2020 Crop Tour Updates

Footprints made by very high flexion planter tires inflated at 55 psi (left) and 15 psi (right). Note the longer footprint at lower inflation pressure covers a larger surface area and lessens pressure applied to the ground.

Figure 2. Average corn plant height around V12 when measured in the two rows on either side of the in-line tandem center transport tires on a Fendt Momentum planter in Casselton, North Dakota. In the “tire pressure low” treatment, the planter’s Load Logic™ system kept the very high flexion tires inflated at the lowest recommended level for the weight of the planter (approx. 17 psi); tires in the “tire pressure high” treatment were inflated at a constant 55 psi.

Figure 1: Corn height at 6 weeks after planting in a 2004 study of soil compaction in conservation tillage at State College, Pennsylvania. A 6.3-inch height difference was noted between plants grown in soil with no compaction and in soil compacted by tires inflated at 100 psi. Height in treatments with flotation tires at low pressure was not statistically different from the no-compaction control.

A penetrometer used to measure soil compaction at 1-inch depths, down to 15 inches

Wide, very-high flexion tires on the in-line tandem central transport wheels of the Fendt Momentum planter [Detail Shot]

Wide, very-high flexion tires on the in-line tandem central transport wheels of the Fendt Momentum planter [Wide Shot]

Figure 1. Soil penetrometers provide an indication of soil compaction by measuring the resistance of the soil to the probe in pounds per square inch as the probe is slowly pushed into the ground. The plotted points represent the average of 15 readings in each track across plots located at Chillicothe, OH; Gridley and Pontiac, IL; and two plots in Baltic, SD. The tractor-only tire track was made by the inside dual wheel of the tractor, while the tractor-and-planter track was made by the outside tractor dual followed by the in-line tandem center transport wheels of a Fendt Momentum planter.