Crop Scene Investigation - 52 Solved: Waving goodbye to Jeff's corn plants

Friday, December 5, 2014

Jeff's cornfield suffered reduced emergence because he was driving his corn planter too fast. His tillage practices also contributed to the seed being planted in a wave pattern that dropped as low as 3.5 inches in the soil and then climbed to 1.5 inches.

The deep-planted corn struggled to emerge in the cool, wet 2013 spring growing conditions and Jeff's 30-acre field suffered a 15 per cent stand reduction.

At eight miles an hour, Jeff was simply running his planter too fast, says Pride Seeds market agronomist Aaron Stevanus. He explains that at eight miles an hour, a corn planter is travelling at 11.7 feet per second; at five miles per hour the planter travels at seven feet per second.

"That's a difference of more than four feet per second. If you hit a rock at eight miles an hour and the planter lifts out of the ground it takes a lot longer for it to settle back at the proper seeding depth."

In Jeff's case, the planting depth 'waves' in his fields were likely caused by uneven tillage depth, which varied from two to six inches across the field. "Growers really need to make sure their cultivator is level," says Stevanus. "Your planter is always going to find the bottom. If you don't have level cultivation, you are going to have an uneven seedbed because the planter is going to drive deeper where the tillage is deeper."

Congratulations to Nathan Feddes, Lambton for his correct answer. BF