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Corn is in...but I think I have a problem.

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Seemed to take forever but I am a full three weeks ahead of last year. Dry as dust out there and I had my hands full keeping the seed drum drive on the Cyclo 800 clean so the drive clutch didn't want to skip. Miserable fine dust on everything. Anyhow, while I kept my eye on that the family ran seed back and forth as needed. I didn't keep track. Get back to the shed and pulled the tarp away and there are a bunch of unopened bags there plus what is in the hopper still. I checked to see how much we bought and it looks like only one bag per five acres got put in the ground. I know we were right on track with the first small field and I think we were pretty well OK on the second small field. But I think the last field I did may come up a little light. Thinking I wait for the rain this weekend and in a week or so I will know WHERE things went wrong. In the meantime I will try to find WHAT went wrong. If it is limited to that last field, maybe I can trade in the long season bags for short season and replant. Otherwise, the blackbirds, turkeys, deer, crows, mice, woodchucks, squirrels, and I will be disappointed in the years crop.

Nothing is ever easy it seems.
 
My milo was the same way last year. Headlands drilled as they should, first third of the 40 went as it should, last of it was half rate at best. I realized it when I got home so I went back the next day. Of course the worst of it was the roadside. Isn't that always the way.
 
If you averaged 5 acres per bag and the first two fields were OK, it would mean your last field would be sown very light---much less than half rate. I would go out and manually dig up some rows to determine the where the planter began to sow light. Once you find that--and it shouldn't be too hard--I would use the seed you have and plant directly over the rows at your desired rate. It is not too late to plant full season corn...yet.

Ben
 

Do you have a monitor on the planter?

I was listening to the hefty brothers on the xm one day and they were talking about making 170 bushel corn on 19,000 seed population. I can't remember exactly how Brian worded it, but basically, he suggested that he got the same yield on 19,000 as they did on 34,000; but, he spent money on fertility and not on seed.

We used to plant 19,000 on wide rows and got 140-145 bushels consistently. I increased my fertility plan immensely before switching to 32,000 population. All I'm saying is that it might not be that big of a deal, but instead, consider it test plots. Try different side-dressing techniques and rates. Yeah it is always something, but, you aren't making a living on this corn crop. Instead, consider this year a test year to see if you can push the limits on lower plant population. Somewhere I posted pics on here of 4 ears per stalk average I got with outrageous amounts of fertility in my heavy high CEC soils. You shouldn't sweat this at all.

Test plots... Just keep repeating it to yourself ...and those nosey neighbors...
 
Your population is in the 16000 range. If it is a hybred with a 'flex ear' it might put on bigger ears or double ears and surprise you. If it is some cheap bargain seed the chances of it flexing much are less. Weeds will be more of a problem with that light population.

When i started planting this spring my planter did the opposite and planted the first 40 acres at 41000 pop instead of the 32500 i had planned for.
 
Well you have few options. The stand you planted can't be changed now. If you would try to plant additional seed it would be smaller and actually be more of a weed than a additional help. I would do some actual stand counts. You need to be doing them NOW not waiting to see what comes up. IF your in the high teens then your best option is to just live with what you have. IF it is lower than 15-16 thousand, then tear out what you have planted and replant it at a high population rate. You only have to about May 10th or so to get a corn crop replanted that will be worth anything. So everyday lost is a BIG deal.

I have replanted poor stands in the past. It usually does not pay unless you hit perfect weather to get it up and growing FAST. The earlier planted poor stand will usually out yield a later planted better stand.

Now things to do in the future:

1) Always keep track of the amount of seed your planting.
2) Do actual seed counts as you continue planting. Especially if you change hybrids.
3) THIS one will cause some arguments but here goes. GET RID of that IH cyclone planter!!!! There is a good reason that that planter never had more than 10-15% of the total planter market. Get a simpler planter that is easier to make work correctly. Your going to pay for a Good planter either by buying one or in lost yield from what you have.
 
The IH planter is not for everyone, no doubt about that. But if you had it set right at the start, and your monitor works, it should plant just as well as any other. I have had a 800 for some thing like 20 years, planted in all conditions, no problems with population. You say how many bags you have left. Do all bags have the same number of seeds per bag? And do all bags weight the same? I know with a IH 800 you can plant flats or rounds, did your seed dealer ask you what kind of planter that you where going to use ? I ask this Question because if all your seeds where small rounds you would get far more seeds per bag,and your planter would still plant the same population as you expected it to. Round seeds will grow just the same as flats, but you do not get as many flats in a bag, and the bag can weigh about the same. You may have no problem at all. Some brands of seed actually have an approximate seed count per bag printed on the tag,go take a look.Tell us what you find. Bruce
 
every bag of corn I bought had
80 thousand kernels in it. Bag wt will very because of test wt. Have seen half bags when test wt. was over 60lb. Check and make sure you have the right sprockets on your transmission and that the chain did not jump to the small drive sprocket. We run two 900 12 rows best planters ever made. you might want to rebuild your clutch simple to do.
 
I would do that in a few places to get a good sample. This should show whether it was an intermittent issue, aka clutch, or consistent issue like sprocket selection.
 
Sprocket selection same as last year. Everything is. Had a great stand last year. The clutch was not to blame. I was worried about it so I watched it in the mirror pretty much 100% of the time AND my 19 year old daughter rode alongside on the ATV the entire day and watched. The clutch was really suspect this year but it was not the problem here...the drum kept turning regular and we checked it about every third row and there was seed in the holes. I am having a hard time getting my head around this. I am heading out to do some digging this AM but not much hope for it. I dug up several rows last year and barely found a seed. Still had great population when it came up. Bag count does not lie though. Has to be a reason.
 
I'll take a look but I am thinking that they have to be based on seed count. I am not very experienced with mechanically planted field corn. I have grown a lot of it in small plots, hand sown, for my own use over the past 25 years or so but only been mechanically planting it for two years. If there is a problem, it is likely something I overlooked due to inexperience. Thought I had the bases covered...guess not. Pretty demoralizing experience.
 
I agree with rrlund. If you've just finished planting and drive exactly where you did initially and begin where the planter started failing, there should be no problems later on. The critical part is to get it done ASAP and try to find where your planter lost population. In a conventional seedbed, it should not be too hard to find the seeds; compare the drop where you started and where you finished in that field and keep narrowing it down til you find where the difference is. Admittedly. I do speak from experience. :(

Ben
 
Sorry to hear that...well not really, misery loves company. I am heading out with my trowel today. I have not had a lot of luck with this in the past and really cannot bet expensive corn seed on the chance that I might be missing the seed someplace when digging. Like I said before, last year I dug up several rows and found almost no seed. Had a great population though. Sounds easy, but it is not.
 
Like another person ask,DO you not have a monitor on your planter??If you do,then it is 100% your fault for the problem.If you don't,then it is 1000% your fault,because planters with central seed hoppers(or new plateless planters or what brand) NEED a way of keeping track of what is going on.Sorry for being harsh,but with a monitor you will know something is WRONG in the first 50 FT or less,not at the end of the season.
 
I dont understand why you could not find the planted seed. We always dug with fingers running with the row and found seed easily.
J
 
Just start where you finished and work backwards until you run out of seed. It's what I like to call precision guesswork.
 
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