X

Thanks for signing up!

Look for the Digest in your email twice a month.

Follow Us

Sign up for our Digest to receive the latest agronomic insights and crop management advice for your primary growing region delivered twice a month to your inbox.

Planting Season 2018: Do Your Cleaning Before the Spring

March 2, 2018
This agronomic image shows a seed planter

As you get ready for the upcoming planting season, it’s important to make sure your equipment is in proper working order. Taking the time to clean your planters from last year can make for an easier planting process, and ultimately increase yield as more seed makes it into the ground. Here are a few tips for cleaning, which require only a shop vacuum and a few common tools:

  1. Seed boxes:
    • Clean out old seed, which can gather at the bottom of boxes and clog seed outlets.
    • Make sure no old seed sprouted since the seeder’s last use.
    • Clear out any spider webs.
  2. Seed transport mechanism:
    • Clean out the transport mechanism and its narrow outlets.
    • Remove all tubes and clean them. Clogged tubes cannot transport seed and will impact your stand density.
  3. Planter wheels:
    • Clean wheels.
    • Check wheel bearings to make sure they work without wobbling.

With coated seeds being increasingly common, now more than ever it’s important to clean your equipment after each use. High humidity can cause the clay-based coating on seeds to cement together, making them difficult to remove.

This isn’t to discourage growers from using treated seeds, however. Studies have shown using seed treatments such as Clariva® Elite Beans and CruiserMaxx® Vibrance® Beans, a combination of separately registered products, allow you to plant earlier in the season, potentially increasing your yield and profit per acre.

For cereals, CruiserMaxx Vibrance Cereals insecticide/fungicide seed treatment provides superior disease protection, increased emergence and enhanced plant vigor, even in cool conditions. More vigorous root systems improve plant stand, which is the starting point for maximum yield potential.

Read more on the importance of using a seed treatment during the 2018 planting season.

Sign up for the Know More, Grow More Digest to receive twice-monthly agronomic e-mail updates pertinent to your area.

All photos are either the property of Syngenta or are used with permission.

Syngenta hereby disclaims liability for third-party websites.

Know More Grow More content is moving over to Thrive - Field Insights on April 1. Get familiar with the site before the switch! Take me to ThriveKnow More Grow More content is moving over to Thrive - Field Insights on April 1. Get familiar with the site before the switch! Take me to Thrive