-Farm News file photo
A successful planting season begins with a thorough equipment check, while always keeping safety in mind.

With warmer degree days looming, farmers know they need to prep their planting equipment before heading to the fields, which includes calibrating the planter, updating any tech tools and checking tire pressure.

But it’s important to remember safety when tackling these preplanting chores.

Dan Neenan, director of the National Education Center for Agriculture Safety, noted that producers should determine which equipment they’ll need for the spring season and check to make sure all safety machinery guards are in place. Lighting and markings should be checked to ensure they’re visible and working properly, too.

“Remember, we are gaining sunlight as we progress into the spring, but will be out before daylight and after sunset. Try to be as visible as possible to the motoring public,” Neenan said. “This is where the lighting and marking come into play, so they can recognize you and get their foot off the gas as they approach you from behind.”

Growers should check and make sure there’s a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit readily available aboard their tractor.

“A lot of farmers have purchased or rented extra land. Make sure you write down the address or 911 sign number for each property, make copies to put into each vehicle that will travel to each property so if an incident occurs you have the number ready to give the 911 dispatcher,” Neenan said.

Producers also need to read and follow label directions when working with herbicides and pesticides, Neenan said.

Doug Houser, digital agriculture Extension specialist with Iowa State University, said that a few of the key maintenance items that should be tackled include checking the seed openers.

“These blades cut the path in the soil. Inspect them for wear; for example, a standard John Deere or Kinze 15-inch blade should be replaced once it wears down to 14.5 inches. When blades are shimmed correctly, the seed sits at the bottom of the furrow. If they are too far apart, a ‘W’ formation occurs, leaving the seed improperly seated and exposed to air pockets. The gauge wheel arms carry the weight of the row unit and must be inspected for any play or wear that could affect depth consistency. Depth gauge wheels on a device to calibrate the planting depth of a planter row unit.”

A calibration tip Houser suggested calls for performing a pre-season depth calibration to the expected planting depth on a level surface using either a set of blocks the width of your planting depth or by investing in the Set-N-Seed Planter Depth Calibration Tool sold by Shoup.

“Doing this process will make sure each planter row unit and T-handle settings match the actual planting depth in the field,” Houser said.

Additional tasks that should be done before planting, according to Houser, include the following:

• Replace hand-drawn field boundaries with driven, if possible, or even ones generated from previous applications is a great place to start.

• Consolidate and remove old items.

• Place flags near obstacles and field entrances.

• Create names that make sense, such as fieldname_correction_operator_year.

Other tasks to tackle include making sure displays and GPS receivers have a current activation and that their software is up to date. Also update any tablet or iPad apps.

If there are hydraulic or electric drives on the planter that use a radar speed input source, check that the radar is calibrated correctly and reading accurately. Some tractors no longer come with a radar, so a grower may need additional harnessing to feed the GPS speed to the planter instead of the radar speed, said Levi Powell, an ag engineer with Iowa State University Extension.

Check for any excessive sway in the tractor’s drawbar or three-point arms as metal wear can develop over time, according to Iowa State University Extension. Check for side-to-side movement in the drawbar. If there is excessive play, consider making a set of bushings to go over the swing pins next to the drawbar to keep it centered and free of movement.

If a planter attaches with a two-point or three-point connection, make sure the tractor’s three-point arms are snug to the frame, but still able to move up and down. When adjusting the sway blocks, adjust each side equally so the quick hitch remains centered left to right, Powell said. In some cases, a farmer may need to purchase additional shims for the sway blocks to get them properly adjusted.

Before heading to the field, check the manufacturer specifications for your specific tires to get the correct tire pressure for the weight of your planter and the speeds you plan to travel with it. Remember to regularly check tire pressure in the field, as it is harder to notice a low tire when running at lower pressures, Powell said.

Check for wear, cracking or rubbing in the hydraulic lines, paying special attention to high flex points like fold joints and wing pivots where lines may get pinched or stretched, ISU Extension noted. Remove the vacuum cover and check for small missing pieces or cracking in the impeller vanes, since this can cause issues in creating enough vacuum pressure at the meters. Remember to remove all frame plugs before heading to the field.

Inspect strainers in the liquid fertilizer system for damage and clean out any debris. Look for kinked hoses that need to be replaced.

Complete a flow check and bucket catch calibration with the product you intend to apply, to ensure it is hitting target rates and being evenly applied across all the rows, according to Ben Covington, agricultural and biosystems engineer with Iowa State University Extension.

If a planter has a bulk fill system, inspect seals and gaskets around the tanks and hoses. Air leaks can cause issues with seed delivery to the row units, including inconsistent populations and plugged delivery lines. Air leakage can also cause the main blower fan to work harder than necessary, which leads to higher power consumption, according to Covington.

Examine the row unit components for wear and accuracy. If you have a new planter or a “new to you” used planter, use a measuring tape to ensure all row units are spaced correctly, Covington said. A small offset can lead to big problems during later field operations and at harvest, especially on larger width planters.

Check that the double disk openers are still sharp and within the diameter tolerance specified by the manufacturer. Adjust the contact point of the disk openers using the business card check — most commonly this should be 1.75 to 2 inches, Covington said.

Other Tasks

Additional tasks recommended by Iowa State University Extension include:

Gauge wheels. Adjust the contact between the gauge wheels and the disk openers so the gauge wheels are contacting the disks, but can still be turned by hand with slight pressure.

Meters and seed plates. Inspect the vacuum seals and brushes on the meters. Double check that the correct seed disks, knockouts and double eliminators are installed for the crop you will be planting.

Finger pickups. On finger pickup planters, inspect the meters to ensure that the fingers spin freely and that all fingers open and close properly.

Seed placement system. Clean seed tube sensors and check the condition of the seed drop tube. If you are using a high-speed planter, check the condition of seed belts or brushes and any wear parts within the cartridge.

Row cleaners. Check bearings and linkages for signs of wear. On pneumatic row cleaner systems, check for leaks in the airbags and airlines.

Down force. Check for leaks in air lines or hydraulic hoses, as well as airbags and cylinders. Be sure all gauge wheel load sensors are working and reading properly. Check these in the diagnostics on the display.

Closing system. Inspect the bearings in the wheels. Check the alignment of the closing wheels by setting the planter down on concrete and pulling it forward 4 or 5 feet. Make sure the closing system wheels are centered over the line that is created on the concrete by the double disk openers.

Once the planter’s been pulled into the field, set the planter in the ground and pull it forward for a short distance to be sure the row units are fully engaged in the ground. Measure the distance from the bottom of the 7-by-7 frame tube to the ground. This should be 20 to 21 inches on most common planters. Typically, this should be set correctly, but if you have installed different tires, adjusted tire pressures or installed tracks, then an adjustment may be needed to the frame lift wheel linkages, recommended Ryan Bergman, manager of research with agriculture and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University Extension.

Next, adjust the levelness of the planter. If the planter is pitched too far forward or backward, it can limit the range of motion on the parallel arms or cause problems with the row cleaners and closing systems. With the planter still in the ground, measure the distance from the bottom of the tongue to the ground. Do this at both the rear and front of the tongue, Bergman said.

These measurements should be close to the same. If needed, an adjustment at the tractor connection point can be made. On two-point mount planters this simply requires raising or lowering the three-point; on drawbar type planters, unbolt the hitch tang and move it up or down using the extra holes provided, according to Bergman.