Spring planting is an exciting time for growers everywhere who are eager to get into the fields. All that sunshine and freshly-tilled soil is calling to you! Don’t let yourself become too excited at the idea of planting that you fail to properly prepare your equipment and seeding strategies. You’ll also want to make efficient usage of 21st century planting technology to save you time and increase your yields. Healthy, thriving crops can be yours if you practice a little patience and take the time to ready yourself.

Mid-State Equipment, serving all of southern Wisconsin, has provided this handy planting guide to get you started on the process so you can plan your approach and get the job done quickly and correctly.

 Prepare Necessary Equipment

As you pull all of your equipment out of storage, you’ll want to take stock of what needs repairing or adjusting. One good step that many people skip out on is locating and consulting their owner’s manuals. Keeping these all in one secure place, like slipping them into a binder, can save you some time. These manuals are your best tools for getting your equipment prepared.

It is important to clean off mud, dirt, grass and debris that wasn’t done in the fall. A machine simply can’t work as well when it’s bogged down with clumps of mud. Take the time to sharpen and shine blades, re-connect the hoses on your hydraulic planter, connect grounding wires on electronic consoles and check thoroughly for any mouse nests or other pests that might have made a home in the vacuum units on your planters.

Proper Seed Spacing

Properly spacing your seeds will ensure higher yields without wasting seed. A good way to save time is to use a seed meter to establish the seeding rate per acre. If your seeds seem unevenly spaced, the problem might be the seed delivery aspect. This is why it’s important to test and calibrate seed meters by using samples of every seed size and grade you’re going to plant. Doing this means you won’t have to experiment with valuable seeds to determine the right settings, saving you money, time and energy.

Make sure you are planting each type of seed at the appropriate depth so that they’re less vulnerable to air temperature changes and are able to obtain adequate moisture from the soil. Also, don’t plant when the ground is wet and muddy, as this can clog up your machines and spread out the window of emergence by two or three times what it would be in more optimal, drier soil conditions. You want your seeds to emerge at a consistent rate to get the maximum yield possible, especially if you’re planting later in the season.

Utilize Planting Technology

With so much work to be done, modern technology has made farming much easier than previous generations. You’ll want to effectively make use of planting technology. It’s likely that many systems will need a software upgrade, so make sure to set aside time for this to take place.

Program in your farms and fields. Refresh your memory on how each system works before you take a machine out to the field. Remind yourself how the auto-steering works on each piece of equipment. You don’t want to get stuck in the middle of seeding with a planter full of seed that you aren’t sure how to operate.

Still in need of farm equipment for the planting season? Visit us at one of our many convenient locations in southern Wisconsin to check out our current inventory of tractors and other agricultural machines for sale. We also provide equipment rentals, in addition to farm equipment service and parts to help you get your machinery into top gear for planting season! Mid-State Equipment proudly serves the cities of Columbus, Jackson, Janesville, Prairie du Sac, Salem and Watertown, Wisconsin.