The month of April is here, and Indiana planters are ready to go to work, or they should be by now. Today’s planter technology presents the opportunity for a multitude of tweaks to make sure seed singulation is the best it can be, which is a critical step in maximizing yield.
DEKALB Asgrow Technical Agronomist Jason Harmon says a lot of farmers have done their calibrating and addressed issues they might have seen last year.
“If you have a newer planter there’s a lot of things you want to make sure that bugs are worked out of,” he said. “But a lot of people ask what’s the population for a certain hybrid. I can list the ranges that I know this hybrid will perform, but if it doesn’t get put in the ground in nice spacing then it kind of throws the population out the window. So start with the planter, then we can really dive into the hybrid and which one’s going to need to have a higher volume to really excel, or which ones can flex through some situations.”
To protect that seed, DEKALB has help for seeds facing early season adversity. Harmon explains Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions ELITE with Enhanced Disease Control, or EDC
“I reach back to last year, 2020’s May, we had that really cold snap and wetness that came along with it and wherever I had our seed treated with EDC it really showed a strong benefit at keeping seedling blights such as pythium at bay early on, and then that plant was able to keep going when we did hit some warmer weather, nodal root set and it was game on, so I think having a good strong seed treatment early up front has proven awesome dividends. So make sure you’re thinking about that when we’re going out here trying to push the envelope. If we see adversity in the forecast make sure you’re protected on that seed coat.”
Three-year-old or newer products come with EDC. It’s been utilized with their Disease Shield lineup and has now been extended to other products so those seeds also benefit from the 3 different modes of action.