FARGO, N.D. – Long-term corn economics look good, but corn expansion may be hindered by the traditional idea that seed singularization with a specialized corn planter is mandatory for top yield.
“That’s the way it used to be, but it’s not the situation anymore,” said Kevin Anderson of Horsch Anderson Seeding Systems in Andover, South Dakota.
“With the right distribution system, you can achieve the same maximum yield with an air drill. What we found this year (2007) is that in dry land corn with a dry summer, the air drill with mid row banded N gives consistently better yields than the conventional corn planters.”
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Anderson has conducted side-by-side trials in recent years, comparing various corn planters to his Horsch Anderson drill. The conventional planters are set up for 30 inch row spacing. The Horsch Anderson air drill is set up for 30 inch row spacing with mid row banding 15 inches from each seed run.
In most years, the yields have been almost identical with the latest high-yielding hybrid varieties. But this summer held some surprises.
Spring and early summer were wet in South Dakota. When it turned hot and dry, the plants seeded with a dedicated corn planter shriveled because their root network was weak. The plants seeded with his air drill thrived because the brace roots had already gone searching for the mid row nitrogen and were consequently able to access more moisture.
Anderson also said the conventional corn planter design is 35 years old and has not kept up with the times. It was designed for a seedbed that was cultivated and worked fine, which is not the way farmers do it today.
“Now that we’ve removed tillage from the scene, the conventional corn planter is obsolete. It creates such a bad seed environment that even the best and latest hybrids fall apart if the growing conditions turn bad. That’s what we saw in 2007,” he said.
“The corn planter packs the soil so hard, especially in wet conditions like we had this year. It’s too much compaction. Your plant cannot develop a good root system when it’s packed in concrete. The typical row planting unit applies more than 25 pounds per sq. inch on every inch of soil it contacts. And that’s not considering the additional compaction caused by the forward rolling action.”
He said the brace roots always develop first because they need to support the tall corn stalk. These roots can travel farther in loose soil. If overpacked soil hampers the early development of the brace roots, the result is a corn plant that cannot obtain all the moisture and fertility it requires.
“Corn loves mid-season fertility,” Anderson said.
“That’s what we accomplish with mid row N. Half our N goes down the hose – below the seed to feed the plant early in the season. But logically, that N gets used up in the early growth stages.
“With more N placed 15 inches off to the side through the mid row hose, the plant roots find it at just about the right time, when they really want it.
“Our research shows a good N extraction rate with this system. We extract seven tenths or eight tenths of a pound of N per bushel of corn. That’s because mid row placement puts it into the soil where it doesn’t get tied up by the residue.”
Anderson said farmers are reluctant to seed corn with an air drill because of the old singularization myth that each and every corn kernel must be placed exactly the same distance apart.
This was true with the older varieties, in which sloppy seed spacing always resulted in lower yields.
Perfect spacing, known as singularization, provided higher yields because the plants competed equally for moisture, sunlight and nutrients. Once the populations got up to 35,000 plants per acre, the potential benefit of more plants cancelled itself out as the plants cancelled one another out.
In the past five years, plant breeders have developed high-performance corn varieties that no longer require perfect spacing between seeds. Plant populations are now in the area of 40,000 or more per acre.
To get these higher population numbers, some producers have switched to 20 inch row spacing, but Anderson doesn’t think that’s necessary.
Rather, he viewed the new development in hybrids as an opportunity to expand the role of air drills and allow growers to reduce their implement inventory.
He reasoned that if seed singularization has become less critical, then it’s more feasible to hit maximum corn yield seeding with an air drill.
“Some guys change their row spacing, but we can now accomplish the same thing with the air drill. We do it with a twin row opener, seven and a half inches wide, on 30 inch spacing,” he said. “In side by side field tests using the latest race horse hybrids, we achieve the same maximum yield with this air drill as with the dedicated corn planter.
“There’s no question that our singularization is not quite as good as you get with a real corn planter, but that’s not an issue anymore. And even if we get two kernels coming down the hose at the same time, they have a chance to spread out because the opener gives them seven and a half inches of seedbed side to side.”
Anderson said the distribution system required a lot of research and development to fine-tune the manifold, hose sizes, stainless steel components and the new poly plastic wedges.
It uses only two manifolds, one for each side of the drill. The manifold body and ports are all stainless steel. The corn half-division insert is for 12 rows on 30 inch centres. The other insert is for 24 rows on 15 inch centres, designed for all crops other than corn.
“The key is we only distribute each seed one time. We do not take it out of the tank and bring it up two or three times. We get exactly the right number of seeds going to each manifold initially and each seed moves from just that one manifold directly to the opener. So the flow must be divided correctly right at the meter,” he said. “The entire system is engineered so the airflow and product are timed. Each port goes to a specific opener, based on the timing of the product movement starting at the meter.
“The ports are colour coded. White is for a fertilizer source. Yellow is for a seed source. The number on each port co-ordinates with the timing mark of that row and also with the co-ordinating sensor.
The sensor on each run tells you what’s happening in that run and gives you the plant population as you’re seeding.”
He said air systems usually result in a residue of seed treatment or granular fertilizer on high humidity days. When that happens, the distribution accuracy falls apart.
“Our variability co-efficient is under two percent, whether we seed all 30 rows or 15 corn rows. That’s not quite as good as a corn drum, but it’s almost there,” he said. “We can achieve that accuracy in humid conditions because all the materials in the system have a very low co-efficient of friction. The distribution wedges we finally settled on are extremely low friction poly. There’s no build up of seed treatment or granular fertilizer, even on high humidity days.”
Anderson thinks the ethanol fueled corn trend that has swept the United States will soon spread onto the Canadian Prairies. He said when that happens, his drill will play a major role.
“This lets a producer put those high yielding corn hybrids into his rotation without spending the money to buy a dedicated corn planter. There are just four screws on the top of each manifold, so it’s a matter of minutes to switch between corn and all other crops.”
For more information, contact Kevin Anderson at 866-705-9528 or visit www.horschanderson.com.
