Info on corn row spacing - considering an experiment

[j-bird]

Looking to maximize my corn planting population, but I have never strayed from the 30" row width.

I have a 2 row plate planter and I should be able to split my rows to vary from 14" to 18" or from 24" to 36" (right now it is 30/15). I have multiple plates as well so I can also increase or decrease the row population as well. For now - I am not going to worry about potential loses from herbicide application equipment.

My question is what is the breaking point between population and yield? My goal is to increase grain production without increasing the amount of ground in the plot.

I assume there is some curve that says as you increase population you increase yield - to a point, and then at some point the population gets so high that it negatively affects the plant development and thus reduces grain production.

I don't want to muddy the water and get into soil conditions and moisture levels and all the other stuff - I have grown corn before and have done a decent job of it. I want to focus on this part of the equation for now.

 

[wiscwhip]

See this link, it is a tiny bit technical, but has good info.

https://www.pioneer.com/home/site/us/agronomy/library/row-width-corn-grain-production/

 

[Dave63]

I plant 24" rows. I also plant GHR with it. Picture from this year.

 

[j-bird]

dave63 - what's your method? You plant the GFR later - correct?

 

[Dave63]

Yes I go in when the corns about 6-8 inches tall. I use 90 day corn so I can plant it a little later than normal ag practices. when it's about 6-8 inches tall I broadcast the ghr and hit it all with urea. I try to do this just before a rain if possible.

 

[Dave63]

about the 3rd week of july

 

[j-bird]

Thanks guys. The link that wiscwhip posted essentially states that row width and the reduction of it does NOT improve yield to any significant amount - for anyone who cares. I may try a few "compressed" rows just to give it some more screening affect where I need that, but I really like Dave's overseeding idea. I have done it with beans once they dry down, I am not sure i can do it effectively with corn in my area. Corn in my area in general by the end of July will be waist high or more. Not sure it will get the sun it needs - never hurts to try I guess.

 

[MNAaron]

Dave63 - At what population are you planting your corn?

 

[biglakeba$$]

I plant beans between my corn rows. Maybe they are counteracting with each other some, but I have pretty good success overall.

 

[Dave63]

I use a 71 single row flex planter on my atv. I get 2 acres out of a bag of seed corn. Keep in mind though there is some waste when planting with the atv. As far as the corn height and the radish not getting sunlight due to corn height. I only plant 10 rows. Then I switch to soybeans and then back to 10 rows of corn. It helps with sunlight hitting the Radish inside the corn.

 

[wiscwhip]

Thanks guys. The link that wiscwhip posted essentially states that row width and the reduction of it does NOT improve yield to any significant amount - for anyone who cares. I may try a few "compressed" rows just to give it some more screening affect where I need that, but I really like Dave's overseeding idea. I have done it with beans once they dry down, I am not sure i can do it effectively with corn in my area. Corn in my area in general by the end of July will be waist high or more. Not sure it will get the sun it needs - never hurts to try I guess.

That is pretty much why I posted that particular link j-bird. There is a ton of info and highly technical university stuff out there on the subject, but none of it points to any significant increases in yields on any real consistent scale. The other thing is, this link was provided by Pioneer Seed, if there was anything to the narrow row spacing, they of all people would be jumping all over telling you to narrow them up to 15-20 inches so they could sell you more seed.

 

[j-bird]

Dave63 - I see.

Wiscwhip - yep, if pioneer isn't pushing more seed - then it really isn't much to it. I just figured if there was a better way - farmers of all people would be all over it. I also searched so other sites and the conclusions where rather the same. Keep you population in the high 20 to low 30 thousand per acre level, keep the 30" row and apply all the fertilizer you can, pray for dry when you need dry and for rain when you need rain and control competition!

I have planted corn and beans together before with good results as well even thought it looked funny as hell. I put corn in one hopper and beans in the other and adjusted the plates as much as I could to get the proper seed to seed spacing based on one revolution of the drive wheel - it sort of worked out, the beans where a little crowed in the row, but they are cheap. The corn row was an estimated 30" wide and the beans an estimated 15" wide. It went 2 rows of corn then 2 rows of beans and then back to 2 rows of corn. The guy who farms my place asked what I had been smoking when I hatched that plan - he wanted some!

I'll be out this spring with my little planter just listening to it "click", "click", "click" away!

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

Dave63- do you have any pictures of your planting rig? Just trying to figure out how you made that work behind the ATV?

 

[Dave63]

Here ya go. I use an electric lift 750lb downward push. 1000lb static hold. I made the lift It attach's to a kolpin receiver.I also use a kolpin suspension lock to keep the ass end from sagging

 

[Satchmo]

Looks like a pretty slick rig for those out of the way places.

 

[Dave63]

It works really well..really well!! I can do about an acre an hour

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

That is pretty bad ass Dave!!!

 

[Dave63]

I also have a 10 inch moldboard plow I can hook up to it to work in the corn.

 

[Freeborn]

I have a similar setup as Dave but I did not like the Suspension lockout on the ATV so I added a wheel to the frame of the Kolpin 3 PT hitch. Here are a few pictures. Worked well last year, I planted 2 1/2 acres of corn and soybeans last year.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Wow.... talk about ingenuity!