Poor corn stand what went wrong ?

So I had guy plant a 4 acre patch of pop corn. He used IH 56 4-row planter. Now that the corn is up there are 20ft skips lots of doubles and I mean lots! You can see seed on the surface in places. I did soil prep plow and disc and I have no problems in my other fields he hinted that it was field prep that caused the poor stand. What went wrong? Is it the planter?
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Prep wouldn't have anything to do with skips or doubles, IMO, FWIW. Sounds like maybe he had the wrong plate, if using a plate planter.

Larry
 
I agree. But it looks like its more than that. I can see the slice in the ground from the openers but hardly any closing of the row? If that make scents ?
 
I agree, skips and doubles are from a planter problem. On the other hand your ground does look rough and dry. Poor emergence will happen when there is poor seed to soil contact and lack of moisture.
 
Looks like 2 problems to me, wrong plates will give the doubles and dry lumpy ground for poor seed to soil contact is likely what caused the skips. I bet if you get some rain you will end up with some coming up later.
 
I agree with the others about wrong plates in the planter. I owned an IH56 planter,there is nothing wrong with the planter if all is adjusted. I'm going to throw something else in here...not sown deep enough! I was taught to put your seed where the moisture was. One year I had dry lumpy ground and had to plant deeper than usual. My neighbour had the same conditions and planted the depth he always did..my corn excelled,his caught up after some rain. Don't panic,if the seed is there,rain will get it going and corn will catch up and even out over time.
 
Agree.

The doubles and skips are bad plate choice and planter operator.

The open slot is a combo of poor land prep, lack of rain (wow, this year, lack of rain?) and a older planter just not set to deal with tough planting conditions. Likely the planter coulda been set better, but really asking a lot for an older planter to deal with such rough dry ground, shoulda been worked better.

Paul
 
Your ground looks very dry now but the slot where your finger is was caused by too WET conditions when the corn was planted. For a runner planter to work well there must be a lot of loose dirt. You did not have that. It appears your ground was worked too wet and planted too wet, causing it all to dry out and turn hard now. Pretty rough conditions to plant into with a runner planter. Mike
 
I had the field perfect, nice deep good tilth. Then he told me could not get to it yet and it got rain a few times and 2 1/2 weeks later he showed up and put on some pellatized chicken manure and ran his disc real shallow to turn it in then he planted. Next year I'm gonna remove a few trees an put in a bigger gate and plant it myself.
 
I don't see any marks at all from a closing wheel.
And I agree with everone else about wrong plates.
I would not uset hat guy again as it looks like he is in the dark himself!
 
He compacted the ground when it was not right which is shown by the slot cut by the runner. If the tilth was "right" there would be no slot. Mike
 
I agree with wrong plates and ground conditions. Another thought, do you have wild turkeys in your area? We do and they will go right down the row eating the seed. Will have spots 20 to 30 feet with nothing on one row then a different row farther down the field will have a bare spot. Usually near the woods.
 
Your doubles were caused by use of improper plate cell size. Popcorn seed is pretty small and he used a plate with cells too large, allowing doubles. Common result lots of times even with larger kernel hybrids.

The long skips and the picture of open slits was caused by using a planter with old fashioned runners and no closing wheels in a field that simply was too wet to plant....the seed was planted (with lots of doubles) but a lot of it got exposed to air and light. You certainly had what is called "poor soil-to-seed contact.

The IH 56 planter is a good old planter, but it is not designed for the field conditions you had at that time. Plant corn in soil that is worked up nicely and not so wet. And...get the proper plates for popcorn next year.
LA in WI
 
I had a similer condition once with a 56 with disc openers.It is caused by the soil being too wet at planting and the slit can open a couple of days after planting as the water leaves the soil.The seed plate was too big for the seed causing doubles.If the seed was not sized closely most of the seed could have been right with some small ones mixed in to cause occasional doubles.If you get into the same situation another year you can drag harrow after planting.That helps but isn"t perfect.
 

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