Crop Scene Investigation - 29 Solved: The curious case of row unit number eight

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

by BERNARD TOBIN

One in every 12 rows of Bill's corn was stunted because the plants in these rows were suffering fromfertilizer burn.

Bill had done a good job of maintaining the disc openers and tubes on his 12-row planter. However, the bushings on the parallel linkage of the eighth row unit were worn out. This allowed the unit to move a couple of inches from side to side, explains Pioneer Hi-Bred agronomist Scott Fife.

The fertilizer trench is usually set two inches beside the seed trench, so fertilizer is placed where it is available to the seed, but not close enough to burn it.

But because of the 'play' in row unit number eight, it shifted and followed the fertilizer trench rather than cutting a separate seed trench, explains Fife. In these rows, the seed was being dropped directly into the fertilizer trench, which led to the yellowed, stunted performance of the corn in these rows.

Fife notes that lack of moisture during the dry planting and growing conditions also contributed to the level of fertilizer burn.

This case just goes to show that you need to go over your planter with a fine-tooth comb every spring, says Fife. Bill did a good job, but he did not check the parallel linkages and, as evidenced in this case, they can have a huge impact on planter performance.
Congratulations to Dave Inglis, Belmore ON for his correct answer. BF