Today’s planter technology allows seeding in much wetter conditions than many thought was possible 20 years ago, says Andy Thompson from Yetter Ag Equipment. While this provides a significantly wider planting window, he emphasizes it’s not a magic bullet to plant in mud.

“With the common double-disc opener planter we assume we have produced a firm V-shaped trench, and we put seed in the bottom of that V, firm it in, then follow along with a closing system,” he says. 

“There are three steps to successfully closing that trench. First, we have to break the sidewalls, then we must marry the two sides of the trench together by zipping them shut from the bottom up, and then we must firm the soil around the seed on all sides.”

If successful, the process leaves a seed at the proper depth surrounded by friable soil with sufficient moisture and oxygen — and no visible trace of the original seed trench. Digging behind the planter is the only way to ensure that’s what’s happening.

Rather than merely digging down in the seed trench to check on seed spacing and depth, it is recommended to dig from “outside the gauge wheel to outside the gauge wheel” on the row unit to get a look at the entire profile in which the seed will be growing, says Bill Lehmkuhl from Precision Agri Services.

“We’ll be looking for different things as we dig, such as how much compaction we’re causing alongside our seed trench, and are we firming the sidewalls well. Are we closing the seed trench 100%? Do we see a vertical line directly above the seed?

“I don’t want to see that line, I want it to look seamless, like you just poked the seed in with a straw and pulled it back out,” Lehmkuhl says.

He also recommends checking for any air gaps around the seed, and if there’s evidence of the sidewalls collapsing causing depth issues. Also check to see if there is evidence once the sidewalls have been broken that they are blending back together under the closing wheels.

To learn more about how to properly use your planter for all conditions, read Dan Crummett’s article “Fine-Tuning Your Planter for Strip-Till Field Conditions” featured in the Spring 2026 Issue of Strip-Till Farmer.