By Willard Jones I'm Willard Jones, Doebler's sales manager. Every pound of seed we sell meets Doebler's high standards for seed quality. Just what is the Number One seed quality problem today? Not germination. At least at Doebler's. We harvest ears to prevent kernel damage, then slow dry seed on the cob at low temperatures to prevent injury to the germ. Not sizing or percent cracks and broken kernels. These quality problems are too easily corrected. We minimize cracks at harvest by pulling burrs on the rollers of our Uni-Huskers. Rubber guards also protect ears on elevators. Design of our sizing tower prevents cracks, too. Poly buckets cradle seed on the ride up. And Seed quality doesn't just happen at Doebler's WE WORK AT IT! kernels all but float down through the sizing and bagging process. Then what is the Number One seed quality problem? In my opinion, varietal purity. Too many corn companies sell 90% actual hybrid and 10% junk, seed produced by selfing, stray pollen or off type plants. Junk seed looks O.K. but it can fool you because plants are not the selected hybrid and don't perform as well. And that can easily cost you $lO to $3O an acre. At Doebler's, we're doing something about it. See column at right. NE^HLASH/'-. ww iw Jw JPm? * •"' JyJI wW vJk*3C% w(w)^3P.- <P» v .'« ? >tV*«U.'V & ',t yj~ ; »><. > ■ -y Am -' '; ~ '-' .,. *> *' ' \ -l»r 4RsSNK» w^ilsyul > wv6Ky CHFCWST# , s Stmtimc la buy you IiWS ,InwP WZyRSEm* '* '*' *? £v , 'h. s /4«" '<■ 'T a How we protect varietal purity It takes six steps and about 31,000 miles of walking to keep junk seed out of Doebler's bags. Why we rogue? Corn plant characteristics are a tip off on genetic misfits. Our crews walk rows three times, or 6000 miles in 1992 Jersey Shore, to chop out plants that are off type. Detasseling. Six row machines with automatic sensors run most fields first, using rollers to pull female tassels. Next come the kids. Then some 600 high school and college kids clean up behind machines. Machine or the kids repeat the cycle six times or more. For 25,000 miles. State inspectors. As a double check we hire state inspectors to cruise fields. It's not mandatory. Just good business. Hand sorting. Each ear is inspected twice at harvest for off type. Rejects end up in feed bin. Winter grow outs in Florida tell us how well we did. We shoot for 100% varietal purity. Most of 1991 seed crop hit the mark. DOEBLERS Hybrids Mh 9**n r M'/0 fO«TH£f«T N(T*M*Us WlM\ R.R. 1, Box 424, Jersey Shore, PA 17740 Phone: 717-753-3210 YOUR REGIONAL ADVANTAGE
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