Planting and Germination Considerations

Seeding rate and the number of seeds planted per acre is often considered a constant by farmers planting wheat, barley, high rate soybeans, and milo. This approach is a good guess but with seed costs and input costs on the increase, a far better approach would be to get as accurate as you can by taking all planting and field conditions into play.

Germination and plant seedling mortality are two factors that every farmer should take into account for accurate plant seeding. Typically, plant germination can be calculated right around 96% and seedling mortality can be roundly calculated at 10%.   A variable rate drive that allows you to plant higher densities in fertile ground and lower seed rates in areas such as hill tops and ground acceptable to erosion is of huge benefit and can increase the plant’s yield success rate. Having your agronomist map your soil in your field will help aid you in getting vital information for accurate seeding rates that will provide the highest yield.

Choosing the best grain drill seed meter and setting it right on your grain drill is also of critical importance. Most grain drills have a fluted seed cup or volumetric seed cup to meter the correct poundage of seed you want to plant. This type of seed meter is simply adjusted by opening and closing a gate that controls the flow of seed past it. These designs are ok for a “very rounded” seeds per acre average seeding rate. However, there is one mechanical seed meter that allows for a fine tuned adjustment on a rotating shaft that performs very accurate seed metering. This fine tuned adjustment on the metering shaft allows for a variety of seeded crops to be easily metered with a higher percent accuracy than traditional volumetric seed cups on the market today. This exclusive design, called the “Wobble Slot” is a ductile cast seed cup that gives precise, single seed placement for a variety of crops such as wheat, barley, high rate soybeans, milo, alfalfa, millet, sesame seed, canola, and many types of cover crops to name a few. The Wobble Slot is bored and machined faced with a sintered metal rotor of bronze alloy composition that acts like an oilite sleeve bushing/bearing in its friction-free motion. Precision processed rotor is adjusted by moving the shaft at one point on each drill box with infinite spacing 0 to 3⁄4" for varying seed size, weights and rates. No feed gates to adjust or special tools required since the smooth spiral action admits single seeds into the chute for uniform planting. No rough cogs to damage fragile seeds so that you know the seed you’re putting into the ground has the best chance for survival and consistent seed emergence.

The “Wobble Slot” is made and manufactured from a company that is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Crustbuster / Speed King Inc. was founded in 1961 and continues today with its rich tradition of providing value added products to the farmer. Please call and/or visit our website below to discover how Crustbuster can add tremendous value to your farming operation. Visit: www.crustbuster.com