12 Reasons Why You Should Never Split Your Planter!

  1. Without knowing emergence ratings, varieties won’t emerge within 24 hours of each other.
  2. To avoid negative effects of post-planting nutrient and pest control management strategies on varieties in different stages.
  3. Without knowing when each of the varieties need nutrients, over all field yield decreases.
  4. Without knowing flowering dates, there is no assurance enough pollen will be available for the field in the event excessive heat or wet weather delays silking.
  5. Growers must know days to black layer of each variety to have uniform moistures at harvest time.
  6. Growers must know rates of dry down, stalk ratings, standability ratings and overall expectations of plant health for each variety.
  7. Exact plant heights must be known to make sure rate of growth differences don’t overshadow one variety causing adjacent rows to yield less.
  8. 95% of what goes into a corn plant comes out of the air in the form of CO2, H2O and sunlight. Any interruption at any time during the growing season can have devastating effects on a variety.
  9. It is nearly impossible to fix a problem with one of the varieties should it occur. Fields can’t be replanted when they are mixed, and not even on the planter rows.
  10. It is very difficult to stop a disease or insect infestation that starts in one variety and moves to another.
  11. Any difference in maturity between varieties prolongs the length of time that damaging insects remain in a field.
  12. Growers won’t learn about differences in genetic abilities of varieties because rather than narrowing down the variables, they are increased geometrically and distort performance of all varieties.

We get this question a lot when stressing the importance of not splitting the planter. It’s essential to remember to keep your eye on the prize, achieving the highest yields possible. Achieving top yields is not a matter of doing one thing a 1000% better, but doing a thousand things 1% better. So stay focused on the real goal this spring and not on convenience. Use the following options instead of splitting your planter.

  • Plant your refuges in blocks
  • Plant your refuges around the perimeter of the field
  • Use an adjacent field for refuges

Happy Planting
Steve O’Neill

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