M G Sutton
My grandfather first tried direct drilling with a disc drill in the 1970’s with varying success. My father then tried in the early 1990’s with another disc drill, again with mixed results. Over the last 15 years I have tried a more tine approach but again results have been inconsistent. Closing the slot with either a disc or a tine direct drill of any make is the issue on clay soils with high magnesium levels. Open slots either fill with water drowning the seed, or dry out depending on weather after drilling. They also exacerbate slug issues. The Triton direct drill is the only drill I have used that closes the seeding tine slot. For me the closing blade on the Triton is the best on the market and has now given us the option of direct drilling high magnesium clay soils, when appropriate. It’s a true all rounder direct drill on both cultivated and none cultivated soils.
John Hedges & Sons
We had always hoped that someone would make a drill like the Triton for our heavy land farm, we liked it so much we bought the prototype which has proved its worth and has moved us forward as hoped and expected. Great drill, great potential, good luck.
T B Fairey and Sons
Our steepest, most awkward field had not ploughed very well, consequently getting spring beans in during a wet spell proved too much for our 6 metre drill. A neighbour suggested trying the Triton drill which did the job admirably, we got a crop and would recommend the machine in heavy conditions.
Guy Stanley
The first season with the Triton drill proved how well it would cope with wet late conditions. This season, naturally totally different from last year has shown that given good stubble management (which need not be expensive) how well it managed with direct drilling in a variety of weather and soil types.
Jerry DeeNational Crop Protection Company
295ha of first wheat following oilseed rape was direct drilled with the two 6m resident direct drills in 2015, the first autumn of acquisition of the Wellingborough farm. 97ha was lost to slugs, this was re-drilled and again written off due to relentless slug pressure. Losses including labour, machinery, seed, pre emergence herbicide and 3 applications of slug pellets were in the region of £200/ha in addition to the reduced output from the spring crops which followed.(spring barley and peas were also full of black grass)

Year 2 where all first wheat was following pulses and slug pressure was less than year 1, lost crop due to slugs and blackgrass pressure still amounted to 22ha.(and very poor yields crops that were covered in blackheads but we couldn’t afford to write them off)

Year 3, autumn 2017 when just one 4m Triton drill was used no wheat crop was lost to slug. This was due to improved seed soil contact, consolidation without compaction from the closing tines restricting the slugs ability to traverse the seed slot. Emergence rate was noticeably faster even in the delayed drilling regime. A saving was made on slug pellet applications and blackgrass pressure was noticeably reduced due to less soil disturbance through the profile. (Yield av went up to 3.5t/ac milling wheat in a drought and some black grass)

(2018 autumn, whole 1050 acres drilled with one 6m Triton between Oct 25th and Nov 10th. No spring crops in rotation. All crops clear of black grass at present but early days)

(words in brackets – Simon Chaplin – Triton Seed Drills)

Jonathon ArbonCambridgeshire
A combination of ill health, diabolical weather, and quite the dirtiest crop of beans it has been my privilege to grow resulted in my just about managing to plough the last 30 acres. Beyond that I was stumped as it had to be done in one pass. Step forward the Triton drill, job done in one pass as promised! It’s all up despite more bad weather. Brilliant!
Ian FrostNorthampton
So far we have drilled almost 400 ha with the Triton sp drill . Seed placement has been good with closing tines doing a good job of closing the drill slot and giving good seed/soil contact. Triton has allowed us to delay winter wheat drilling into November through to December and as a result blackgrass plant numbers have been dramatically reduced. A good low cost, low maintenance drill ideally suited to our heavy land.
Simon Chaplinfounder Triton Seed Drills Ltd
Over the last five years we have tried most current seeding systems on five arable farms from Kelso to Cambridge. Our experience in Kelso was of wet, late harvests on medium land with brutal stone damage to our seed drills. In Cambridge and Northants we were faced with carpets of resistant black-grass on heavy clay. We had reverted to scrapping our worst autumn drilled crops and then re-drilling spring crops, which also filled up with grass weeds. We designed the Triton Seed Drill in collaboration with engineers from Cambridge and a machinery fabrications company in the Midlands where the seed drills are made. The result is an exceptional and unique seed drill. The Triton will drill all farmland in any conditions. The transformation that Triton has brought to our farms is the most significant change that I have witnessed in farming since the dawn of resistant black-grass 25 years ago. I recommend that anyone in farming visits one of the Triton farming units to see the results.