Nice weather of late has farmers out in the field getting some work done and, in a few cases, putting seed in the ground. The latest Purdue Crop Chat, a podcast featuring Purdue Extension specialists Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn and ‘Soybean Shaun’ Casteel, is available now from Hoosier Ag Today on our website and wherever you listen to podcasts.
With soybeans getting planted earlier and earlier, Casteel suggests farmers take a good look at the tags on those seed bags to find germ scores. If they’re not there, contact your seed rep.
“See if you can get some vigor scores or some cool germination scores. So, then it’s like, okay, of the three or four varieties I have, this lot is the one that has better vigor or has better cold germ scores. You better be thinking about putting those out first.”
Quinn emphasizes planter maintenance on the podcast, saying that most farmers do this really well, but the road to even and consistent emergence begins with that planter.
“The depth consistency, the furrow. Any issues that we have with that seed in terms of compaction with the furrow… So, it starts with the row cleaners. It starts with what the down pressure is. Think about the closing wheels, the starter system. There are so many different components on that planter. So, doing everything you can to make sure things are maintained well, parts are replaced where it needs to be, things are set well. There are a lot of good tools to check every row and make sure the depth is consistent across that entire planter.”
With the recent stretch of warmer weather, Casteel adds that those with cover crops, particularly cereal rye, should have a plan together sooner rather than later.
“Are you looking to get on a lot of biomass? Are you looking to get shin-high kind of biomass? That might come a little bit earlier than it did last year. Last year we were mid-April. With that kind of a target, if that’s where you’re at, it may be (this) week depending on what kind of seeding rates that you put out with the cereal rye.”
Catch the Purdue Crop Chat now wherever you listen to podcasts and hear Casteel gloat a little bit about how corn is no longer king in Indiana, being dethroned as soybean acres once again eclipse corn acres in Indiana this season.
