Chapin 8701B Garden Push Seeder Planter with 6 Seed Plates for up to 20 Varieties of Seeds, Zinc Plow Blade, Row Marker, Powder Coated Steel Frame, Red/Black

I plant about a quarter acre of sunflowers and other flowers for my bees. The sunflowers haven't flowered yet but those rows of sunflowers were planted using this seeder. THE DIRT HAS TO BE TILLED and once the dirt is prepared it works so well. There is a learning curve on how fast you push ratio to how close the seeds are. This little machine saved me hours and my back, it is lightweight. I am a late 60s shorter woman and no problems using it. It was not hard to assemble and I really love it.

This product worked like a charm! I'm a new-to-farming-Gen-X "oldster" and needed a foolproof way of planting my flower seeds...sunflower, dahlias, zinnias, peonies and wildflowers. Each seed comes in so many different sizes so the easy to switch out discs were a breeze to use. I'm not even joking when it comes to using this thing. I'm about 5'7 and out-of-shape and pushing the Chapin Seed Planter was easy, the occasional rock or two in the soil might slow down progress but most rocks the wheel just ran right on over and kept on going. I wasn't strained, nor did I ever have to fight with this Planter, I thought it was a bit flimsy out of the box but really it's a magnificent device designed to save your back and your soul. Who knew? I had help from my 13 year old assembling the handle, which helps with two people but one person could do it alone. I think overall for the value, the time saved by not having to bend over and move row to row is truly what makes this nifty little seed planter so great. Can't imagine I'd be able to walk if I had to do it all by hand. Save your back and some money.

this seeder does not seed some smaller seeds uniformaly it skips for 3-4 feet and the starts seeding again. the seeder seems to be built well and easy to adjust it's made of alot of plastic.

I plant a couple acre garden. I live in the desert SW and plant on furrows and flood irrigate. I bought this planter to plant the areas where the tractor planter is a little difficult to get to. Assembly was super easy and it seems to be built decent. When I used the planter the angle of the handle causes the front wheel to push into the ground and it stops turning. I have to walk along the side of the planter to keep lift on the front tire to keep it turning. The planter doesn't work very well in ground that has not been tilled very fine. If you moldboard, chisel plow and disc harrow, the clumps that are left are too big and get caught between the front wheel and row opener. If there is any plant residue left over it also gets caught in the row opener. The seed discs work decent but have difficulty lifting seeds when the hopper gets close to empty, additionally small seeds like radish spinach etc find their way between the seed disc and the hopper sidewall. Not sure if these issues are this planter specifically or user error but it'll get the job done with some patience.

I had another seeder similar to this in the past, but it did not do well in my soil. On that one, the part that cuts the soil was not pointed, so it dragged a lot of larger chunks and made a mess. This one, the part that cuts the groove to put the seeds in, is a nice cutting angle, the seeds go in great, the plates work well for many different seeds, and the follow up is spring loaded and pulls the groove back in on itself, then the back wheel firms it in perfectly. The wheels are plenty wide enough to do the job easily. I was able to seed a 12,000 square foot garden in a very short time. Took me longer to decide what to plant, than it did to get it planted

Well....seemed like a good purchase for the price point. I originally bought this to plant sunflowers. Box came pretty beat up so that made me pretty concerned that the parts inside were broken or missing. HOWEVER when I was trying to install the row attachment, I noticed the chute that goes from the hopper to the cutter where the seed is inserted to the ground wasn't even in the hole in the base of the frame. Could this have been from the rough shipping???? maybe but there are two bolts on both sides of the base plate and this thing was stuck on one of the bolt heads. This was probably due to manufacturing (China) and very poor-quality control. I was ready to just to send back but I needed to get this field planted so I decided to take the chute apart and see if I could move it over into the hole. Had to take 6-8 screws out and remove the bolt on the bottom to move the chut into the hole. All this to say it did work and I was able to get this back to together and get my sunflower field planted. It worked well and was easy to use. See if it holds up. Only tested with sunflower seeds. NOTE: have your soil prepared or this will not work correctly, and you don't want debris (grass, weeds etc) in the dirt because this stuff will clog the cutter and part that pulls dirt back over the seed and you will have to keep stopping. I would rake that stuff out before planting. Crappy assembly and poor-quality control is the reason for my low rating!

My garden has never been happier since I started using the Chapin 8701B Seeder Planter. It's a real game-changer for planting different seeds at once. The zinc plow blade and row marker are so handy for precise seeding. I've been recommending it all around the neighborhood. Yesterday, while I was planting, I heard someone whistling in the hallway. Such a pleasant surprise!

They say you get what you pay for. So when I paid very little for this seeder, I honestly did not expect much. But after a very easy assembly, I put it to the test and planted 1/4 acre corn at 1.5" depth into clayey loam. The front wheel is adequately tracked and the adjustable drive belt stays tight! The spring loaded furrow burier is suprisingly more efficient at covering than the standard drag chain of other brands. I love the extra-wide rear wheel that gently compacts the row leaving a perfect rut to track your row straightness plus a low spot for rain accumulation. The adjustable side arm row marker disc also is way better than the drag marker you get with other brands. The disc keeps up with you with no resistance! Best, the comfort grips are a huge advantage when doing large gardens. Only downside is the limited seed options you have in the seed plates provided, but I found that you can find the right size one and tape over excess openings to get the spacing you need. Great product. Probably the best in the $100 class.