The biggest mistake farmers make when planting wheat too deep

I've seen so many people put their wheat seeds underground like they were hiding them from thieves. Sometimes they're buried by 4 inches or 3 inches, that doesn't make sense but I know it's an instinct for them.

Two years ago my uncle did the same thing. He thought that the deeper they went, the safer they'd be from birds and the drought we'd been having, but the germination of the seeds was very poor. The majority of the seeds that germinated ended up coming up really weak and by the time they reached sunlight, they were already spent, so he lost about 30% of the crop in that field.

Wheat seeds are small, they don't have a lot of energy stored inside like corn. When you plant wheat seeds too deep, they use up their entire energy reserve just to get to the surface, and if they reach the surface they are compromised. The roots will not develop normally and perhaps the roots will develop normally but the whole plant will be out of balance.

The ideal planting depth for wheat seeds is about one and a half inches deep. The maximum depth for sandier soils is two inches. Still, people keep going deeper and deeper with their wheat seed in an attempt to be careful.

There was a time, a few years ago when I did the same thing as my uncle, but I was not as deep but I was still too deep and I remember standing there scratching my head as to why my neighbour’s field looked much better than mine at the time of planting. It took me longer than I want to admit to find out the reason. Something so basic continues to trip people up year after year.

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