Name your brand of seed. Odds are the company has a website. They likely also have aids on that website that can help you determine the best choice for hybrids by fields, and they may have a tool that will help you set your planter to get peak performance and the best singulation possible. That's important if you're chasing those extra bushels of corn that could make the difference between profit and loss.
Here's an example. Seed Consultants, Washington Courthouse, Ohio, just introduced what the company is calling SCMatch. They describe it as a hybrid placement tool. Developed in conjunction with MyFarms, the goal is for you and your seedsman to sit down and make the best hybrid choice and best seed rate recommendation based upon your soil types, management level, expected diseases, insect problems and more.
How do they know how the hybrid performs under different conditions? Most companies, including Seed Consultants, have acquired a significant amount of data on how their hybrids respond under varying conditions. Replicated data results from their own hybrid research is included in the SCMatch program.
Seed Consultants also offers another tool to help you do a better job of setting your planter based upon the seed you actually receive. It's called Seed Consultants Plantability Tool. You can enter not only your hybrid, but its batch number, too, which is located on the seed tag. Also indicate which type of planter that you will be using, and the program tells you how to adjust the planter to best plant that corn. It's especially useful if you're operating a vacuum planter. It will even tell you expected accuracy of drop based on those settings. Â
Find it at www.seedconsultants.com or call 800-708-CORN.