“I’m hoping that you would have had your planter in the shop over winter … and you would have done your inspections on gauge wheel arms, gauge wheels, things like that,” said Eric Bossuyt, account manager with AgWest in Russell, Man.

Ideally, storing a planter in a shop makes inspections easier and keeps it out of the weather, but that’s not always possible.

Bossuyt added that operators should also inspect meter units to make sure seals are intact. Adding some graphite lube to the seed disc while they’re in there also helps to keep them spinning smoothly.

Hose connections should be given a close look to make sure they are secure and that no splits have occurred while in storage, especially if the planter was stored outside.

Bossuyt said ultraviolet light weakens plastic hoses over time when exposed to the sun and can lead to holes, resulting in vacuum loss within the system.

Preparing for downtime

No matter how well prepared you may be when planting season begins, malfunctions or breakdowns can happen in the blink of an eye.

Bossuyt said that a common trouble spot for growers at planting season is poor singulation.

This is often caused by a hole in a hose causing vacuum loss or worn internal parts on the meters themselves, whether your doubles eliminator is worn or the seed disc is having some issues if it’s too tight.”

“Maybe you’re getting surging with the V-drive. Stuff like that can cause missed singulation.”

It may end up being as simple as a misplaced wire or poor contact point, but it’s better to protect your seeding time in the field and check components later.

“That’s going to cause you downtime to try and diagnose what’s going on in the field,” added Bossuyt.

To prepare for these situations, he recommended having at least one spare row for the row unit to swap out individual parts if they malfunction.

“Every module, you should have one spare. That way, you’re not running to the dealership for one little finicky module,” said Bossuyt.

It’s easier to do a quick swap to keep running and the producer can always check on it later if the part is dead or if a contact point wasn’t connecting properly.

Bossuyt also said operators should check their on and off times every season to avoid misses in the field.

These can be caused by technology changes, such as a guidance system, which can lead to poor communication between equipment.

“The hertz might change and you might have frequency issues” said Bossuyt.

Getting started, setups

Before hitting the field, a test run closer to home is always a good idea in case a repair or a part swap-out is needed.

“Pull out the planter and simulate planting,” said Bossuyt.

“Run a few seeds out in the yard, fill it up, do whatever. You just want to make sure all your sensors are working, all your meters are running.”

Bossuyt said this is also a good time to check singulation and GPS timing and to ensure the on and offs are operating as intended.

Any fine tuning can be done in the field once you’ve confirmed everything is in good working order.

Ensuring good seed-to-soil contact should also be done once you’re in the field.

Bossuyt said the biggest thing equipment operators can do in this instance is to get out of the tractor cab.

“Not everybody wants to hear that, but we’ve got to get out,” said Bossuyt,

“We’ve got to be checking if the sun’s beating down and soil is drying up. We might need to adjust our depth or adjust our closing pressure, things like that.”

Several new features allow for more onboard fertilizer options, better seed placement and residue management.

“Planter advancements from John Deere are designed to help ensure the seed has the best chance to get off to a strong start,” says Anthony Styczinski, marketing manager for planters and air seeders.

For model year 2027, Deere planters will have an option for a dual-product fertilizer system that allows operators to carry and apply product in-furrow and/or off to the side. The company says that will give corn plants better access to the right nutrients at the right time in the growth stage, which should lead to higher corn yields.

The dual-product system includes both of the brand’s ExactShot and ExactRate systems.

ExactShot delivers nutrients directly into the seed furrow. Deere claims ExactShot can save growers up to 66 per cent of in-furrow nutrient input needs. ExactRate applies fertilizer off to the side of the furrow.

Planters can now be equipped with dual liquid fertilizer tanks with pumps mounted underneath them connected to stainless steel lines.

Both liquid tanks are equipped with level sensing, so an operator knows how much product is remaining in each tank.

Another update is a new agitation system, which is necessary to keep certain chemical blends suspended for even product coverage. An auxiliary tank option allows for the use of micronutrients, biologicals, fungicides and insecticides.

The dual fertilizer system is available from the factory on model year 2027 1775NT 16 and 24 row and DB60 24 row planters.

“We have thought through the entire planting experience, adding a way for the operators to know exactly what is going on with the planter,” says Styczinski.

“From the tractor cab, a display screen shows both fertilizer products on a single run screen. Additional improvements offer the operator to now select a dose length of four-inch and improvements to the map coverage page.”

Downforce automation

Also new this year to Deere planters is ExactDepth, which is an electric depth control that supports an in-cab, on-the-go range of depth adjustments and individual row unit depth calibrations.

2027 models also get downforce automation with FurrowVision. This automation determines the amount of downforce needed to optimize the furrow based on a number of factors, including initial margin setpoint, soil resistance, furrow health, raw depth, and ground contact.

FurrowVision also helps operators identify when residue is impacting the furrow, allowing them to manually optimize row cleaner settings. It uses three in-furrow cameras to provide real-time sectional views of the furrow, as well as depth measurement readings, residue detection filter and additional quality map layers available through the John Deere Operations Center.

Other features to help manage planter operations through Deere’s Operations Centre have been enhanced for 2027 as well.

Logistics is now available through the Operations Center available with the G5 Advanced license. It provides real-time monitoring of equipment location, work status and product levels. This can give tender drivers or anyone else on the farm detailed information about tank product and seed levels.

“We’re trying to mix and trying to get the best of both worlds, which is a seed drill and a corn planter,” says Laurent Letzler, who manages Horsch Canada, and was at Agritechnica in Germany.

The Solus 1047 SX was on display at the Horsch booth and had a lot of people looking closely and some unique design points.

The goal is to provide the quality of singulation to small seeded crops that is currently possible with corn and soybeans, plant them with the same precision, while maintaining the centre fill tank and the high speed, high volume planting possible with a drill.

“We are at a point where we have good placement with our seed drills, but we can go further,” says Letzler.

That includes dropping the seed into the trench created by the double discs and double gauge wheels common with planters.

One of the challenges of getting the planter equipment into a drill is enough space to maintain narrow row widths required for plants like canola or wheat. The Solus solves that by staggering the longer row units to get to either a nine or 10 inch spacing.

“Because with a 10 inch spacing, imagine the potential. You do your cereals on 10, do your beans on 20 and your corn on 30. So it could be a one machine fits all,” says Letzler.

Another unique feature is the bank of tires running all across the front of the planter row units. The tires help carry the weight of the heavier row units, but also provide some smoothing of the seed bed in front of the row units.

“We also realize that the uniformity of the seeding depends a lot of the uniformity of the seed bed.”

Horsch officials are quick to point out that the unit is currently a concept, but that it seeded 1000 ha of winter wheat this fall.

Self-propelled sprayer updates

Horsch has made some updates to its Leeb sprayer that is the company’s most popular product in Canada.

The well-balanced sprayer with the front cab gets more horsepower for its VL model and it is now available in an 8.7 litre engine with either 460 or 400 hp. The company is also now selling a new Leeb VT model, with adjustable track widths and 5,000 and 6,000 litre capacity.