Spring planting best practices

Chris: We are grateful that you are joining us for another episode of the Ag View Pitch, as we know that your time is very valuable. Our team at Ag View Solutions is always here for you for any questions or comments that you may have. Please feel free to reach out to us at cbarron@agviewsolutions.com. And now here is your host, Chris Barron. Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. This is going to be a special conversation here on best practices for planting It's that time of year and we have Troy Detmeyer with us. Troy, how's it going?

Troy

Deutmeyer: I'm doing well. How are you this morning, Chris?

Chris: Well, I'm doing great. We got, uh, we got Mr. Pioneer on here. Uh, you're one of the agronomists that actually we use in our farm operation and, and do a great job of just helping us and educating us a lot on a lot of different topics. And what I wanted to hit on today with you is just talk about, you know, some of the, some of the principles of spring planting season. I know even in our operation, we have little debates about what should we go today? Should we go tomorrow? You know, the forecast says this, it might rain the next day, get all these things. And the one thing I want to say before I ask you this first question is my dad always used to have a saying, stop looking at the damn calendar and look at the conditions. And he meant that early and he meant that late. In other words, you know, sometimes early, you know, earlier than you feel comfortable planting.

A lot of times the conditions are good and the calendar can cause you to not roll when maybe you should. Conversely, when it gets late, the calendar might make you go when you shouldn't. And that was always his thing was, you know, the soil conditions are the most important thing. I guess I just wanted to lead with that. From there, go ahead and give us your two cents on that.

Troy

Deutmeyer: I completely agree, Chris. And, you know, having fit soil conditions is always number one, no matter what the calendar date is. And I guess the conversations I've been having the last couple days with customers here in northeast Iowa is, you know, the insurance companies have pretty good statisticians working for them along with a bunch of data. You know, their data shows that once we reach April 10th for corn and April 15th range for soybeans, that, you know, their data shows there's a pretty good chance that you won't have to, have to replant. And so I think that's something to keep in mind.

If the insurance companies are okay with insuring us on a replant policy for this point on the calendar, I think we're at the time of year now where we can kind of throw the calendar away as far as early plant decisions and just know that, you know, there is a chance of a first week of May frost, you know, that could happen. But we've got some awfully good conditions for planting corn and soybeans right now here in northeast Iowa. So I think if guys want to get rolling, get the dust off the planter and, or get dust on the planter, I should say, you know, I think they can feel comfortable getting started.

Chris: Yeah, we have a pretty wide range of people listening to this. And so as we record this here, what is today, the 12th of, of April, as we record this, um, you have guys listening to this that still have a foot and a half of snow on the ground in the Dakotas, and then you've got people in Texas that are done, and you've got a whole bunch of people in between that are at various stages. And so I want to stick on the soil, discussion for a minute. Um, you know, soil conditions, you know, if like I was in a field yesterday that, that had tile in most of it, but boy, when you got to the area where there was not as much or not tile, conditions weren't quite like you would think they would be. Um, what's your thoughts on, on, on soil conditions just as in general? I mean, if it's early, do you have more risk if the soil conditions aren't quite as good, or, or two cents on that?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, I think there is a little bit of added risk there because we know that when we plant early, we're going to have temperature fluctuations. And if you're working soil that's not fit and even planting into it, that's especially planting into it when it's not fit, you're just going to add one more stress as far as sidewall compaction and maybe crusting and things like that. So yeah, it, if you got areas of the field that aren't fit, you know, and it's as early as it is, that's probably an indication that that field should wait and find another field that does have good conditions that we can work in. Because with the temperature fluctuations that we know that we get with early planting, that, you know, that's one stress that the plant is going to have to get through. And if you start adding additional stresses on there, that will reduce our chances of success.

Chris: Okay, that's what I figured you'd say. So another question for you here. Temperatures. So one of the debates that happens a lot in an early spring is okay, well, it's going to be warm, it's going to be in the 80s for a few days. And so planters roll and then they're talking, you know, cooler weather, maybe not super cold, but cooler weather. Is there a difference if it's if that cooler weather brings in dry air, or if it brings in wet air, you know, or wet conditions, do you keep planting or do you stop? Or under what conditions do you keep rolling? Or what conditions do you park the planter for a day or two?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Sure. So one of the things I guess that we've noticed over the past few seasons, Chris, is the fact that we want to probably stop planting within 24 hours before we're really going to see a drastic drop in those soil temps, and especially— you know, as those soil temps would get below 50 and especially 45 degrees. So if it's just cold air, you probably have a little bit more leeway because that soil temperature won't change as quickly as it will when precipitation comes. So, you know, we're there talking a front coming through the Corn Belt here on maybe Friday, Saturday, depending on where you're at, you know, with half-inch rainfall and things like that. Well, you get a half-inch, a 30-degree or 35-degree rain, it can really pull soil temperatures down quickly versus if you just have a cold front come through with no precipitation.

You know, it might take actually 2 to maybe 3 days before those soil temps get down into a, you know, concerning level. And the one thing is, is with corn and soybeans, typically they imbibe most of their water to begin the germination process within those first 24 to maybe 36 hours at most. And that's why if we give those plants, those seeds, that 24 to 36 hours before they get that cold shock. After that, they can actually get, get, get pretty darn cold and still be fine. You probably remember probably 7 or 8 years ago, you know, we had a spring like this, guys got some corn in, the conditions were great, soil temps were warm, we ended up getting 4 inches of snow on top of it, soil temps went down to, you know, the mid-30s.

But because those plants, those seeds had more than 24 hours before they got shocked, Majority of those fields actually were some of the guys' highest yielding fields that year because we were out of the, we were out of the fields for nearly 4 weeks after that.

Chris: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's interesting. And, and, and that's just it, you know, I think that timing thing is a big thing for people to understand. And you've got, you guys have enough data on all that and you've seen, and you've had that experience enough times too, because we've seen the same thing. We've had, soybeans planted, we've planted soybeans early for years. There's been a lot of years where we've had snow on the soybeans, but when you're planting them and soil conditions are warm and, you know, you get several days in the 80s, it seems like they'll sit there for a while and wait, you know, as long as that first drink of water or that, you know, for the seed is, is above 50 degrees, it seems like it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, that first drink is critically important.. And, um, you know, with the genetics and especially the seed treatments that are on, um, both corn and soybeans now, if they can get that first warm drink for 24 hours in good soil conditions, they're, they're awful hardy anymore.

Chris: So, you know, one thing that happens with a lot of guys is you get rolling, it's really hard to park the planter, it's really hard to shut stuff off, right? You know, you, you start that first day and get everything working and then you get going and then you get going faster and faster and you start winding it tighter and tighter. You know, how do you, how do you tell these guys to park something? Because it is tough, you know, especially if the conditions are good. You know, the forecast, you know, like what we have coming now is, you know, looks like not very good chance of rain, but cooler, not super cold. Does a guy keep planting in that kind of situation?, just because of, you know, where you're at, or do you park, or what do you do? That's, that's the throw you under the bus question here.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, it is a throw me under the bus question, so I really, I really appreciate you doing that to me. I think it comes down to your own personal risk tolerance as well as how many days of planting does it take your operation to complete the planting season. You know, if you're a small to medium-sized farmer that you know, can get everything planted in 5 to 7 days. You know, I think that we can get a part of the crop in and if and then wait, wait it out and then continue to move. If it takes you, you know, 2, 2.5 weeks to get everything planted, then you know, then you probably just kind of keep going. I don't think we're in a situation with the calendar the way it is, we have to run around the clock, like it's the middle of May. But, uh, you know, that, that's just a risk assessment that, you know, everybody has to make on their own.

You know, what's your sleep factor at night? Yeah. And, uh, you know, and it just comes back to, you know, whether it gets cold shocked or, you know, whether we get a May frost or something like that. You have to live with this decision that you made. And so it's an operation-by-operation decision. But, you know, history would tell us that if you give those plants, those seeds, I should say, you know, that 24 hours before they get shocked, you know, they're going to be fine. So if your forecast is looking like it's just going to be cool weather and no rain, you know, I would be more entitled to encourage guys that they could keep planting and feel pretty comfortable with that decision.

If your local forecast is showing, you know, here we're going to get a half inch of rain, or some places it looks like they might even get some snow out of this upcoming system, You know, that's where we want to really respect that 24-hour rule.

Chris: Mm-hmm. Gotcha. Let's shift gears to a couple other more topics here before we wrap up. Population on soybeans, early planting, soil conditions are good. What's, you know, a lot of people in the last few years have been cutting that population back some. We had such good seed treatment. What's your, you know, general rule of thumb for producers to be thinking about when they're, when they're looking at population for soybeans?

Troy

Deutmeyer: You know, populations for soybeans, like you said, Chris, have been coming down, especially in the high yield areas. We're seeing that we can be backing off on populations. In the low yield areas, we actually need to be increasing. On average right now in my area, guys are probably putting in about 140K. On some of these really high yield areas, they may be down to 110 to 120K. Thousand, and then in the poorer spots we're looking at 160,000 to 170,000 seeds per acre. You know, as far as if you're concerned about planting in these early conditions and maybe things turning cold and losing a little bit of stand, general rule of thumb, if you want to add 10%, you know, that, that would probably be an okay number to go ahead and add 10% if you're concerned about losing some, but I really wouldn't go any higher than that just from the fact that beans do a great job of compensating.

And, you know, the other thing, like he said, is the seed treatments now are so strong that, you know, beans in the ground 3 to 4 weeks seems like we can still achieve an excellent stand. So that's kind of some ballpark figures I think guys can work with. And obviously check with your local agronomist and, you know, your local seed dealer to see what— if they have any more refined numbers than that for your local area.

Chris: Yeah, it's— that's a decent spread, you know, that 110 in this, you know, in the heavier, you know, high-productive areas, up to 160 in the less productive areas. When you— when a person does that, you know, it tells me that, you know, your variable rate seeding on soybeans is just as important as it is with corn.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, we've actually seen in some of our studies that on a dollar per acre, you know, revenue standpoint, on these variable fields, variable rate seeding on soybeans can actually be as or more profitable than, than doing it with corn. So yeah, urge guys to, if they haven't tried it, to try it on a field or two, and I think they might be very pleased on what they find.

Chris: Yeah, instead of planting a flat rate of 140, you might have that range of 110 to 160 and you're putting the seed where it needs to be and, and taking advantage of that. How about, how about corn? What are you, what are you seeing on populations there? And I know it's hybrid specific, but any comments on corn population? And, and you can hit placement and some stuff on that conversation as well.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Sure, you know, on the corn, as far as variable rate seeding goes, you know, we It's just the opposite of soybeans. We back off in the lighter textured, lower yield areas and, you know, use our higher rates on the good soils. I do have customers on some pretty light stuff, you know, getting down into the mid-20s. And we would probably actually go a little bit lower than that, Chris, but it just comes down to you need enough canopy for weed control. And probably on the high side anymore, at least for a lot of our genetics at Pioneer, we probably don't go much more than 34,000, 35,000 even if we think we got 300-bushel yield potential. The kernel flex that we see now can really, if conditions permit, we can really get astounding yields off of, you know, 34,000 to 35,000 seeds per acre.

We can achieve, you know, we can achieve those 300-bushel yields if that's what a guy is going for. And I'll make that note as well on soybeans that we should talk about as guys do push lower seeding rates on soybeans, we really need to make sure that we keep an eye on what we're— how we're managing our weeds. And we're going to need to have really strong soil residual herbicide programs if you are going that low, because we do know that higher seeding rates do canopy quicker. And obviously that's an important cultural practice to help us manage, manage weeds. So that's the one thing that as guys lower seeding rates, we found that we maybe have to up our residual herbicide to maintain that weed-free area until we hit canopy.

Chris: Interesting. Yeah, that's a good, good point. And then, you know, everybody's situation is a little different too. I know we, we're still, we plant in 30-inch rows and we've had pretty good luck with that. And, you know, and a lot of guys seems like maybe with the narrower rows, can you go even a little lower population quicker than you could with, say, 30-inch rows, or is there a difference there?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Uh, there does seem to be a little bit of difference in the row spacing, but where we start to see a lot of the yield difference, at least for us, in row spacing is as we get later into the growing season, then the narrower rows become more important. Actually, a lot of our data in Iowa now supports the fact that if we're planting before, say, the 5th of May, uh, somewhere in that area, 30-inch rows can yield just as well as narrow rows. And I think that comes back to how good our planters are compared to maybe some of the drills and air seeders. Precision placement of soybeans is really important. And actually, the studies that I've done along with some of my counterparts has shown that uniformity of emergence in soybeans is just as important as it is in corn.

So sometimes in the past, we've gotten that false inclination of, you know, we can just kind of throw soybeans in the ground and, and if we're really wanting to achieve high yields, start working at that 8,800-bushel soybean yield level, we need to do as precise a job of placing that seed as we do with our corn. And that's where that 30-inch row planter, I feel, can have some advantages over the narrow rows.

Chris: Yeah, that's kind of what we're starting to see. We got high-speed planters a couple years ago, and the precision in the soybeans, you can singulate that soybean and Like you said, you get that real even emergence and stuff, and it seems like that, that really can be an advantage for sure. Another thing I want to talk about is seeding depth. As you know, the, the weather is warm, the weather is cold, and people like to mess around or wonder anyway if they should be adjusting depth. Talk seeding depth for both corn and soybeans, if you would.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, I'm not sure where it originated from. There's a lot of times when it's going to be cold or early planting. I get phone calls from people saying, well, we're going to shallow things up to help it get out of the ground quicker. And that's actually probably one of the last things we want to do. We want to actually maintain our soil planting depths, just because the fact that the deeper you have that seed, the less fluctuation that that seed is going to see in temperatures. And so, you know, we're, we're in our area here, we're pretty adamant about 2.25 on corn, and for sure 1.25, but most likely 1.5 inches on soybeans. And one of the things that we have found is when we talk about the uniform emergence is the deeper you go into the soil profile, the more uniform your temperature and your moisture is from seed to seed.

And You know, that's what's going to drive germination, which then drives emergence. So let's just make sure that we don't shallow things up. And one of the things we have been seeing, as you mentioned, you know, high-speed planters, is guys maybe get out and they're setting their planter at 5 or 6 miles an hour and everything looks good, and then all of a sudden they start driving 9, 10, 11 miles an hour. And those planters are just like a boat. The faster you go, the more that they want to come up out of the water. Like a boat or the planter wants to come out of the soil. So one of the things we've seen with the high speeds here over the past few years is some shallow seeding depths. And so we want to make sure that we maintain our ground contact.

And then that's where planting into fit soils comes into play because in order to maintain our ground contact as well as our seeding depth at high speeds, we have to put more down pressure. More down pressure means better chance of sidewall compaction. Sidewall compaction means we can't get the slot closed. And so We have seen a fair amount of air pockets at the bottom of some of these seed trenches as guys, you know, plant faster and increase the down pressure. So seems like starting off with about a 96-97% ground contact number and then start doing some digging, you know, might be a pretty good area to start. It seems like sometimes, especially with wet soil, if we're always running 100% ground contact all the time, we've got a pretty tough sidewall to close. So just something for guys to keep in mind and watch out for.

Chris: Yeah, are there any other planter setting issues that you would say, hey guys, you know, make sure you think about this planter setting here, or, you know, any other ones that you see?

Troy

Deutmeyer: You know, one of the things, and, you know, with the adjustable from the cab row cleaners have, has really seemed to help as well, you know, either running those too deep or too shallow. Can be a big difference in how our crop emerges. So we just want to make sure that, you know, we're getting the residue out of the way, but we're not, you know, moving a bunch of soil, I guess, is probably one another setting that we see. And depending on, you know, your down pressure settings, I think there's probably room for improvements in our closing system pressures as well. And, you know, just, it's just gonna be something you have to play around with. And, you know, I'm, I'm a fan of that guy that's tendering seed after the planter starts rolling again.

Instead of driving back to get the next load of seed, you know, spend 15-20 minutes digging behind the planter and, and dig each row, um, you know, the pinch rows and the guest rows and all the way across, and you'll be able to diagnose some problems before all of a sudden they turn into a whole planting season problem.

Chris: Yeah, and don't do it on the end rows. Get out in the field where the planter was going the speed that it is going to be going.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Right, exactly, exactly.

Chris: Another thing that we see sometimes too is, you know, you'll, you'll be planting in a field like in our situation, we have some strip till, we have some tilled, we have some no-till. You know, you go from one field to the next, even if the tillage system is the same. There could be a tremendous amount of variability difference just because you get into different soils or you get into different, you know, you drive down the road 10 miles to the next farm and, and you've had a different moisture content or, or thing. Um, any comments on just those variable conditions to just getting things reset, or do you ever see that kind of issue when, you know, when guys—

Troy

Deutmeyer: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. When they go from field to field, we've actually seen different differences within fields. You know, you start right away in the morning after the moisture wicked up and things are a little bit tacky versus, you know, 2 hours later when you're wrapping up the field and things have dried out. So, um, yeah, just always, like I said, always take the time to either stop the planter for a little bit and go dig or have someone specifically in your operation that that's one of their main jobs is just constantly digging behind that that planter and making sure that things are going well. Because, you know, you have a sensor go bad, or maybe if you have airbags, you got a little bit of a leak or something like that. And you can cover a lot of ground and put in a lot of acres that have an issue.

And unless you have somebody looking constantly, or frequently, I should say, you know, we can, we can make some mistakes.

Chris: I like the idea of training your seed tender guy to, you know, to be the seasonal agronomist, you know, that gives them a level of responsibility that's meaningful to them probably too. And also, you know, it's, I always relate stuff to NASCAR, it's kind of like your, your pit crew, you know, is a lot of times more important than the person driving the planter anymore, it's going to drive itself, but You know, the pit crew getting all of everything dialed in is where the money's made. You know, it's not made sitting in the seat driving across the field. It's just having things set. Yeah.

Troy

Deutmeyer: And one thing I'd encourage guys to do, you know, traditionally we just kind of take our screwdriver or pocket knife or whatever and we dig from the top down. And what I really encourage guys to do is, you know, have a spade or shovel or something like that. Garden trowel and, you know, dig down and then pull that back towards you so you can actually look into and see a cross-section of your seed trench. What that'll do is it'll help reveal if there are any air pockets, because a lot of times if you dig straight down, you're crumbling soil down into the bottom of the trench, so you wouldn't be able to really know if there's an air pocket there. And then the other thing is when you do that and you're able to see that cross-section of that trench, You're also able to see if you have sidewall compaction a lot easier when you're looking into it.

So something to kind of keep in mind, a shovel or trowel to give you, to give you a different view can, can reveal things that you might not see otherwise.

Chris: Takes a little longer to find the seed, but it's a much more accurate look at what's really going on. I know my, you know, in our situation, you said 2 and a quarter for corn. A lot of times people see that and they're like, holy crap, that's deep, you know, but that's where you should have the seed, you know. It just, I think if anything, and unless you see something different, but I think that's probably one of the biggest issues or things that people probably have a tendency to do is maybe just plant a little bit too shallow on the corn. Yeah.

Troy

Deutmeyer: So I've been doing this over 25 years now and I can count on probably one hand the number of times I've been out on a service call where the corn was planted too deep. And I go on numerous ones every season where either emergence issues or standability issues when the July winds come blowing because of too shallow. So if you're ever in doubt, bring it down another notch or two and you'll probably be glad. The other thing, especially in tilled soil, especially with some of the conditions we're having right now, things are working up so fluffy and fine that a lot of times that soil is going to settle another, you know, quarter to half inch here once we get some rain. And so now all of a sudden that 2-inch plant depth that you thought you had is now an inch and three-quarters or an inch and a half once all the soil settles.

And then we know that we don't get proper nodal root development and things like that once we start getting too shallow. So actually Precision Planting just had a really good, in their winter conference had a really good study on that showing that you might lose a couple bushels going too deep, but by the time they got down to an inch and a half, they had lost like 10 or 15 bushels. So again, err on the side of deeper.

Chris: Right. Last question, herbicides. We get windy days, and so you don't get as much time to spray as you do everything else, and people Kind of need to keep things moving with that. Any comments on herbicide application, pre stuff or anything? Any comments on that?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, the big focus would be the soybean pre, you know, the, some of those products obviously we can't use post-emerge in soybeans. So that would be my focus is, is getting those soybean pre on corn. We have a lot more forgiveness in our herbicide programs, whether we get them on pre or post. But many of our pres, like your Authority Valor kind of type products in soybeans, we can only use, you know, pre-emerge. So that would be my priority. And actually, for those people who are maybe, you know, waiting this out until next week until they feel more comfortable with the calendar date, now would be an awesome time to go ahead and get those pres on those no-till acres. And, um, you know, let it get rained in possibly this weekend, and then you're, you're set and ready to go.

So that way, if it does turn warm when you plant, like we had last year, you know, we planted in 5, 6 days, the beans were up, well, then all of a sudden we lost half of our herbicide program because of that. The other thing is this looks to be an excellent opportunity as well to get our cover crops, you know, killed and terminated, I guess I should say. You know, last year, it was just so cold for so long. A lot of times we— it was just too cold that we couldn't spray because we were afraid that it wasn't going to kill the COVID crop. We have some opportunity here to go ahead and get that taken care of as well.

Chris: Mm-hmm. Gotcha. All right. Well, I think that was a pretty comprehensive list of best practices. Troy, as usual, you have a lot of, a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience, and get to see a lot of things. And any final comments, anything you want to say to listeners, and we'll wrap her up.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, just everybody have a safe planting season. You know, biggest thing is to get home to your family every night. And, you know, we're early yet, there's no sense in rushing. And last year we didn't start until the 10th of May around here, and everything just turned out just fine. And actually we had one of the best crops we ever had. So let's just make sure that we don't get the crazies too soon and keep her safe.

Chris: That's probably the best advice. We all want to get home to our families and, you know, safety is paramount and getting your rest. It's easy to get rolling and think you got to keep going and finish that field or whatever. The forecast's good, you can, you know, you can turn the key off and go home and sleep and you'll be better the next day. So, yeah. All right. Well, hey, again, thanks a lot, Troy. And also want to thank everybody. For listening to. And, uh, if you're not subscribed to the Ag View Pitch, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. We're on Apple, we're on Spotify, and lots of different areas. So with that said, appreciate everybody, and we'll catch you again next time on the Ag View Pitch.