters get each planting season, it is expected that issues will come up from time to time, with older planters being particularly vulnerable to any number of various operational malfunctions. Fortunately, your local cotton harvester parts company is here with a guide to some of the most common maintenance issues, large and small, to be on the lookout for, so that you are able to keep your skip row planter in optimal condition:
Drill shaft bearings: Special attention must be paid to the drill shaft bearings, as they can quietly cause a whole host of problems. If the drill shaft has become stiff, it will jerk excessively, causing sporadic and uneven seed distribution in the rows. If the shaft is frozen or locked up, the seed meter will likely stop working altogether.
Row cleaners: The row cleaner is another area of the planter that can eventually fall prey to the effects of heavy usage. The coulter blade will become dull over time, reducing both the effectiveness and diameter of the part. Alternatively, the tine on tined row cleaners can either become too short or too thin, directly affecting your planter’s ability to efficiently clear the row. When the tine wears short, there is less space between the tips and the hubs, which can lead to difficulty clearing solid objects such as rocks or root bulbs. When the tine becomes thin, it bends easily and won’t form the mesh needed to correctly collect and drag the dirt.
Check the connections: While you are making sure that all of the larger components are in good shape, don’t forget to check on some of the smaller items that are just as important to the operation of your machine. For example, there may be either zip ties or electrical tape that keep the wires away from all of the planter’s moving parts. Over time, these connections can either loosen or become brittle, freeing up the wires to potentially get pinched or snapped while the machine is in motion. With the positioning of the wiring disrupted, the sensor’s readings may be off, affecting the planting of an individual row or multiple rows.
Suction doors: In addition to sustaining a significant amount of wear as the doors open and close, the rubber seals on a closed vacuum meter door can create grooves in the seed plates. This can lead to problems with both the door and the seed disk.
To avoid downtime that could be damaging to your operations and ultimately your bottom line, you will need to make sure that all of the necessary maintenance is tended to regularly, especially if your planter is more than 10 years old. Fortunately, Certi-Pik, USA has exactly what you need to keep your planter going all season long. We specialize in high-quality replacement parts that have been put through a rigorous quality control process. To browse our extensive inventory of reliable skip row planter parts, make sure you give us a call today.
While harvesting losses are common, and in some cases out of your control, making sure that your cotton picker is in top shape is one way to ensure that you are able to produce a high enough yield to offset some of this loss. In order to do this, you will need to invest in high-quality cotton picker parts to buoy the type of efficiency needed to get that maximum yield. Here is a list of just a few of the parts you can target to improve the effectiveness of your cotton picker:
Spindles: The spindles are critical to efficient cotton picker performance, making the investment in high-quality versions a necessity. Because they are used so frequently in normal day-to-day operations, it is necessary that you use spindles that have been heat-treated so that they have the durability and strength needed to withstand high usage during the harvesting season.
Lubricant: One of the simplest ways to improve the operation of your cotton picker is to make sure that all of its moving parts remain sufficiently lubricated. Without proper lubrication, the internal parts will eventually begin grinding against each other, leading to detrimental wear and tear and causing the parts to deteriorate much faster than they otherwise would. In addition to helping to extend the life of the parts, making sure there is enough lubrication can also provide protection against premature corrosion and rusting.
Brush kit: The rotary brush is responsible for keeping the roller belt free of excessive cotton buildup, directly affecting how efficient your picker will be. In addition to making sure that the brush itself is still in good condition, you will also want to make sure you have a brush kit to keep the area clear for optimal picking.
Doffers: Standard tractor doffers are made of rubber material. Making the switch to urethane doffers will not only offer extended shelf life, but will also help to maximize efficiency, with fewer doffer column adjustments needed and a much cleaner pick.
Moistening system: In order for all of these moving parts to remain clear so that they can continue to get the job done, the moistening system must be able to efficiently keep the spindles clean. It is very easy for the spindles to get junked up while completing this integral task, hindering the overall efficiency of the picker.
When you are in need of top-of-the-line replacement cotton picker parts from the best brands in the industry, make sure to contact the team at Certi-Pik, USA. Whether you are on the hunt for a specialty part to complete a rebuild, or you are looking for a standard part to keep your machine running, you can rely on our team to provide you with the high-quality cotton picker replacement parts needed for another successful harvesting season. With more than 30 years of experience, we are well versed in a wide range of various cotton picker makes and models. Give us a call today to learn more about our extensive inventory!
Cotton farmers generally begin the planting season by late April in most places around the United States, though that can vary slightly from region to region. At the start of each season, it’s important for all cotton farmers, no matter the size of their operation, to make sure their equipment is ready to get the job done as efficiently as possible, and to engage in thorough planning to aid in that process.
Here are some of the things to consider at the start of each cotton planting season.
Maintenance
Take care of all the basic maintenance issues for your planting equipment early in the season, before you actually get out into the fields. Double check all the bearings, discs, vacuum systems, chains and plates on your planters to make sure none of them are damaged and that everything is in good working order. If you do have any cotton picker parts that are damaged or have some significant wear and tear on them, then it’s important to replace them as soon as possible, before you begin planting. This will help ensure you complete the planting process with efficiency and precision.
Be sure to check the seed tubes. In some cases, these can get plugged up as a result of a buildup of debris and insects. Take whatever steps are necessary to make sure those delivery tubes are clean, allowing for a free flow of seeds. Otherwise you run the risk of not getting the seeds planted with the proper distribution, which could make for a poor crop.
Analyze the fields
Before you begin planting, you should perform a careful and thorough assessment of each field. The variations in the soil and moisture can affect how you adjust your planter. It’s important to have a good seed-to-moist-soil contact level, especially in the zone immediately surrounding the seed you plant. If there’s too much dry soil that gets removed from the planting zone, then there’s a good chance you could experience some hard crust forming behind the planter, especially if you’re dealing with environmental challenges such as wind, high temperatures and low humidity that already dry out the soil.
This isn’t as much of an issue with today’s planters as it used to be, but it’s still something you’re going to want to take into consideration. You can adjust by making sure the soil is properly moist at about a couple inches deep. Otherwise you’ll find it harder to get a good planting for the year.
Another environmental consideration to keep in mind is the temperature of the soil at the time of your planting. A good standard is to look for a soil temperature of 65 degrees at about four inches below the surface.
For more information about what you should analyze before you begin the process of planting your cotton and how you can prepare your equipment and ensure you have all the necessary cotton picker parts for the process, we encourage you to contact the experts at Certi-Pik, USA today!
Regular cleaning and servicing of your cotton picker parts will help ensure the long-lasting quality performance of the machinery. It’s important to stay on top of your ongoing maintenance all season long to get reliable operation out of your equipment. Here are just a few tips to help you accomplish this.
Check fluids
Before you start your cotton picker’s engine for the first time each day, you should do a quick check of some of the most important fluid levels in the machine, including engine oil and coolant. Like with any other type of machine, it’s important to change the oil as needed so you can be sure the engine is properly lubricated and that it doesn’t work harder than it needs to. Changing your oils produces better efficiency and better results.
Washing
Washing your cotton picker with water is one of the easiest ways to keep it clean. You can use either low- or high-pressure washing solutions.
Low-pressure water from your own hose or other convenient water systems can help you spray debris away from the row units. This is an effective method of cleaning those units off, but if you have larger, multiple-row pickers, it might take a pretty good chunk of time to get this job done. It will also get the ground wet around the picker, which could turn into a safety issue if you’re not careful.
You can use a pressure washer to even more effectively remove debris and grease in row units. This is much faster than hand washing or using low-pressure washing solutions, but you need to be careful that you don’t damage the machinery at all with the high-pressure water stream. If you’re not careful with how you use the pressure washer, you could damage seals, mess with some of the wiring or even push dirt and water down into some important bearings and other parts of the machine. In addition, you should always wear protective gear any time you’re using a pressure washer with a picker. Protective eyewear and clothing can help you avoid issues caused by splash back. Never, ever direct a pressure washer toward people or animals.
Air cleaning
You can also clean your cotton picker parts with pressurized air. High-volume and high-pressure air can be quite effective at removing buildup of debris and lint from your cotton picker, and lower-volume compressors can also be effective in some situations with the proper type of nozzle. The volume you use influences the cleaning power.
With any of the above methods of cleaning or servicing a cotton picker, be sure to wear protective equipment, including gloves, boots, eyewear, long pants and long-sleeve shirts, hearing protection, a dust mask and a respirator. Once you’ve finished cleaning the picker chassis, you can clean the lights, cab glass and other cotton picker parts as needed.
To learn more about the steps you should take to keep your cotton picker in great condition all year long, we encourage you to contact the team at Certi-Pik, USA today with any questions.
