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Check disc openers for diameter. Most manufacturers recommend replacement at 14.5 inches. If you’ re facing heavy acreage and your openers are borderline, replace them now rather than risk poor furrow quality mid-season. While you’ re at each row unit, inspect gauge wheel bearings, verify closing wheel condition, check down-pressure spring tension and confirm seed tube integrity, especially at the bottom where worn discs accelerate damage.
Don’ t stop at mechanical components. Update planter monitor firmware, verify GPS connections and run a pre-season field test at low speed to confirm downforce, depth and spacing settings before conditions get urgent.
Sprayers: Clean Systems, Accurate Applications
A poorly maintained sprayer doesn’ t just waste products— it can injure crops, compromise pest control and create liability issues with drift-sensitive products such as dicamba and 2,4-D formulations that carry strict nozzle requirements.
Begin with a full plumbing flush. Even if you rinsed last fall, residue can dry and harden in hoses, end caps and agitation lines during winter. Run clean water through the system with the nozzles off first, then flush through the nozzles. Inspect
every strainer on the chassis and boom. Clogged strainers create pressure differentials that produce uneven application rates across the boom width.
Nozzle inspection is non-negotiable. Run the sprayer with water and check the flow through each tip individually. Review the products you plan to apply this season and confirm your nozzle selection meets label requirements— some herbicide labels approve only a handful of specific nozzle types.
On the mechanical side, inspect hydraulic hoses and cylinders for leaks, grease all boom suspension joints and evaluate tire condition and inflation. Pull the air cleaner and check for animal nests. Mice and birds are known to set up housekeeping in stored equipment. Finally, remove and clean the flow meter insert. A sticky flow meter throws off rate controllers and can silently compromise application accuracy across every acre you cover.
Tillage Tools: The Foundation of a Good Seedbed
Tillage equipment often gets overshadowed by planters when it comes to spring prep, but neglecting even small issues on a disc harrow, field cultivator or chisel plow can cascade into uneven seedbeds, extra field passes and wasted fuel.
April 2026 | www. FarmersHotLine. com | 9