Unless the seed is placed in good contact with moist soil, it will not germinate. One remedy to the problem of cutting through residue is to increase the weight on the drill by use of rock boxes or other added weights. Another option is to set the planting depth about 1 inch deeper than normal, through small grain seed should never be planted deeper than 3-4 inches in moist soil. Still another method of improving drill penetration is to place a double disk furrow opener or modified sweep ahead of the planter shoe or hoe. Straw on the soil surface often affects seedling emergence.
Young seedlings have difficulty emerging through dense straw or the chaff row.
Consequently, the density or population of the stand is often reduced in no tillage and reduced tillage systems below that where clean fallow has been used. Much of the problem of reduced stand density can be overcome by increasing the seeding rate 10 to 20 percent above that normally used. Effective control of weeds and diseases is essential to successful no tillage and reduced tillage farming. Probably the most effective and economical means of disease control is crop rotation and selection of disease-resistant varieties. If small grain diseases were evident at significant levels in a field this year, a non-host crop should be planted next year.