Got Seed?
If you haven’t booked your corn seed yet, it’s time to make your move. Good hybrids are getting harder to find as growers increase their corn intentions due to higher corn prices and the fact that soybean seed in getting harder to find.
Time to "Tune Up" your planter
Here are 10 Steps to tune up your planter well ahead of planting season courtesy of Precision Planting.
- Check your Row Unit Ride — adjust your parallel linkage and bushings so that your row unit is solid for the up/down and side/side movement.
- Fine Tune your Meter Drive System — check chains on all drive systems. Check your drive cables and meter and clutch alignment.
- Level the Planter — your coulter, disc opener, seed tube and closing wheels should be level. Check level on your tool bar.
- Meters — Change over to eSet discs for vacuum planters. Run planter on a Meter Max test stand to check meter accuracy.
- Create a Sharp Seed Trench — proper disc openers settings and openers, create a smooth “V” trench for seed delivery.
- Seed Delivery — probably one of the most overlooked parts on the planter is the seed tube. If seed tubes are worn, the seed will bounce in the tube producing “skips and doubles”. This is not acceptable in high management corn production.
- Add Keeton Seed Firms — seed firmers uniformly position each seed at the bottom of the seed trench. This uniform seed placement creates uniform emergence and subsequently higher yields.
- Gauge Wheels — need to be in close tolerance to the disc opener. There doesn’t need to be much space between them.
- Closing Wheel Adjustment — closing wheels need to run directly over the seed trench to uniformly close the soil over the planted seed.
- Prepare for spring conditions — no till coulters, row cleaners, various closing wheels all need to be available for the changing planting conditions.
If you would like to receive future correspondence such as the Bin Buster Newsletter via email, please send me your email address to jeffpangle@cullumseeds.com.
Good Growing!
Jeff Pangle
