posted
on Thursday, May 10, 2018
in
Blog
Well, this hasn't happened for a while, but here we are, planting in dry-ish conditions. I asked resident planter expert, and newly appointed Ag Sales Manager, Joe Breidenbach, what are some things growers should keep in mind as they plant this season. As always, he was a wealth of information.
According to Joe, "Ensuring your planter is creating a clean V-Furrow is key. Planting in dry dirt makes it hard to form a defined V-shaped furrow. If the furrow is too loose, it tends to wash back in before the seed is placed in the trench, leading to erratic seed depth and even seed on the ground." Here are his top-5 tips for perfect planting;
- Row cleaners! These can help move dry dirt out of the way to create a cleaner V-Furrow to help you plant into moisture.
- An active pneumatic or hydraulic downforce system plays a key role in being able to carry enough load on the gauge wheels to form a good V-furrow in dry or powdery conditions.
- A good 2.5" or so pinch point on your opener blades is also critical in forming a furrow. A trick for shallow planted crops like beets is to nose your planter down in the front a bit and change the angle of attack of the pinch pointe relative to the ground.
- Be sure to maintain a proper gauge wheel to opener disk tension/clearance.
- Having your closing wheels centered over the furrow and tensioned properly needs to be attended to in order to properly close the trench without pushing the seed back up through the center of the closing wheels.
We know; that's a lot of information! If you have more questions, be sure to chat with your salesman or any member of our Integrated Solutions team!
