How to Plant With a Two-Row Corn Planter

Mount the corn planter to the back of a tractor. Any small tractor of 20 to 40 horsepower should work. Mount the planter so it plants the rows of corn just to the inside of the tractor's large wheels. This plants the corn in an area not compacted by the weight of the tractor. If the tractor has a narrow front or tricycle configuration, the corn rows should plant between the path of the front wheels and the rear wheels.

Fill the seed hoppers with corn seed. Adjust the plates or sprockets at the bottom of the hopper that control the seeding rate. Adjustment methods vary with each manufacturer so follow those instructions. Fill each hopper at the start of fieldwork and monitor the amount the seed as it goes down in each trip up and down the field. The hoppers should dispense at the same rate. Fill seed before you see an empty hopper to avoid skipped spots in the field.

Drive the tractor straight up the field. The marks on the field from this pass serve as the guiding marks for the next row. Corn is commonly planted in straight rows up and down the field with a "headland" at each end of the field. Use the headland to turn the tractor around during the planting or cultivation process. Deactivate the corn planter and lift the digging shovels from the ground during the turn at the end of the field.

Make the second pass up the field. After the first pass up the field turn the tractor around and drive in the other direction with the right hand rear wheel in the track made by the left hand rear wheel in the previous pass. Check the hoppers when you get back to the starting point. Repeat the process as often as necessary to plant the entire field.