Question: What do you set your hydraulic down pressure at? 

In normal ground, we're running in the 50-60 range. In a perfect world, you'd run 1-2 pounds, but as you're going through the field, you're going to have variability stuff like that, so try to watch your ground contact and maintain a 100% ground contact. If your gauge wheels are bouncing a little bit, you're not there. That's a simple thing you can watch from the planter. If those gauge wheels are running smoothly, you know they're pretty well in contact with the ground. If they start bouncing, you've got an issue. 

Editor's Note: Loran Steinlage addresses more planter questions in this Ask the Operator webinar.

“Ask the Operator” allows farmers like yourself to ask questions of our 2023 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow, Loran Steinlage. The West Union, Iowa, no-tiller makes an ongoing commitment to innovating on his own farm and going above and beyond to share his no-till knowledge with others. Read through past information in our content archive and submit your own questions for our Fellow to answer. Click here if you are having trouble viewing the question submission form.