Two side-by-side rows with very different populations

By Tom Bechman

Crop Watch: Economics favor leaving both stands at this stage in the season.

Published on: Jun 6, 2016

The farmers who manage the Crop Watch field agonized over it as it turned cool and wet after planting on April 27. It rained on 15 of the first 17 days in May in their location.

Here are two side-by-side rows that illustrated both what cool, wet soils can do and the fact that corn has a microclimate that can be as small as one row.

These pictures were taken 30 days after planting. The row on the left checked in at 28,000 plants per acre. But the row on the right only had 16,000 plants per acre.

When the photo was taken, it was obvious you wouldn’t tear up the row on the left. That wasn’t so obvious even two weeks earlier.

GOOD AND MEDIOCRE: The row on the left has 28,000 plants per acre. The one on the right has 16,000 plants per acre. Economics favor leaving both instead of planting over now.

Indeed, using information from a chart on expected yields due to various planting dates and populations, leaving the row on the left — assuming the entire field looked like it — would have been the right decision. The chart is in the Purdue University Corn & Soybean Field Guide. It’s based upon data....(to read more, click the link below):

http://farmprogress.com/story-two-side-side-rows-very-different-populations-9-142056