A single oversight at planting often costs corn growers 75 to 100 bu. per acre, yet many don’t even know they have a problem that needs solving. The problem? It’s poor planter closing wheel performance.
Closing wheels are supposed to deliver good seed-to-soil contact by eliminating air pockets, gently firming the soil around the seed corn and closing the furrow.
When those final steps in the planting process are done poorly, corn germinates unevenly and there’s no way to go back and undo the damage. For the rest of the growing season, you’re left with a crop that can’t perform up to its potential.
Corn yield champions David Hula and Randy Dowdy say they see the issue routinely when they check corn emergence and do stand counts with farmers.
Simple Calculations Help Pinpoint Losses
“Each row is an individual and producing income for you, and when you took and did the math, I remember seeing 190-bu. swings across the planter,” Dowdy tells Hula. “But just how many times do we see 100 bu. swings?”
Hula agrees that he has seen 190-bu. yield losses occur in extreme cases. He adds that even the best farmers incur some losses from poor closing wheel performance.
“I would say the average [has been] closer to 75 to 100 bushels,” he says. “The best one I saw was a farmer we worked with in Iowa, and they had spent a lot of time on his 12-row planter, and he still had a 27-bu. loss per acre,” adds Hula in the latest episode of the Breaking Barriers podcast.
You can also watch the podcast at Farm Journal TV - Agriculture video on demand.
Centered Over The Row
Closing wheels need time and attention to bring them into alignment just like any other part of the planter. Dowdy says even new planters with all the latest technology still need to have their closing systems checked.
“I was vetting a new 24-row planter in Michigan this spring, and on five of the rows the V-press wheel on one side was running in the furrow. That’s 20% of the rows, a problem perpetuating itself across every field,” he says.
“Those V-press wheels have a tendency to walk left and right because the bolt design that manufacturers use just won’t keep them centered,” adds Dowdy, who’s based near Valdosta, Ga. “It doesn’t seem to matter which manufacturer’s V-press wheels we’re using, either.”
If V-press wheels are set correctly over the row, Dowdy says they will leave a slight ridge or berm of soil above the planted seed to help ensure good seed-to-soil contact.
“But if you’re not centered that little ridge will not be directly over the seed and that’s problematic,” he says. “That will change your seed planting depth and impact emergence. No way will those corn plants all emerge at the same time and they won’t yield the same.”
Do The Job Other Farmers Won’t Do
Hula, a five-time world champion corn grower, suggests that farmers “trust but verify” their closing wheel system is performing well as they plant every field.
“I know that takes time, but think of how much revenue you’d gain by being willing to check and make some adjustments during the planting process,” says Hula, who farms near Charles City, Va.
The best way to check closing wheel performance is to do some digging behind the planter, notes Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.
“We dig a cross-section of the row and work until we can find the seed and observe how it was placed in the soil,” Ferrie explains. “In ideal conditions, you want to see the seed at the bottom with enough firm soil over the top of it to keep the seed area from drying out.”
Do You Have The Right Closing System?
Another consideration, Hula says, is farmers need to determine whether they are using the best closing wheels for their situation. In the evaluation process, he says to look at your tillage system, soil texture, field conditions and weather.
“We can’t just throw dollars around at these market prices, but if you can get a better closing system that adds more revenue to your bottom line, that will pay for itself quickly,” he says.
Hula has been using a two-stage closing wheel system for the past six years and believes it significantly improves corn planting performance compared to traditional closing wheel designs.
“We have seen our emergence uniformity improve significantly these past few years,” he says.
Hear more from Hula and Dowdy on a recent episode of “AgriTalk.”
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