1. Higher seed-bed utilization spreads seed and fertilizer over more of the soil area, increasing separation and reducing the risk from seed-placed fertilizer. A 2" opener on 12" row spacing has an SBU of 17%. If you reduce the opener width to 1", does the risk from the same rate of seed-placed fertilizer increase or decrease?

2. Pre-seed burnoff is good practice for fields with a lot of winter annuals such as flixweed, shepherd’s purse, narrow-leaved hawk’s-beard, stinkweed and cleavers. The survive the winter after fall germination and grow early and quickly, removing a lot of soil moisture. Pre-seed burnoff is also a good time to spray kochia, which germinates early and has resistance to a number of herbicide groups, including glyphosate. What percentage of kochia seeds tend to germinate before the crop?

3. Canola seed size greatly influences the seeding rate (in lb./ac.) required to hit the target stand. If the target stand is 7 plants per square foot and expected survival is 70%, the appropriate seeding rate for seed that weighs 6 grams per 1,000 (TKW) is 5.8 pounds per acre. With the same target stand and survival rate, what is the appropriate seeding rate for seed with a TKW of 4 grams?