Preparing for Planting Season

Planting season is a crucial time of year for those who work in the farming industry. The right preparation can help make your planting process easier, more efficient, and sometimes even higher-yielding. Below we cover some beginner's tips on getting ready for planting season. If you want more strategies or want to look at farm equipment for sale, visit Flieg's Equipment. We are a farm supply store happy to answer any questions and provide advice on the right farm machinery for your needs. You'll find us in Ste. Genevieve and Leadington, Missouri. We also proudly serve those in St. Louis, Missouri, and those throughout the state of Missouri.

Get Your Farm Equipment Ready

Your first step is ensuring your farm machinery is ready for the upcoming tasks at hand. When you take your farm equipment out of storage, you'll want to give it a thorough inspection. See if there is any maintenance that needs to be done before you can operate it. Are there any blades that need sharpening? Are there any grounding wires on electric consoles that need to be connected? Are there any pests that made their home in your farm equipment? It's also helpful to glance through the owner's manuals to see if there are any recommended regular maintenance tasks.

Use the Right Seed Spacing

Once your farm equipment is ready to go, you can start planting your seed. A great strategy to ensure higher yields without wasting any seed is using optimal spacing of your seeds. To save time, you can use a seed meter to establish the seeding rate per acre. 

If you notice your seed is being unevenly spaced, you may have an issue with the seed delivery aspect. One way to prevent this is to test and calibrate seed meters with samples of every seed size and grade you plan on planting. That way, you won't have to experiment with valuable seeds to figure out the right settings. 

Use the Right Seeding Strategies

When you plant the seed, make sure you are putting each seed type at the right depth. This helps ensure they are less vulnerable to air temperature changes and that they can get enough moisture from the soil.

It's also important to avoid planting when the ground is too wet and muddy. Mud can clog up your farm machinery and these conditions can also spread out the window of emergence two or three times what it would be in more optimal (and drier) soil conditions. It's best to get the seeds to emerge at a consistent rate in order to get the maximum yield.

Use Your Farm Machinery Efficiently

In addition to inspecting your farm equipment for any problems, you'll also want to check for any upgrades available. Your planting technology systems may be ready for a software upgrade, which can help your farm machinery run better. Make sure you check for any upgrades and set aside the time to install them.

It's also helpful to give yourself a refresher on how the farm equipment operates before you get ready to use it. That way, you won't waste valuable time on planting day trying to remember how auto-steering works.

We hope you found this article helpful. For all your farm supply needs, visit Flieg's Equipment. We offer a wide range of farm machinery for sale to suit all needs and budgets, so stop by today.