Harvesting Corn With Weakened or Broken Stalks
Stalks and ears can be weakened by disease (stalk rot) or insects (corn borers), causing them to break off near the ground when contacted by corn head divider points and gatherer shields. This material is pushed into piles that prevent stalks from contacting the stalk rolls. Crop is lost and harvesting productivity is reduced when this occurs.
The following is a list of possible solutions to these problems.
1.
Reduce combine ground speed and increase corn head speed with the variable speed feeder house.
2.
Remove ear savers.
3.
Re-time the gatherer chains so the flights are directly opposite each other.
4.
Adjust deck plates as wide as possible without allowing ears to contact the stalk rolls.
5.
Replace stalk rolls if flutes are badly worn.
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