Milo seed plate

[rbmerritt11]

Thinking about planting milo next year. Using a JD 1750 6 row vacuum planter. I could not find a seed plate/disc listed in manual. Can anyone help me out or will I have to use a drill. Everyone in this area is using planters not drills. All I have is a 1560 drill and I doubt I can close it up enough to be accurate.

[Shaggy98]

Block off every other row and plant either 15" or 20" milo depending if you've got a 7.5" or 10" drill. No-till drilling milo in this area is very popular but most of it is done on 10" rows if you're using a box drill. Your drill won't be nearly as accurate as a planter. Some using a drill in this area shoot for between 4-6 LB's per acre. When I use my planter depending on seed size I place 2-2.5 LB's per acre. Saves about 50% on seed cost but milo seed cost per acre isn't nearly as high as corn or soybeans. With our current commodity prices, every dollar saved is usually a dollar earned as long as that dollar saved isn't on crop management.

[KY_TOBDirt]

Deere make 2 different vacuum meters for milo, a 45 cell, and a 90 cell, you'll probably want the 45 cell meter for lower seeding rates. Your parts counter man should be able to fix you up!!

[rbmerritt11]

Thanks to both-will check with parts at JD dealer also I am at 7.5 on drill- will see what I can cut back to on chart. Don't think I can stand too many years of corn prices even at my small acres.

[sw363535]

definitely the 45 cell.  shaggy is right drills with milo just waste seed.  Milo compensates lower populations with head size.

[Shaggy98]

FWIW, I've got 60 hole milo plates and also 120 hole high population plates.  The first year I used the 120 set on the lighest amount I could, I think somewhere around 47,000 per acre.  It worked fine and lucked out with an optimal year and averaged 135B/A, but left no room for downward adjustment.  I agree with the above comments, the half seed plates are probably your better option.