APPLICATION

If you use a planter for anything from Corn to Cotton, Peanuts to Sugar Beets, Soybeans to Sunflowers, Milo to Canola – you benefit from seed lubrication. Which product you use and how much depends largely on the type and model of your planter, weather conditions, size of seeds and type of seed coating.

Planter Manufacturer Guidelines

Planter manufacturers each make recommendations on the use of Talc, Graphite or Custom Blends. For example, air planter manufacturers suggest starting the season with ½ cup of Talc per units of corn, then increasing or decreasing rates as needed to maintain seed flow depending on humidity and seed coatings. Manufacturers of finger pickup seed meters recommend 1 to 2 tablespoons of Graphite per bushel.
As always, recommendations are meant to be guidelines. We are confident in our recommendations as a good place to start, but personal preferences and experience will allow you to determine what best suits your operation.

Using a dedicated Talc applicator will give more accurate and measurable results. The best practice is to premix Talc with the seed to ensure that every seed is evenly coated. Just adding Talc into the top of seed hoppers doesn’t generally give a good, uniform coating and extra, wasted product can accumulate in the bottoms of the hoppers or get blown into the atmosphere.

Seed Lubricant Guidelines by Manufacturer

John Deere

  • Talc is recommended for all Vacuum Planters and CCS
  • Graphite is recommended for all Finger-meter Planters
  • 80/20 is recommended for eSet meters and will work well in all other meters
  • Start with ¼ cup per unit and adjust as needed

(Continue with other models and bulleted lists.)

Summary of seed lubricant guidelines by planter manufacturer*

Kinze and John Deere finger-type planters – When planting treated seed, use your planter manufacturer’s recommended amounts of dry powdered graphite usually about 1 tablespoon per unit. To ensure good seed coverage, add graphite at several levels as the hopper is filled, rather than only on the top.

John Deere vacuum-type including ProMAX40 flat disk – Talc lubricant is required for optimum performance of the vacuum meter and CCS system (if equipped). Add talc at the rate of 2.5 ounces per 80,000-kernel unit of seed or 11 cups per 35 bushels or 16 cups per 50-bushel fill. Adjust these rates as necessary so all seeds become coated with talc, while avoiding an accumulation of talc in the bottom of tank or hopper. Double the talc recommendation when planting small seed, large seed, seeds with heavy treatment, or in humid planting conditions. If seed treatment is building up on the disc, use additional talc. Add talc throughout the box while filling, not just on top.

Precision Planting e-Set® disk – Use ¼ cup of 80% talc/20%graphite per 80,000-kernel bag. Heavily treated seed may require a higher rate.

John Deere

  • Talc is recommended for all Vacuum Planters and CCS
  • Graphite is recommended for all Finger-meter Planters
  • 80/20 is recommended for eSet meters and will work well in all other meters
  • Start with ¼ cup per unit and adjust as needed

Case-IH

  • Graphite may be used according to operator’s manual
  • A Blend is recommended in certain sticky-seed conditions
  • Company personnel acknowledge everything from 90/10 to straight graphite has worked well for growers
  • Start with 1/8 cup per row unit hopper or 2 cups per bulk fill and increase as needed

Kinze

  • Graphite is recommended in all Kinze planters
  • A blend is recommended for high humidity or when treated seed is tacky
  • Factory Rep states never to use less than 80% graphite
  • Kinze recommends 1lb per full fill and increase as needed to help the planter singulate without skips and without doubles

Great Plains

  • 80/20 is recommended in all Great Plains Planters
  • Use ½ to 1 cup 80/20 per bushel of seed and adjust from there. Double for milo, cotton & sunflowers. Canola and mustard minimum recommendation is 1 cup per 30lb bag. Increase as needed

Monosem

  • Graphite may be used for row-unit box planters
  • Talc is recommended for all central fill Monosem planters
  • Use ¼ – 2 cups talc per unit until all seeds are coated. 1 cup per 3 units for corn, beans or cotton. Milo and rice minimum recommendation is 1 cup per 2 bushels of seed Double rates for humidity, large seed or heavy treatment

White

  • Talc is recommended in humid conditions
  • Graphite or 80/20 in dry conditions when necessary
  • The factory rep states lubricant is a good idea and helps in most conditions, however they do not recommend any specific lubricant
  • Recommend ½ cups per two-bushel hopper fill or 1 cup per three-bushel hopper fill Monitor and increase as needed