So, as we stand on the brink of planting, here are 10 practical things to watch out for if you are having a contractor plant your maize crop for you. All too often when walking fields I come across the signs that not all planters are doing the job they should be, namely planting seed at a uniform depth, with nice even spacings between plants and with plants growing at the same speed.
The field has been cultivated well, there's a lovely seedbed just waiting to be drilled and you have called the contractor and the seed and fertiliser is in the field waiting to go. So here's a few things to look out for to make sure the drill is fit for purpose to do your job. Don't just assume because he has just finished drilling 40 hectares for your neighbour everything is hunky-dory!
1. Whilst the tractor is standing with the drill in the air, check the machine is level with the rear axle of the tractor on the link arms. You won't believe how many times I find machines hooked up to tractors that aren't level.
2. If the drill is an Accord/Kvernland type that has a shoe/coulter on each planter unit that creates the slot into which the seed is placed, have a look at the bases to make sure there is still plenty of 'meat' on the shoes and that they aren't worn down to the extent the seed pipe is visible. This is important, because if the plates are very worn, the shoe tends to smear, rather than cut a slot for the seed to drop into. Also, the reduced clearance tends to cause the seed to bounce more and get dragged by the body more leading to bunching and irregular planting depth.
3. If you are putting placement fertiliser down like DAP/MAP, are these shoes all the same depth?
4. When the drill is lowered to the ground to load the seed hoppers, did the depth control wheels hit the ground at the same time (if the machine is level behind the tractor)? If the depth wheels are an inch out, you can guarantee the outside planter boxes are going to placing seed an inch plus deeper than the boxes on the opposite side, worse the wider the machine is. You can tell this post emergence when there are 2-4 rows that are later emerging than the rest every 6 rows across the field (if an 8 row planter).
5. Once the drill hoppers are full and ready to go, test to see if the seed and fertiliser is flowing evenly out of all the pipes. Clear plastic containers you get from Indian/Chinese take-aways are really useful to catch seed and fertiliser when doing this test so you don't waste anything. Quite often, especially after the machine has done a fair acreage, DAP powder can bind to the inside of the pipes causing a constriction thereby reducing the amount flowing down the pipes. (or if the machine has been put away without cleaning them out at the end of the previous season!). This will cause striping where you get a line, or lines where the plants are paler than the rest.
6. Check the seed rate! There is nothing worse if you are growing a crop of maize for a specific use, like grain for crimping or combining where you plant at a lower seed rate than forage maize and you find out post event that the seed rate is too high, or too low. It really does affect yield.
Satisfied the drill is ready to go, then let him line up and make a start.
7. As the machine is going along, walk alongside at look at the headstock on the planter. If the machine is 'leaning' forward, or backward, its wrong. Forward leaning generally leads to the placement fertiliser being put too deep, backwards and its too shallow (you might even see granules on the surface). Forward leaning tends to also lift the press wheels at the back so the seed doesn't get good contact with the soil around it. Backward leaning and the seed could be going too deep, or too shallow and it doesn't get enough soil covering it.
8. Are the wheel eradicator tines actually doing what they are supposed to, taking out the tractor wheel marks and loosening the soil where the tractor has just driven?
9. Check the depth of the seed across the whole drill width by scraping away the soil and looking in each row for the seeds. The seed dressing is bright pink or red for a reason, it makes them very easy to find. If you cannot find them, stop the planter and check why not. When I check, I clear about 2 meters in each row as this allows me to check depth, spacing and if the machine calibrated properly.
If the speed is right, the seed placement should be right with little bunching evident. I know some of the new drills can go quite fast and still be very accurate, however the older ones can't.
10. After a few bouts, check the overlap/underlap on the outside rows. If the bout markers aren't right, then the sprayer is not going to do its job correctly either. It looks really bad when there is a nice weedy path between every sprayer bout width, or theres a stunted crop where its had a double dose of herbicide.
Anyone can grow maize, but it takes a real effort to grow a great crop of maize as it is a lazy plant, it will show up every deficiency, fault and inconsistency in the field.
If the contractor does a good job, pay him promptly!
