Removing the granular insecticide hoppers from your no-till planter could enable you to double the seed carrying capacity and cut those time-consuming refill stops in half.

It’s possible by shifting to liquid insecticides for no-tilled corn and replacing the normal 1.6-bushel capacity seed hoppers with 3-bushel units on a John Deere no-till planter.

New Acres Ahead Program

John Deere and FMC Corporation have partnered in this program that pairs higher capacity plastic seed boxes with Capture insecticide and liquid application equipment from Raven Industries.

Chad Braden, the product and market manager for the John Deere seeding group, says you can carry enough insecticide on your no-till planter to cover 150 acres or more depending on the size of the tank you install.

Since the larger capacity seed boxes are plastic, there’s none of the flaking or separation that often occurs with the older fiberglass hoppers. These stronger, narrower and taller hoppers eliminate the need for special hoppers at the frame-fold joints and also the need for support brackets. The translucent hoppers have half-bushel embossed increments to let you easily monitor seed levels.

Shift To Liquid

Bob West, the Capture product manager at FMC, has seen a dramatic shift from granular to liquid insecticides over the last 2 years.

“Liquids are so much easier for a no-tiller to handle,” he says. “You don’t have to wrestle with heavy bags or breathe in harmful dust. Research also indicates that the accuracy of insecticide application is much better with liquids.”

He maintains the…