Knowledge
Where yield gets lost
Most of it is set the day you plant. Here's what we look at, and why.
The sins of planting will haunt you all season.
Spacing
That's Purdue's number. Doubles crowd each other, and the plants beside a gap can't make all of it back.
6 to 9%yield lost to a 10-day emergence delayEven emergence
That's research Purdue cites. Purdue adds that a plant two leaves behind its neighbor will almost always end up barren.
Wnot a VWorn openers
Worn blades cut a W-shaped furrow. Closing wheels can't firm it, so seed sits in air, not soil.
15 in.from the plant, with a coulter on 30sNitrogen placement
A coulter bar bands it mid-row. Drops put it inches from the stalk. Whether that pays depends on when you go.
None of this is a pitch for a specific part. Sometimes the answer is a $40 firmer. Sometimes it's nothing at all.
Field notes
Read these before you spend a dollar.
Y-DROP vs Coulter Sidedress: What the Test Plots Show
Y-DROP doesn't win every time. Farm Journal's plots found about the same yield early, and a real gain later and in N-short years. Here's when it pays.
Read itPre-Season Planter Inspection Checklist
What to check on your planter before spring, row by row, based on Purdue's maintenance guide and what comes across our bench.
Read itHow to Tell When Your Planter Disc Openers Are Worn Out
Worn openers cut a W-shaped furrow instead of a V, and that leaves air around the seed. Here's what to check and what to replace them with.
Read itvSet vs eSet Meters: Which One Fits Your Planter?
eSet goes inside a John Deere vacuum meter. vSet replaces the whole meter. Here's how to decide which one makes sense for your planter.
Read itHow Often Should Planter Meters Be Calibrated?
Precision Planting says to test every year. One of its dealers calibrates vSet every 2 years or 250 row acres. Here's how to figure yours.
Read itWhat Uneven Corn Spacing Costs You Per Acre
Purdue measured it. About 2.5 bushels an acre for every inch of spacing variation, and most fields it checked had room to gain 5 to 7.5.
Read itUpdated October 2026
Right now in the shop
Off-season rates are the best rates
Meters and rebuilds that come in after harvest get the fastest turnaround and the best price of the year. Call for this month's number.
Winter bench slots fill first
The rebuild and health-check queue books solid by late winter. Get on the list now, not in April.
Tell us what the planter is doing.
Shop diagnosis before the season, or a field call when it can't wait.