There are times to run row cleaners shallow and there are times when it is desirable to move a little soil. I am not going to take sides in that one.

However one thing that row cleaners do for you no matter how you run them is to give you CONSISTENT seed depth. Whatever seed depth you set on the gage wheels is the seed depth you get.

When running no row cleaners or just a coulter or row cleaners in front of a coulter, even in conventional worked ground the planter gage wheels have to run over clods, root balls, cobs, stones, etc. Seed depth can not be consistent if your row unit gage wheels are not on a consistent level surface. The equalizer beams now in about all new planters cuts the variation in half but there is still variation in seed depth.

Another benefit of row cleaners is that as the seed depth is more consistent also the meter is bouncing less and less likely to shake seeds loose from the finger or vacuum disk or plant doubles. Less seed tube movement also increases the in-row seed spacing accuracy since the seeds in the seed tube have less chance of hitting the sidewall and losing accuracy. Row cleaners properly chosen and operated will quickly pay for themselves even in conventional worked ground. 

A row cleaner depth story that just came back to me from a western show:

A customer from NE Nebraska came up to me at a show. He had been running his row cleaners pretty aggressively and moving quite a bit of heavy residue out of the way in his disc chiseled and field cultivated ground while planting corn. This is a high yielding corn area and there was a lot of residue even after tillage. In this loose soil and high residue it does initially seem like there is more soil movement than there really is after things settle back down.

When he stopped planting for lunch or to fill a neighbor came by and told him that he was moving way too much soil with his row cleaners and that the sky was going to fall on him if he didn't raise them up... Well he raised them up and finished planting the field.

Later on he and his agronomist were very troubled by the stand - spotty and uneven. As usual the seed salesman came in also. Blame was placed on the planter on the fertilizer placement and chemistry etc etc..... until the customer noticed that there was a line where the stand looked pretty good.

Then he remembered that spot was were he had stopped and based on his neighbors warnings had raised the row cleaners. He said he is going to run them according to his own opinions and experience from now on...changing based on listening to his neighbor cost him dearly.

This is a true story. I believe it was from the Vermillion show.

regarding planting beans - since they are usually planted shallower than corn and often into heavy corn residue, if planting without row cleaners you will often see some beans on top of the ground. At 1" depth setting, going over a cob or two will leave a seed about on the surface. So what is the first thing everyone does when they see some seed on top? Set all planter row unit depth settings deeper, penalizing every seed in emergence just so you don't see a couple percent on the surface. If you use row cleaners (properly chosen and operated) the seed depth you set is the depth you get. Beans really respond to consistent seed depth and seed to soil contact.

Side note: thanks to those from NAT that stopped by to say hello at the OFSR this past week. It is nice to match some faces with names. What a great show.

Jim at Dawn