If planting into a field with cover crops, follow these guidelines to reduce potential planting problems:
- Don’t let cover crops get too large, particularly when starting out. Cover crops less than 6 inches tall shouldn’t wrap around equipment.
- Wait 10-14 days after termination before planting the cash crop. Plant when dead cover crops are dry and easier to cut through, reducing potential problems with hairpinning.
There are other strategies for managing spring cover crops. “Planting green” is a specific technique of planting cash crops into a green cover crop that has been terminated a few days before or after planting. However, these practices are best suited to farmers with more experience.
Rely on field conditions and extended weather forecast, instead of calendar date, to determine when to plant. Soils should be moist, but not wet, to ensure proper seed-trench closure. Delaying the planting date can also be important for quick plant development to reduce slugs and grub damage.
Do not plant ahead of a cold rain. Corn hybrids prefer warmer soil conditions, particularly in the first 24 hours after planting.
Seed germination under no-till is less consistent during transition. Consider increasing seed population 10-20% over past rates. Exact seeding rates are dependent on soil types, yield goals and planting conditions, so consult your agronomist or seed dealer for more advice regarding the ideal plant population.
If the planter/drill is set up correctly for no-till and planting conditions are good, it should not be necessary to increase the seeding rate.
Farmers transitioning to no-till may want to adjust their seeding depth. Producers often plant no-till corn too shallow, thinking they’re placing the seed in a warmer environment for quicker emergence. Planting deeper does place seeds in slightly cooler soils, but temperatures are usually more uniform and buffered by residue from nighttime lows. The result is more uniform emergence.
IN DEEP. Soybeans seeded at a depth of 1.5 inches have better emergence than soybeans planted deeper. OMAFRA Field Crop Team
Be thoughtful about row arrangement. Avoid planting through the previous year’s root balls and stalks by planting down the previous year’s row center or planting at a diagonal to the previous years’ planting.
Traveling too fast often causes one or more of the planter parts to work poorly, resulting in poor depth control or insufficient seed-to-soil contact. A traditional no-till planter can rarely be driven faster than 5 mph and still plant effectively. Most often, 3-4 mph should be the maximum speed.
Farmers that were accustomed to incorporating fertilizer and manure using tillage should consider in-furrow or beside the row starter fertilizer at time of planting.
Applying starter fertilizer in no-till systems helps overcome slow growth because of low soil temperatures at the early growth stages. Some no-till planters use liquid starter fertilizer solutions that are delivered to the seed furrow through a tube that feeds through the seed firmer.
Early nitrogen is very important. Band starter nitrogen beside the row. In-furrow “pop-up” fertilizer can be an especially helpful tool for early season germination and growth.
Soil Moisture Content
One of the most challenging and most important elements of no-till is determining if the soil moisture is right for planting. Planting in soil that is too wet or too dry will decrease yields.
If the soil moisture content is near field capacity and the soil molds easily in your hand, it is probably too wet for planting. Under wet soil conditions, the seed slot will not close properly and the sidewalls of the slot will smear or cause sidewall compaction. That can reduce seed-to-soil contact or result in a hard sidewall that is difficult for young roots to penetrate.
Too Wet:
- Residue is difficult to cut
- Risk of sidewall compaction
- Increased prevalence of soil diseases
- Risk poor slot closure
- Increase potential for slug damage
Too Dry:
- Harder to penetrate soil
- Risk poor slot closure if proper depth is not achieved
Methods for Assessing Planting Conditions:
- Collect a handful of soil from your desired planting depth and squeeze the soil in your fist. If moisture and soil cling to your palm, the soil is too wet.
- Take a similar soil sample and form it into a loose ball and drop it to the ground from about waist-high. If the ball remains mostly intact or breaks into only a few pieces, the soil is too wet.
Differences in fields due to soil types, moisture conditions, previous tillage and residue levels can affect the depth and operation of the planter in different ways. Seed depth should be checked at the beginning of each new field and throughout the day, particularly when changes are suspected in field conditions.
Accurate and uniform seeding depth is critical to successful no-till implementation. Seeds planted at uneven depths will be exposed to different soil temperature and moisture levels; this results in uneven germination and significant yield loss.
Plant corn between 2 and 3 inches deep, and plant soybeans between 1 and 1.5 inches deep. The optimal seeding depth within those ranges will differ across sites and time.
Plant shallower under the following conditions:
- Cool soil
- Heavy clay soils
- Moist soil
- High residues
- When planting earlier in the season
Plant deeper under the following conditions:
- Dry soils
- Course soils
- When planting later in the season
- Hairpinning of residue is a problem
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6 Tips for Maintaining No-Till Coulters
For no-tillers who choose to use coulters, here are a few tips:
1. If running a coulter, be sure to adjust it and run it above seed depth. “A lot of farmers never adjust the depth of their coulters,” says Andy Thompson, a territory manager with Yetter Mfg. “If you’re going to use a coulter, put new V opener blades on, put brand new coulter blades on, and then level the planter and adjust the coulter so it’s ¼-3/8 of an inch above the bottom of the seed depth. Then at the end of the season, go through and adjust as needed for the next year.”
2. If choosing to use a coulter, be sure to place a residue manager in front of it. “The goal is to never penetrate the soil until after the residue is moved — that’s our best-case scenario,” Thompson says. “If we don’t do a good job with that and there’s residue in the way when the coulter comes through, we’re much more likely to get hairpinning.”
3. Advertised seed trench widths are approximate and relative to speed. Higher-than-average speeds will result in more soil disturbance. For instance, a 16-inch 13-wave coulter may have an advertised seed trench width of 1 inch, but if the planter is running at 8-10 mph, Thompson says, the seed trench will be more like 2 inches.
“It’s kind of like if you were to vibrate you fingers in water,” says Thompson. “The faster you wiggle your fingers, the further the waves move outward.”
4. Sharpen coulters as needed. If the soil is dry and hard, coulters may not need to be sharpened as often as when soil is wet and soft. But how sharp is sharp? Coulters that are too sharp will chip or bend easily, so the best bet is to keep them sharpened to a 45-degree angle.
5. Ultimately whether or not coulters are beneficial depends on soil condition and planter operation. By driving too fast and making a wide cut, you’ll have trouble adequately covering the seed furrow.
6. You also need enough weight to get the coulter into the ground — 500 pounds per row is a rough guideline. Add-on weights and adjustable pressure can help, but you’ll need to experiment with your own soil types and residue conditions to find the exact amount of weight.
