Chilly temperatures are still hanging on as spring tries to settle in. Planters are getting prepped for go‑time. Because once the window opens, there’s little room for error. In a down economy, every seed counts. Doing things right the first time is always the goal. But human error is real, and when time is crunched, diagnosing issues fast in the field can save money.
“If there’s one row that’s having issues, don’t just ignore it,” said Austin Miller, a test engineer at Iowa State University. “Get out and be a little bit of a perfectionist. Make sure everything’s uniform across our entire field.” Miller, part of ISU’s Digital Ag Innovation Lab, spoke at a preplanting educational event.
Small errors can add up to big losses. A 5-acre mapping error can quickly become a 50-acre one across 10 fields — impacting input ordering, yield projections and even crop insurance claims. Likewise, a measurement error when calculating the planter’s rotational center for a GPS unit can add up fast.
“We put in 165 inches instead of 185 inches,” colleague Bailey Hadacek said. “We were 20 inches off, right? What that means is we had a 20-inch discrepancy on our clutches, so we were turning off and on too late and too early.”
Noting the error’s impact on section control, Hadacek said the error created 100 square feet of skips and overlaps per pass, with 40 passes in total.
“This is all just because of a simple measure we got wrong,” he said. “Take the time to review and make sure.”
Getting it right
To hammer home the importance of perfection when planting, Miller rolled out a demonstration row unit set at 8 mph and 34,000 seeds per acre. He then created a realistic problem — broken seals, causing variable vacuum rate as the bowl rotated. Seeds picked up well on the bottom but dropped prematurely on the top side.
“Maybe something got into our bowl over the winter when it was in the shed and chewed off the gasket,” he said.
Miller’s simulation initially showed 50% skips. To troubleshoot, he adjusted the vacuum speed settings, increasing the pressure. Nothing. Then he dialed back the ground speed to 6 mph, then 5. That helped, but it didn’t solve the gasket issue.
When seeds are skipping across all rows, it’s probably a system-wide issue that likely needs vacuum adjustment. Perhaps a pump is not generating enough pressure, or there’s a leak in the main line. If it’s just one or two rows, it’s likely mechanical. It might be tempting to plow ahead if time is tight. But there’s money on the table. Disembark, check it out. Look for:
- chew marks from rodents
- cracks in the rubber
- missing sections
- debris blocking the seal
“Poor singulation can cost you $25 to $30 per acre in today’s markets,” said Miller, emphasizing that even a 1% singulation discrepancy can create notable yield loss. “It would take about 3 seconds to just pop the bowl off and find [damaged seals].”
Fix it, then get back to business.