I was
talking to a farmer the other day about plant stands in wheat. He wasn’t concerned
at all because he has had crops with thin plant stands yield well. I do
understand where he was coming from because he has observed a wheat crops ability
to make up for a thin stand by throwing out more tillers. At the same time it concerns me because
seeding rate is very important when it comes to growing good crops, for a
number of reasons. The wheat’s ability to compensate shouldn’t be an indication
to just throw random amounts of seed down, it should be a last resort, after
doing everything possible to achieve a solid plant stand that is going to
maximize yield, decrease weed competition and speed up maturity.
Right from
seeding things like disease, insects, negative environmental conditions
(flooding, drought, heat etc), weeds and
more are doing everything to keep you from achieving your target yield. Putting
in place the right practices can fend off these pressures and ensure a
profitable yield for your farm.
Starting
with clean, certified seed is one of the best investments you can make. This
may sound repetitive, but certified seed consistently out yields bin ran seed
time and time again, the extra cost is worth it.
Once you
have your certified seed, be sure to have the vigour and germ tested and use
those numbers to calculate your seeding rate based on the seeds thousand kernel
weight (TKW). To calculate this count out 1000 seeds and weigh those seeds (in
grams).
The formula looks like this:
target plant population/ft square X TKW (in grams) / seedling
survival (decimal) / 10.4
= lbs/ac
EX: 32 plt/ft sq, 35grams for TKW, .90 (90%) seedling
mortality in wheat looks like:
I have been reading a few
good tweets about this on Twitter lately from a few guys and its good to see
more trying to spread the word on just how important this formula is to use.
But now what does using this formula and extra work do for you?
Guys used to aim for that
24plts/ft sq, and for dryland guys sometimes that is more realistic as in some
areas the lack of moisture is going to allow those thinner plant stands to do
better than a higher target of 30plts/ft sq, but upping your target can speed
up and even maturity. The majority of yield (95+%) comes from the main head
(50%+) and the first 2 tillers (20-25% each). Knowing this we can see that
anything beyond 2 tillers is a waste of energy for the plant. This means the
crop is taking more time, more moisture and more nutrients to finish off that 3rd
or 4th tiller delaying maturity by up to a week, and taking away
potential moisture or nutrients for next year without gaining any real yield
advantage. Not efficient for your farms bottom line, to say the least.
Weeds constantly are
robbing your crop of yield. A thicker and more even plant stand is better able
to compete against this weeds and secure the use of moisture and nutrients for
your crop which is going to add to yield. A thin plant stand is susceptible to
increased competitions of weeds and choking your crop out, which hurts your
yield that year and adds to your fields weed seed bank for the next year.
Insects and disease are
constantly thinning your stand out. Wireworms and seedling disease are on your
crop like white on rice from the second you put seed in the ground. Having a
solid target stand is going to combat against these issues. If you target
30plt/ft sq (which is higher than a lot of growers I have talked too) then even
if 2 plants are taken out by a wireworm and 2 are taken out by disease you are
still securing yourself 26 plants per foot, a number that sets you up for a
good yield come August.
I know this usually isnt an
issue, but there is a lot of moisture in a lot of area as I write this, meaning
there is potential for some big crops. Don’t be afraid to seed heavy this year
because there is moisture and potential for big crops. A thicker plant stand is
also better able to combat excessive moisture, so keep that in mind.
The last step to take is “insuring”
your seed by putting a registered seed treatment on before seeding. Studies
show consistent yield increases and enhancements in the “pop up effect” from
these treatments and battle negative seedling diseases. These can be a
fungicide, insecticide or a combination of the two. There are other options out
there such as nutrient seed dressings and biological organisms to enhance your
seeds ability to get out of the ground. The proper seed placed fertility
program, seed depth and seeding speed can also help you hit that proper target
plant stand, but those are for another time.
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