backtothefarm.net

published 1/24/10
updated 2/10/10
Added new seed and roller information
updated 1/31/2011
Added information about Woodward Crossings.com

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Before we begin, please consider purchasing your Jang JP series seeder from Woodward Crossings. We pioneered the Jang brand and have developed supporting material to help our customers understand how to use the Jang seeders.
Here are some of those resources:

• FAQ (PDF) - Very thorough overview of the Jang JP series
• Woodward Crossings - Jang overview
• Photos - A Jang JP-3 in use on an organic farm
• Videos - A Jang JP-3 in use on an organic farm

About Woodward Crossings
Woodward Crossings offers superior service, a roller exchange program and knowledgeable representatives. They have worked with many growers over the years and have the knowledge to help you understand your options and match you with the right product. We see this as our competitive advantage when compared with first year reseller, Johnny's Seeds.

If you would like information and pricing on the larger JP series seeders, feel free to contact me directly at:

Let's Get Started
There are many rollers available for the Jang seeder. This post will explain more about rollers and how in combination with sprockets, a grower can adjust seed spacing.

Seed rollers available for the Jang Clean Seeder are specially designed with an anti-abrasion plastic. They are cylindrical drums approximately 3.5” in diameter and 1.5” high. Rollers are mounted in the bottom of the seed hopper. A brush and guide plate along with the roller in the bottom of the hopper is how seed is singulated. Each roller is designed with divots or slots around the perimeter that are machined to precise depth and width. To be consistent with the Jang literature, I'll refer to these for the rest of the article as “slots”. The number of slots and the dimensions of the slots are what distinguishes the rollers from each other.

Available Jang Rollers

I organized this matrix from information I found in Jang's literature and additional sources. I make no guarantees and I consider this a very rough organization of what I hope will become better as I learn more about the Jang Seeder. It does not include coated seeds and their corresponding roller. I hope to include that soon.

Name	Slot Size inches (MM)	Slot Shape	Usage:
A-6	17//32 (13.5)		Burdock
AA-6	15/32 (12)		Corn, Barley
C-6, C12	7/16 (11)		Wheat, Buckwheat, Bean-small
F-12, F-24	unknown		Spinich, Chinese Cabbage, Cabbage
G-6, G-12	23/64 (9)		Carrot-small, Radish-large, Snap Pea (G-12, request deep slot)
J-2, J-4, J-8	unknown		Cucumber
L-8, L-12			Radish-med, Onion
LJ-12	17/64 (7)		Okra, Spinich-med
M-6, M-12	13/64 (5)		Chinese Cabbage, Cabbage
MJ-6, MJ-12, MJ-24	15/64 (6) deep		Lettuce-coated, Cilantro, Onion-coated, Beets
MM-12, MM-24	15/64 (6)		Radish-small, Onion
N-6	unknown		Beans, Sweet Corn, Sunflowers
Q-6, Q-12	5/16 (8)		Radish-large, Field Corn
R-12, R-24	23/64 (9)		Spinich-small
S-4	unknown		Sweet Corn
U-4	unknown		Bean-large, Field Corn
X-4, X-6, X-12, X-24	5/32 (4)		Onion-raw, Carrot, Turnip, Chinese Cabbage, Cabbage, Mustard, Pak-Choi, Leaf Mustard
XY-12 XY-24	7/64 (2.5)	x shaped	Lettuce-raw, Pak-Choi, Leaf Mustard
XYY-12, XYY-24	unknown
Y-6, Y-12, Y-24	9/64 (3.5)		Cabbage, Broccoli, Brassica, Turnip-small, Chinese Cabbage, Cabbage, Mustard, Pakchoi, Leaf Mustard
YX-6	7/64 (2.5)
YYJ-6, YYJ-12	1/8 (3)		Basil
Z (BLANK)

Let us step back from the technical details of rollers and explore the subject through a practical scenario. A grower wishes to use his/her Jang seeder to plant carrots. They wish to space the carrots 2” apart in a row. The grower needs to match the seed to the appropriate roller type. Jang's literature indicates that roller type X has the appropriate slot dimensions to plant carrot seed. The X type roller has divots/slots that are 4mm or 5/32” wide. Now that the grower matched the seed to appropriate roller type, he/she needs to determine the number of slots the X roller should have to accomplish a 2” seed spacing. There are four different X-type rollers: X-4, X-6, X-12 and X-24. The numbers following the roller type indicate the number of slots each roller has. In order to choose the best roller, we need to understand the mechanics of the Jang seeder drive system. We'll choose the ideal roller for carrots spaced 2” apart a little later in this post.

The Jang seeder drive system is designed for an impressive amount of flexibility. Like anything engineered, more flexibility comes at the expense of simplicity. The Jang seeder ships with 6 sprockets to allow the grower to fine tune seed spacing. There are 4 extra sprockets mounted on the seeder. Each sprocket differs from another by the number of teeth.

A chain is mounted across these two sprockets much like a bicycle chain. The front sprocket is driven by the front wheel of the Jang seeder and transfers energy via the chain to the rear sprocket which in turn moves the roller(s) in the seed hopper. By swapping out sprockets in either front and/or rear, a grower can control seed spacing with great accuracy. It is important to note that the speed of the seeder and the quality of the soil can impact spacing as well. Below is a seed spacing chart for the Jang Clean Seeder.

Jang Clean Seeder Seed Spacing Chart
Number of Teeth in Each Sprocket
Rear Sprocket		14	14	13	13	11	11	10	11	10	10	9
Front Sprocket		9	10	10	11	10	11	11	13	13	14	14
Number of slots in roller	3 slots	20.08	18.11	16.93	15.35	14.17	12.99	11.81	11.02	9.84	9.06	8.27
	4 slots	14.96	13.78	12.6	11.42	10.63	9.84	9.05	8.27	7.48	7.09	6.3
	6 slots	10.23	9.06	8.27	7.48	7.09	6.3	5.91	5.51	5.12	4.72	4.33
	12 slots	5.12	4.72	4.33	3.94	3.54	3.15	2.76	2.76	2.36	2.36	1.97
	24 slots	2.5	2	2	1.5	1.5	1.5	1	1	1	1	0.5

With this new understanding we can return to finding the best roller for planting carrots 2” apart. We've already determined that we'll need the X type roller. There are 4 types of X rollers: X-4, X-6, X-12 and X-24. Using the above spacing chart we can see that 12 and 24 slot roller will give us a 2” spacing. If you're wondering which roller to buy: it depends on what you intend to plant. With regard to the X type roller, ask yourself, how often will you want to plant closer than 2”? If the answer to that is not often, consider purchasing the X-12 roller since the low end of that roller is 2” with a top end spacing of 5”.

If you found this information helpful, support this site by buying seeders and rollers from Woodwardcrossings.com. Mention that you heard about them from backtothefarm.net.