by Derek Sloan reporting from Monroe, WI

Working out of the Monroe, Wisconsin location this week as they are beginning to get busy in the fields for the first time this spring. I have seen a few setup issues with Autotrac spacing as well as general machine and implement setup when using Section Control.

I started a couple of new 12 row 1770NT planters with guys running a Deere planter for the first time. These start ups went great, with very limited machine problems and the customers liked their Deere planter a lot. One was ground driven and the other was a variable rate planter and both customers were very impressed with how close the actual population was to what they wanted to plant. It is very important to set the double eliminator correctly for corn. Also, using the proper vacuum pressure with the correct setting of the double eliminator will produce great singulation results. It is important for the customer to understand that different seed sizes might need different vacuum settings as well as an adjustment to the double eliminator in some cases to produce optimal results from the meter.

I had a customer running a GS3 2630 with a Precision 20/20 display running his 1770NT 24 row planter. The only thing the GS3 was running was his Autotrac and a rate controller putting on liquid starter. His GS3 would run for about 5 minutes and then would re-boot. He also complained that he couldn’t see his population on his GS3. All of this was fixed just by putting the most recent software update on his GS3 display version, 3.22.2003. Try and keep all displays and receivers up to date each season as falling behind with updates can cause serious problems in having a smooth operation down the road. Check here for the latest software versions.