Do you waste corn seed?

Most growers do. So you probably do too. You probably don’t mean to. You may believe that you are one of the few growers who doesn’t waste corn seed.

I have never been into a corn field where corn seed was not wasted. With corn seed running around $1.50-$2.00 per 1,000 kernels you do not want to waste too much. Most growers waste 1,000 kernels per acre. That is probably an acceptable level. Lots of growers are wasting 2,000 kernels per acre. I have seen 4,000-5,000 kernels per acre wasted. When you waste that much it’s like wasting $6.00-10.00 per acre. Too much waste.

The cause of this waste is doubles. Doubles or triples are seed that are dropped together and try to grow together. Inevitably only one of these seeds thrives. The other seed does nothing and possibly acts like a weed to rob from the other seed as it grows to a plant.

You can reduce the amount of waste by having your corn planter checked and adjusted for proper seed drop. There are numerous reasons why you get doubles. There can be too much or too little pressure on the fingers, brushes can be worn or the wrong air pressure is used. Driving too fast can also result in doubles.

When you have your planter checked for seed drop try to be present. I think sometimes growers have planters set for an accurate seed drop but the spacing of that seed drop is not right.

When should you have this done? Right now.  After you finish reading this article call your dealer and set up an appointment. One of the main reasons that corn growers do not plant corn on time is because the planter is not ready. If you want high yields this year get the planter ready now. BF