Food plots can sometimes look mangy or uneven. This might happen for a number of reasons such as bad seed, defective seeding or inefficient spreading equipment.

However, a few more likely causes may be poor germination, poor soil preparation or poor soil-to-seed contact at planting. This is especially true with small seeds like clover. Those problems result from not using a well-made cultipacker.

Cultipackers are heavy, cylindrical instruments that roll over the ground after the seeds are planted or broadcast onto the soil. The cultivator compresses the soil slightly and pushes the seeds into contact with the soil. The cultipacker also helps prevent small seeds from washing away if a heavy rain occurs after planting, and if a rain doesn't occur, the slight soil compression helps the soil retain the moisture it had at planting time.

Ranew's Outdoor Equipment - makers of the Firminator -knows that hunters who are putting in food plots have a lot riding on the outcome of the operation. In addition to their time investment, their management goals and hunting plans depend on success. That's why Firminator line gives hunters and land managers a number of quality cultipacker options.

Those options start with the Firminator itself. The Firminator combines a heavy-duty disc harrow, a true agricultural-grade cultipacker and a precision ground-drive seed system in one system.

It's a simple all-in-one system that discs the ground, puts the seeds in at the depth you choose, and then packs the ground to assure good seed-to-soil contact. It's everything you need to put in a food plot. The Firminator is available in several versions that can be pulled by an ATV or a tractor, depending on what equipment best suits your needs and budget.

Each Firminator comes standard with 9-inch diameter cultipacker wheels, and are now available with a 16-inch diameter upgrade. The 9-inch cultipacker wheels work well for many soil types, but the 16-inch diameter wheels can be critical in looser, sandy soils. The larger wheels easily roll over looser soils that tend to flow up and over the standard wheel. In addition, the 16-inch wheels add weight and surface area to allow the Firminator's Accu-Seed system to function properly in all soil types.

If you already have the equipment you need to cultivate and seed, but aren't happy with your current cultipacker (or just don't own one) the Firminator line has several stand-alone cultipacker options.

Their heavy-duty stand-alone cultipacker comes in standard and professional models. The standard model features 9-inch, heavy-duty, cast-iron cultipacker wheels, high-speed greasable bearings, and category 1 and 2 hitch pins. The professional model comes with upgraded 16-inch cast iron cultipacker wheels to create the best seed to soil contact possible, and a super firm packed seed bed. Both models are built of the same heavy 3-inch square tubing that is used in constructing the frames of their Firminators. Furthermore, both the standard and pro models come in 6- and 8-foot widths, with almost any custom width available as well by special order.

Construction and quality-control of the Firminator cultipacker takes place in the USA. All Firminator equipment is well built, tough and durable.

To find out more about Ranew's Firminator and cultipacker options, visit www.thefirminator.com/.