Research Update: Planter Performance

At a Glance

ETDS Progress

Research Topic: Row-crop planters’ performance on Peanut and Cotton
PI: Wesley Porter
Team: Marco Torresan
Main Objective: Obtain useful planter information for southern peanut and cotton producers

Motivation

Peanut and cotton are the most important row-crops in the US southeast; however, planters’ research and development are focused on US main crops: corn and soybean. Research that has been done on these two major crops can be replicated on peanut and cotton to obtain useful information for southern growers.

Proposed Solution

Test Speed by Downforce combinations in peanut and cotton
Test Speed by Vacuum combinations in peanut with different planters
Test how different seed plates affect emergence in cotton

Results to Date

3 mph ground speed ensured higher peanut emergence across multiple years, compared to 5 and 7 mph ground speed
In peanut, medium downforce is preferred in peanut over low or high downforce
All planters performed better with high vacuum in peanut
Cotton can be planted at 7 mph without affecting emergence
High Downforce can decrease cotton emergence
Hill-drop seed plates improved cotton emergence across multiple years compared to singulated seed plates

Visual differences between Speed and Vacuum combinations in peanut in Midville, GA

2024 Peanut Speed by Vacuum field trial harvest in Midville, GA

John Deere ExactEmerge seed meter that will be used in 2025 cotton field trials

Precision Planting seed meter that will be used in 2025 peanut and cotton field trials

Next Steps

Comparing modern seed meters at 5 vs 6 vs 7 mph with manufacturer recommended vacuum vs high vacuum in peanut
Comparing planters equipped with seed delivery systems at 5 vs 7 vs 10 mph with hill-drop vs singulated seed plates in cotton

4D Farm