“I’m hoping that you would have had your planter in the shop over winter … and you would have done your inspections on gauge wheel arms, gauge wheels, things like that,” said Eric Bossuyt, account manager with AgWest at Russell, Man.

Ideally, storing a planter in a shop makes inspections easier and keeps it out of the weather, but that’s not always possible.

WHY IT MATTERS: As we very recently noted elsewhere here, involuntary downtime due to malfunctions can be costly for farmers beyond just the the repair bill.

Bossuyt added that operators should also inspect meter units to make sure seals are intact. Adding some graphite lube to the seed disc while they’re in there also helps to keep them spinning smoothly.

Hose connections should be given a close look to make sure they are secure and that no splits have occurred while in storage, especially if the planter was stored outside.

Bossuyt said ultraviolet light weakens plastic hoses over time when exposed to the sun and can lead to holes, resulting in vacuum loss within the system.

Preparing for downtime

No matter how well prepared you may be when planting season begins, malfunctions or breakdowns can happen in the blink of an eye.

Bossuyt said that a common trouble spot for growers at planting season is poor singulation.

This is often caused by a hole in a hose causing vacuum loss or worn internal parts on the meters themselves, whether your doubles eliminator is worn or the seed disc is having some issues if it’s too tight.”

“Maybe you’re getting surging with the V-drive. Stuff like that can cause missed singulation.”

It may end up being as simple as a misplaced wire or poor contact point, but it’s better to protect your seeding time in the field and check components later.

“That’s going to cause you downtime to try and diagnose what’s going on in the field,” added Bossuyt.

To prepare for these situations, he recommended having at least one spare row for the row unit to swap out individual parts if they malfunction.

“Every module, you should have one spare. That way, you’re not running to the dealership for one little finicky module,” said Bossuyt.

It’s easier to do a quick swap to keep running and the producer can always check on it later if the part is dead or if a contact point wasn’t connecting properly.

Bossuyt also said operators should check their on and off times every season to avoid misses in the field.

These can be caused by technology changes, such as a guidance system, which can lead to poor communication between equipment.

“The hertz might change and you might have frequency issues,” said Bossuyt.

Getting started, setups

Before hitting the field, a test run closer to home is always a good idea in case a repair or a part swap-out is needed.

“Pull out the planter and simulate planting,” said Bossuyt.

“Run a few seeds out in the yard, fill it up, do whatever. You just want to make sure all your sensors are working, all your meters are running.”

READ MORE: Seed costs spark new interest in planters for canola

Bossuyt said this is also a good time to check singulation and GPS timing and to ensure the on and offs are operating as intended.

Any fine tuning can be done in the field once you’ve confirmed everything is in good working order.

Ensuring good seed-to-soil contact should also be done once you’re in the field.

Bossuyt said the biggest thing equipment operators can do in this instance is to get out of the tractor cab.

“Not everybody wants to hear that, but we’ve got to get out,” said Bossuyt,

“We’ve got to be checking if the sun’s beating down and soil is drying up. We might need to adjust our depth or adjust our closing pressure, things like that.”

The post Tips on getting your planter ready for spring seeding appeared first on Grainews.

Several new features allow for more onboard fertilizer options, better seed placement and residue management.

“Planter advancements from John Deere are designed to help ensure the seed has the best chance to get off to a strong start,” says Anthony Styczinski, marketing manager for planters and air seeders.

For model year 2027, Deere planters will have an option for a dual-product fertilizer system that allows operators to carry and apply product in-furrow and/or off to the side. The company says that will give corn plants better access to the right nutrients at the right time in the growth stage, which should lead to higher corn yields.

The dual-product system includes both of the brand’s ExactShot and ExactRate systems.

ExactShot delivers nutrients directly into the seed furrow. Deere claims ExactShot can save growers up to 66 per cent of in-furrow nutrient input needs. ExactRate applies fertilizer off to the side of the furrow.

Planters can now be equipped with dual liquid fertilizer tanks with pumps mounted underneath them connected to stainless steel lines.

Both liquid tanks are equipped with level sensing, so an operator knows how much product is remaining in each tank.

Another update is a new agitation system, which is necessary to keep certain chemical blends suspended for even product coverage. An auxiliary tank option allows for the use of micronutrients, biologicals, fungicides and insecticides.

The dual fertilizer system is available from the factory on model year 2027 1775NT 16 and 24 row and DB60 24 row planters.

“We have thought through the entire planting experience, adding a way for the operators to know exactly what is going on with the planter,” says Styczinski.

“From the tractor cab, a display screen shows both fertilizer products on a single run screen. Additional improvements offer the operator to now select a dose length of four-inch and improvements to the map coverage page.”

Also new this year to Deere planters is ExactDepth, which is an electric depth control that supports an in-cab, on-the-go range of depth adjustments and individual row unit depth calibrations.

Downforce automation

2027 models also get downforce automation with FurrowVision. This automation determines the amount of downforce needed to optimize the furrow based on a number of factors, including initial margin setpoint, soil resistance, furrow health, raw depth, and ground contact.

FurrowVision also helps operators identify when residue is impacting the furrow, allowing them to manually optimize row cleaner settings. It uses three in-furrow cameras to provide real-time sectional views of the furrow, as well as depth measurement readings, residue detection filter and additional quality map layers available through the John Deere Operations Center.

Other features to help manage planter operations through Deere’s Operations Centre have been enhanced for 2027 as well.

Logistics is now available through the Operations Center available with the G5 Advanced license. It provides real-time monitoring of equipment location, work status and product levels. This can give tender drivers or anyone else on the farm detailed information about tank product and seed levels.

The post John Deere offers new features, tech for its planters appeared first on Grainews.

Greg Stamp, however, hopes to show seeding in January isn’t so scary.

The Enchant, Alta. farmer seeded some spring wheat (AAC Oakman VB/AAC Westking) and durum (AAC Frontier) on Jan. 12 in a demo plot, mimicking recent research by Dr. Brian Beres on ultra-early seeding.

WHY IT MATTERS: With warmer southern Alberta weather, earlier seeding for spring wheat and durum opens up all sorts of possibilities for farmers, with research to back it up.

Beres conducted a four-year study that involved ultra-early seeding dates with hard red spring wheat on dryland sites in several locations across Western Canada, including Dawson Creek, B.C., Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alta., and Scott, Indian Head and Swift Current, Sask.

The overall conclusion was ultra-early seeding produced yields as good as — or, in several cases, higher than — crops seeded during the more traditional April/May seeding times. Seeding dates in the past have been more arbitrary, determined more by crop insurance deadlines than actual scientific research on sweet spots of seeding timing.

“The idea here is to treat the field like it’s a winter wheat crop. So we’ve got fall rye, trits, and winter wheat right beside it. Then we’re going to go in February and March again if we get a chinook and the soil temperature warms up. Then we’re going to plant our normal spring demos in late April, beside all these as well.”

As a dryland farmer, the goal is to take advantage as much as possible of early moisture, and beating the heat for flowering and maximizing disease control. Stamp was aiming for 1 C at one inch in his planting. Stamp used a Crop Intelligence weather station with temperature and moisture probes to see how the seeding is faring.

The early-seeding practice is the exception, not the norm, in southern Alberta, with other producers like Alison Davie at North Paddock Farms in Taber dabbling in it as well, according to Stamp.

“I think there’s value. I love this kind of research because it’s so practical to farmers. It’s not a typical practice, but I think long term, there’s going to be more people doing this,” said Stamp.

The initial hesitation by some farmers, Stamp admits, is in the logistics — namely, putting a drill in the ground in January, when people are at farm meetings, or on holidays, and/or equipment may be in the shop getting repaired. Another challenge is weed control.

Pre-planning has to be done in September-October, with spraying your field or laying down a residual herbicide — in essence, treating it like a winter crop. Wheat and durum varieties developed in Western Canada have adapted for cold tolerance, battling abiotic stress in more frigid temperatures.

“Even with seed, we need to have the varieties that the person is going to want to plant cleaned and ready to go, so they can buy seed at that point too,” said Stamp, adding he is targeting a high plant stand at 40 plants per square foot.

“There some work being done on what varieties are better. How does vigor impact this? Some of those things are unknowns at this point that we are assessing.”

Ultra-early seeding takes a shift in traditional mindsets, but it all comes down to the bottom line if the practice is to be continued.

“If there is money to be made or risks to be reduced, then I think there’s an opportunity there,” said Stamp.

Stamp is doing a field day in June with hopes Dr. Beres will speak on his ultra-seeding research.

The post Southern Alberta farms explore ultra-early seeding appeared first on Grainews.

First, the 3725QDA coulter drill makes its debut.

“The 3725 was kind of an extension of the 5 Series model, the 3335, when Bourgault went with the quick-adjust frame,” said Colin Rush, North American sales and marketing leader at Bourgault. “It allowed producers to change the seeding depth by moving shims on the frame, without going one-by-one on the openers.

“We took that exact same concept and decided it was time we had a quick-depth adjustable coulter drill.”

READ MORE: Bourgault becomes third shortliner acquired by Linamar since 2017

The result of that design change is the 3725QDA. It uses a hydraulic cylinder and shim assembly on each rear carrier wheel to set the seed depth. Adding or removing shims changes the angle of the frame, which results in seed depth change because of the unique geometry of the PLW (Paralink Walking) opener. The total range of seed depth change with the Quick Depth Adjust (QDA) is three-quarters of an inch.

“By adjusting shims across the back of the drill in a couple of minutes it allows you to switch crops. It’s a great innovative feature,” Rush said. “Each shim is an eighth of an inch. You raise the cylinders up and put shims in or take them out. Where the closing wheel is situated, it allows the opener to go deeper. One of the reasons producers up until now haven’t liked buying coulter drills is they haven’t been as easily adjustable as precision hoe drills.”

Rush said about 10 of the 3725QDA drills will be working in fields this season ahead of full production, and the company has had this adjustment system in field trials for a while.

“We’ve been in tests on it for the last couple of years to make sure it worked as well as our precision shank hoe openers do,” he said. “Model year 2025 will be the first full production year. They’ll be available for the spring of 2025.”

The first production year models of the 3725QDA drills will require manual depth adjustment, but eventually the brand’s AccuSet 2 adjustment system will be available on this model as well, which allows for remote depth setting.

XP Duo meter

Bourgault’s “air planter” 3820 coulter drill with PLR row units is a blending of seeder and planter technology into one single implement. It uses a meter to supply singulated seed to each row unit just like a planter. But the new XP Duo meter is now able to supply singulated seed to two row units at the same time.

That cuts the number of required meters in half and reduces the complexity of the air planter system.

“Several years ago we announced the whole air planter concept,” said Rush. “The XP meter with one meter per opening row was very much in tune with what the industry was providing on planters.

“Singulation in anything is a significant cost, adding the cost of a positive displacement or vacuum meter plus the bulk-fill system, and then the electrical and hydraulics required to run all those systems could be very significant.

“We just found we weren’t bringing enough value for the customers. We were able to look at the value and say what if each meter could do a single or double row of singulation. So it’s essentially half the meters but all the singulation; having two ejectors essentially cut our costs and complexity, as well as hydraulic and electrical requirements, in half. So this was the birth of the XP Duo meter.”

The new meters use positive pressure to deliver seed to the trench. The company says that system allows for accurate seed placement even with uneven soil surfaces or hilly terrain.

With XP Duo meters, the 3820 drills can be set to provide 7.5-, 15- and 30-inch row spacings to accommodate a wide range of crop types with just one machine.

The XP Duo meter will be available on the 3820 Paralink drill as well as the CD848, CD9120 and CD872 frame mounted seeders.

“For guys looking for singulation on things like soybeans but also want a drill to do winter wheat, cereals, cover crops on a narrow spacing, we can essentially lock up that rear rank on the coulter drill and have that 15-inch spacing for soybeans,” Rush says.

“If they want to do corn with that, each of those dual meters we can block off. There’s a plug that goes into one of those ejectors and now it’s on 30 inches. It’s really designed to be a very quick change. We think it’ll be a great concept.

“Essentially we’ve created a new machine class now with this XP Duo meter, the air planter and volumetric seeder on the same platform. As crops shift, we’re trying to be more futuristic to match what we think producers’ needs will be.”

The post Bourgault updates two product lines appeared first on Grainews.

Seeding between one-half to one inch deep appears to be a fairly safe recommendation. But how about aiming for three-quarters to one inch? Some say 1 1/4 inches deep is a good target. And yet others have found a depth of 1 1/2 inches works, especially if you’re trying to seed into moisture.

Pretty well everyone agrees seeding at two inches of depth, even if there is moisture, is just too deep. It puts too much pressure on the energy within those little seeds to push their way to the soil surface.

The original canola seeding recommendation, “seed shallow into a firm, moist seed bed” isn’t necessarily wrong, but experience over the past 40 years and perhaps with more recent weather patterns has shown farmers can aim to seed deeper than half an inch to achieve good, if not better, yield results.

Coming up with a new, perhaps official, recommendation is still in discussion across the canola industry, says Autumn Barnes, agronomy specialist and stand establishment lead for the Canola Council of Canada (CCC).

“We’ve seen in recent seeding seasons there can be a risk of seeding too shallow,” she says. “It is very easy for that top quarter or one-half inch of soil to dry out. So, we’re recommending farmers avoid really shallow seeding.”

The CCC has set its seeding depth recommendation at between half an inch and one inch of depth. And Barnes isn’t sure if the recommendation will go much deeper.

“If we recommend a deeper seeding depth, my concern is about consistency,” she says. “There are seeding systems that are 60, 65 and even 75 feet wide, and how well have they been calibrated? Have they been calibrated front to back and side to side? Is every drill run placing seed at the same depth?”

Depending on drill calibration and speed of travel at seeding, it could easily result in a wide variance of seed placement, which could lead to increased seed mortality and uneven germination. “Whether the seeding depth recommendation needs to be changed further is something the industry is still in conversation over,” she says.

Rob MacDonald, manager of the BASF Agronomic Excellence canola research program, agrees it is difficult to select a specific seeding depth that works for all farms in all soil zones, under all spring moisture conditions — there are just too many variables.

As someone who’s been seeding canola for more than 30 years, he used to believe “if I didn’t have a few seeds on the soil surface I was seeding too deep,” he says. He’s changed his thinking. He avoids shallow seeding — that being a half inch deep or less. It is a perilous zone for seed especially if conditions dry out. Depending on soil and seeding conditions he mostly has a zone for seed placement — somewhere between a half to one inch and maybe even as deep as 1 1/4 inches on the maximum side. “Rather than there being an ideal recommended seeding depth, I believe it is more of an ongoing discussion,” he says.

Seeding depths vary

In 2018, Richardson International at its crop research Kelburn Farm south of Winnipeg seeded its canola trials at a depth of 1 1/2 inches to reach moisture in a dry spring. Company researchers were impressed with yields that ranged from 45 to 50 bushels per acre during a relatively dry growing season.

Out on Alberta farms, John Mayko, for example, aims to seed canola ranging from three-quarters to one inch in depth on his grain and oilseed farm near Mundare, in north-eastern Alberta, while in southern Alberta Matt Gosling says he favours going even a bit deeper, aiming for 1 1/4 inches in depth.

Mayko, who owns Apex Agrology Services Ltd., as well as farms, says several factors come into play, but most years he aims to seed on the deeper side (about one inch) to place seed into moisture. “If we have a wet growing season like we did a couple of years ago, you could go really shallow, perhaps even have some seed on the soil surface, and under wet conditions it would grow,” he says. “But most years there is a risk of the top layer drying out, so we seed a bit deeper.”

He says the other factor to consider is soil type. On heavier, clay soils there is a risk of soil crusting making it difficult for seedlings to push through — they need all the energy the seed can provide. “I wouldn’t hesitate to seed deeper if I was seeding into sandier soil where there is little risk of soil crusting,” he says.

Mayko seeds with a Bourgault seeding system with knife openers. He places some phosphorus with the seed, but most fertility is applied through mid-row banders. He aims to travel at between four to 4.5 miles per hour at seeding. He finds at that speed with narrow knife openers on the drill he sees very little seed bounce.

Gosling, owner of Premium Ag crop consulting, who also farms some of his own land near Strathmore, Alta., says the message from research as well as his own experience tells him that in most cases 1 1/4 inches is a good seeding depth — hopefully getting the seed down and into moisture.

He recalls being asked for advice on one farm visit where an early-, shallow-seeded crop hadn’t done anything. “This farmer had seeded six sections of canola in April, and he called me in June and wanted advice on what he should do,” says Gosling. “It had been a dry spring and the only crop that germinated was in the low, slough bottom areas of the fields. The crop was just starting to flower in slough areas, and over the rest of his acres it hadn’t even germinated. He asked me if he should reseed.”

Gosling said with a weather forecast calling for a chance of rain, he recommended the farmer wait three days to see what happened. “It did rain. The crop finally germinated and grew, and in the end he harvested a 30 bushel per acre crop,” says Gosling. “It wasn’t great but it was better than reseeding. But, he had seeded shallow and with a couple days of drying winds, it dried out. The seed and inputs sat there for nearly three months until it rained.”

Gosling says there are several factors that will determine the success of canola stand establishment that affect seed mortality. Three of the most important in his books include soil quality, seeding date and seeding speed.

The higher the soil organic matter the greater ability it has to hold moisture to help get the crop started.

With seeding date, it may be nice to get the crop seeded by April 10, but the soil is cooler, increasing the risk of seed mortality. If seeding May 10, the soil should be warming up, which helps the crop to germinate and grow vigorously.

Seeding speed also has an impact on seed placement. “If someone is planning to drive eight miles per hour they are better off targeting a one-inch seeding depth because there is going to be a lot of bounce and variation of seed placement with some seed being too shallow and others being too deep,” says Gosling. He recommends seeding at 3.5 to four miles per hour and to aim for a seeding depth of 1 1/4 inches.

“There is always a bit of bounce, but at that speed you will rarely have any seeds placed at two inches deep and rarely have any at a half inch depth,” says Gosling. “The seeds should be into moisture and begin growing.”

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During the last week of August, I was crop scouting for Gerald, who farms 6,000 acres of wheat, barley, oats and canola just north of Wadena, Sask. I was recording the severity of fusarium head blight in one of Gerald’s wheat fields when I noticed something unusual.

It was well into the growing season and shortly before harvest, but the field had an uneven heading or maturation look to it. Some plants appeared to be further along than others, but they were contained within strips that ran in straight lines down the entire length of the field rather than in random patches.

In spite of the fact that Gerald had sprayed a fungicide for fusarium head blight earlier in the season, the disease was heavily present in some of these strips, while in other strips it was hardly noticeable.

When I called Gerald to point out the problem, he wasn’t quite sure what to think of the situation. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.

I assessed possible causes such as nutrient imbalance, poor seed quality, and environmental damage, but they were all ruled out — if any of these were to blame, a patchy pattern would have been the result, not the straight lines I saw in Gerald’s wheat field.

Herbicide burn was also disregarded, due to the fact that the leaves of the plants throughout the crop appeared to be in good shape aside from some leaf disease development.

It was only when I inquired into Gerald’s seeding methods that spring that I began to zero in on the root of the problem.

Crop Advisor’s Solution: Wheat irregularities caused by different seeding depths

When I asked Gerald about his seeding methods that spring I began to clue in on the source of the problem. He said the field had been seeded with two different drills, which had been set at different seed depths.

Gerald admitted that he’d been in a rush to seed the field as quickly as possible at the time, because of heavy rain in the forecast and his worry about not being able to finish the job on time. A drill with a different depth setting had been pulled in from another field to help complete the field.

This seed depth difference accounted for the different stages of plant development within the field, which in turn produced a similar outcome for the fusarium head blight treatment. That’s because fungicide applied to a field that is at inconsistent stages of development when it is sprayed will yield inconsistent results.

Fortunately for Gerald, the fusarium head blight in his wheat crop blended out and there was no yield or grade loss in this field compared to the rest of his farm. The producer was also able to take something away from the incident, as he learned the value of seeding depth consistency and proper seed bed establishment, as well as how one misstep at the beginning of the year can affect the crop for the whole season. This isn’t a mistake Gerald is likely to make again in the future.

Raeanne Denomie is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Wadena, Sask.

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The colder temperatures are expected to make their way into Manitoba by Friday.

That could put some stress on canola plants that have already emerged, according to industry watchers.

“As we found out last year, frost, once a crop has emerged, is an issue,” noted Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist at G3 Canada.

A general rule of thumb is that temps of -2 C or lower for two hours can be a vulnerable time for the plant, depending on the topography.

Fortunately, he said, some rain is expected this week as well.

“So that will help out a little bit in terms of decreasing some of the frost rate at the plant level,” he said.

Soil moisture is another factor to be taken into consideration in terms of crop vulnerability. For instance, canola may be more exposed than wheat and durum.

Wheat and durum, he said, “were planted deeper than some other crops due to the dry conditions in other regions.”

While the lows aren’t expected to be in place for long, the fact they’re expected does throw an element of caution into the air.

“Definitely it’s a threat,” Burnett said.

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

The post Canola to get early test as Prairies brace for frost appeared first on Grainews.

Facing temperatures in the mid-30s C, and soil moisture down at about the one- to two-inch mark, a few Prairie growers on social media Thursday said they planned to put off seeding to try and conserve soil moisture.

Cereals or pulses — more suitable for deeper seeding to reach moisture — may be better planting choices for a grower who’s waiting for rain, the council said Wednesday in its Canola Watch newsletter.

Besides, the council added, it’s still early May, so growers don’t yet have to be in a rush to seed canola.

“However, if the choice is to seed canola now into dry soil or wait until after it rains, seeding into dry soil is a workable option.”

The council advised growers putting in canola to seed no more than an inch deep, even in dry soil. Seeding canola any deeper to try and reach moisture runs the risk of seed mortality due to disease or decreased vigour, or the risk of patchy crops due to variable emergence.

Canola seed “should still be OK” if it has to wait even two weeks in dry soils for rain — and when rains arrive, the council said, shallow-seeded canola “will germinate and emerge fairly quickly.”

Waiting until after a rain to seed canola also runs the risk of further delays if rains are heavy, not to mention less-than-ideal seed placement if seeding into muddy ground, the council said.

Furthermore, the council said, seeding in moist conditions is also likely to increase the amount of soil — and, potentially, clubroot — spread around fields and farms.

Long-term trends show canola seeded in early to mid-May yields more than canola seeded in late May, the council said.

Growers who’d rather seed late in the month to avoid the risk of a frost could miss out on the higher yield potential an early seeding date can provide.

Quoted in the Canola Watch newsletter on the topic of the killing frost some growers saw in late May last year, Alberta provincial oilseed specialist Murray Hartman said 2015 was “a year to forget, not a year to learn lessons from.”

Growers, he said, should instead “plan for more probable outcomes.”

Given that it’s still early in the month, the council said, growers can also take their time at seeding canola, to achieve better seed depth and allow for “ideal” separation between seed and fertilizer. — AGCanada.com Network

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