Combines narrow row corn spacing

[Red_Greene]

Just a thought, but you maybe would consider going to 22" rows. Up here in central MN 22" rows are starting to pop up more and more and there are different manufacturers of 22" snouts and what not. Also there is a fair amount of used 22" eqipment for sale.

 

[canuck]

Dont sell your 30" equipment just yet. I know of many farmers and one big seed company that went to 20" rows and are now all back to 30's. Very narrow rows tend to create a lodging problem some years which can make harvest nearly impossible not to mention the problems with volunteer corn the following year. Just my thoughts!

 

[Holland_land_Co]

I've planted narrow row 22" for 14 years in west central mn. and would highly recommend it. the population depends on your soil and moisture.The rule of thumb here is not more than 9" spacing( that equates to around 32000 pop. I plant closer to push pop to 33500. That also can be a disasater if you plant a variety with weak stalks.My advice is make sure the variety has superb stalk strength. good luck

 

[Harvest_boy]

Hey guys, Thanks for the input on narrow row corn.I have a 642 Ford combine with six different corn heads.Two heads are good heads and the rest are for parts.Instead of buying a narrow header, I am going to convert one of mine to a 24 inch.The reason I am going with 24 inch is because my row units will go in that far from 38 inches with very little work or money.We have always planted 38 inch row corn with the expectation of around 100 bushels per acre.With the good hybrid seed avalible now we want to try to step up our yield to around 150.Everyone here in the south tells us that we will have to get away from 38 inch rows and go to 30 inch to yield better.Since I will have to build a different head anyway I figured that I would go ahead and move it in as far as I can and try something that we havent seen here before.How does the yield compare between 38 inch rows and say 22 or 24 inch set at the same row spacingIJ We may be way off on our spacing because we were thinking around 24,000 plants per acre or 10 to 12 inches in the row on 24 inch rows.Any opinions on Southers States corn seedIJ We are looking hard at SS842RR.The roundup ready seems the way to go in narrow row because six 24 inch rows is about the same width as four 38 inch rows so we would be able to use the same spray rig we use now and not have to build another one.Any more info on narrow row corn will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Holland_land_Co]

the yield increase would be quite a bit going to 24" rows but the greatist advantage i've found is weed controll is so much better, the row closes sooner and shades. the only challenge is timing on herb. applications, is A very small window of time.

 

[youngfarmer]

I would like to know how your new row spacing works out. I am from Texas, also on 38" rows. The best we ever yield was 150bu_ac. That was really unheard of. Normally we shoot for 100bu_ac. You might want to consider going to 25" rows because you don't have to move your tractor wheel spacing from the 38" row. My e-mail address is above and I would like to stay in contact.

 

[thn43]

I was on 38". I built a 22" corn header with 30" wheel tracks. This matches 38" tractor for cotton. I really like the 22" corn. It stays clean and yields more. I'm in the Mississippi Delta.

 

[Harvest_boy]

What kind of yield increase did you see when you made the switchIJ Do you plant conventional or roundup readyIJ We were going to go with Roundup corn but now may stick with Pioneer 31G98 conventional.We tried 31G98 last year in 38 inch rows and it came up growing fast and never stopped! We had a yield of 130 bushels, best corn we ever made.Any suggestions as to how to keep it clean since cultivation wont be an optionIJ Any input will be greatly appreciated!

 

[thn43]

We've only made two crops, but I think both years we made about 20 bu increase. Our weed control is,early burndown with roundup+24D,starter fert. infurrow to get the corn growing fast,atrazine at about 6" corn, and spot spray accent as needed. With 38 in corn, we often got a late rain about the time the corn was drying. Weeds were a big problem, but in the narrow corn , there is still enough shade. My biggest concern is header weight. I was 8 row wide, to fit my planter, I built a 13 row narrow, it takes 4 cylinders to handle it using a 1688.