It’s time to prepare your planting equipment for the upcoming spring planting season by working through a thorough repair and maintenance checklist this winter.
Attending to these details isn’t mere busy work. Paying attention to proper maintenance, calibration and testing protects against downtime, improves planter efficiency and promotes consistent crop growth and yield. Variability in your corn rows can knock up to nine bushels off your per-acre yield, and it can often be traced to problems such as worn-out drive chains, drive train and seed meters in need of maintenance.1
Follow these planting equipment cleaning and maintenance steps to ensure you’re ready to hit the field as soon as conditions permit.
Step 1: Inspect core planter components on planting equipment
Several parts of your planter merit a closer look during the winter. Do routine cleaning including vacuuming out planter units, removing plant residue and cleaning fertilizer and insecticide delivery systems. Lubricate moving parts to prevent wear and tear, tighten bolts and inspect hoses for damage. Each of these basic steps can keep your planter machinery running for many seasons to come.
Additionally, take a closer look at the following and make repairs and adjustments as needed:
Bushings and parallel arms
Check for excessive vertical and horizontal play. Tighten bolts and replace worn bushings to ensure even seed placement.
Disk openers
Measure blade diameter according to the manufacturer’s specifications. Replace openers if they are below the threshold. Shim disk openers so they overlap correctly using the business card test. Aim for a gap of 2” to 2.5” for 3.0mm blades, 1.5” to 2” for 3.5mm blades and 1” for 4.0mm blades.2
Closing wheels
Inspect bearings and alignment. Ensure closing wheels will be situated directly over the seed trench created by your disk openers. Replace bushings if you spot wear on those components.
Row cleaners
Ensure linkages and bearings are in good shape without excessive wear. Set your row cleaners so they will remove residue without disturbing soil. Check your pneumatic systems to ensure there are no leaks.
Step 2: Calibrate and care for seed metering units on your planter
Clean and calibrate seed metering units to ensure accurate seed placement for any planters used on your farm. This has the added benefit of reducing skips and doubles and of enhancing uniform emergence of your crops. When feasible, hire a calibration professional. Ask them to share tips for at-home meter checks.
Step 3: Upgrade planter machinery technology including GPS and monitoring systems
Winter is an ideal time to update firmware for your farm equipment for planting, verify system accuracy and check your connections for GPS and planter monitoring systems.
Step 4: Conduct planter field tests and make final adjustments
Conduct pre-season field testing of your planter to ensure everything is operating smoothly and to verify settings are where they need to be. You can then adjust your downforce, seeding depth, row spacing and closing wheel alignment as needed.
Consider anticipated field conditions and beneficial attachments. For example, corn emergence in heavy-residue environments has been shown to get a boost of nearly 3% with a no-till coulter compared to planting without such a coulter.3 Additionally, planter row unit down-force should be adjusted based on the type of closing wheels you use and on field conditions for optimal emergence.
Experts are available to help you prepare your planting equipment for the upcoming spring planting season. Reach out to your seed retailer, a nearby extension office agent or a seed company professional like your regional BASF representative.
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Endnotes
- Crummett, Dan. “Planter Maintenance Tips to Help Boost Your Corn Yield.” DTN/Progressive Farmer, 29 Mar. 2022, https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2022/03/29/planter-maintenance-tips-help-boost. Accessed 22 Sept. 2025.
- “Iowa State University of Science and Technology.” “Planter- Pre-plant Checklist.” Research to Rows, https://r2r.ae.iastate.edu/planter-pre-plant-checklist/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2025.
- Peltier, Angie, Brian Luck, and Seth Naeve. “Strategic Farming: Let’s Talk Crops!” Minnesota Crop News, 11 Apr. 2023, https://blog-crop-news.extension.umn.edu/2023/04/strategic-farming-lets-talk-crops.html. Accessed 22 Sept. 2025.
