Time to Plan: 2025 Crop Season
As we flip over the calendar, now is a perfect time to begin finalizing your planting plans for this spring. Most of your major crop rotation decisions have been made and it is time to place products and set populations for success this coming season. Today, I want to review a few things that you want to consider when making your planting plans to help you be successful this spring.
BEST FIT
All products are not created equal, and they should not be treated as such. You should consider the ratings of individual products by consulting the Burrus Product Selection Guide. Hybrids should be placed based on their strengths to get the most out of every acre. Ensuring stress tolerant products are placed on tougher acres, while more offensive hybrids are placed where you have the highest yield potential, will help bring you success this season. A great tool to confirm the correct products are placed in each field is to print out your planting plan and place a copy in the planter tractor, on the seed box or in the vehicle used to transport seed to the field. Your Burrus Representative can also help you navigate placement of the products in your area as they have seen the products used across varying soil types and environments across their territory.
CORRECT POPULATION
Almost as important as placement, planting a product at the correct population is crucial in ensuring you get the best return on your seed investment. Although the average seeding rate of corn continues to climb, that does not mean that every hybrid needs to be planted at a higher rate. Adjusting your population based on ear characteristics of the hybrid will allow you to push populations up with products that have more fixed-type ears and back them off on those that have more flex-rated ears. This becomes especially useful with modern planter systems that allow population changes instantaneously from the cab. You can find population recommendations in the Burrus Product Selection Guide and fine tune them based upon your expected yield in each field.
PLANTING ORDER
When planting early you want to consider a product’s emergence scores and maturity. First, be sure to select the products with the best emergence scores for early planting. In the process of deciding your planting order, consider hybrid maturity. To ensure you have the wide pollination window across your farm, you want to plant the early hybrids first and shift to later maturities as the planting season progresses. This is to be considered when thinking about which farms tend to become fit first and/or are where you typically start out in the spring. Also, consider where you want to start harvest at this point to help you place those earlier hybrids in the field closest to the home farm or dryer, however you prefer to choose to start harvest.
Hopefully these points will give you some ideas to consider when placing, planning, and planting your seed this spring. If you have this plan developed as your seed is delivered, take time at delivery and organize your seed pallets so it is easier to access the pallet that you need next in the spring. Ask your Burrus Representative for product placement cards you can label pallets and boxes as they are put away for the field and population you plan to plant them. Remember, ask your Burrus Representative if you have any questions in developing your plan, and keep your planting plan accessible throughout this planting season.
Article written by Chris Brown, CCA Burrus Seed Field Agronomist
