the Farm Journal Test Plot Narrow Row Corn Report - AgWeb

Yields at Covel Creek Farms 2006This plot shows the yield impact of disease even thoughthe plot was sprayed with fungicide. Disease pressure,and the amount of down corn, increased at the higherpopulations, especially in the twin rows.Located near Leroy, Ill., McLaughlin-Dooley Farmsoffered a second location to compare 30" rows with twinrows on 30" centers. The corn followed soybeans. Thislocation was short on moisture but had the most rainof all of the six locations. However, uniform soil densitywas the key for the field’s ability to capture the rain thatarrived largely in surprise pop-up storms.farm to plant four populations (30,000, 32,000, 34,000 and 37,000ppa) with the custom-built plot planter in 30" and twin rows andan additional Great Plains drill set up for twin rows.Yields for both sets of twin rows continued to climb—even atthe 37,000 planting population. While the twins were postingyield gains as the population climbed, the 30" rows were doingwhat we expected based on previous plots and for the plotconsiderations and hybrid selection—peaking at 32,000 to 34,000ppa and then declining.In the variety plots, our initial work with six popular numbersfor the area clearly showed that some varieties take to twin rowsbetter than others. In 2003, three of the corn varieties yieldedA team effort from three operations near Grand Ridge, Ill., made this plot possible.They were R & D Walter, Hybrid Service and Covel Creek Farms.Narrow Row Corn Report 03A team effort involving R & D Walter Farms, Hybrid Serviceand John Thomas provided the chance to test 20", 30"and twin rows in a high-yield, longtime continuous cornsetting. High Illinois Soil N Test (ISNT) values point to theyield potential of the field.best in twin rows, two did worse, and yields for one were aboutthe same as in the 30" rows.2004 to 2005 In the next years, the focus was on theelements needed to make narrow rows successful: plantingpopulations, hybrid selection, and the rates and placement forstarter, insecticide and nitrogen. Each variable was tested in awide range of soils and growing conditions (“Make Twin RowsCount,” Mid-February 2005). The effort continued to reveal thebest way to go about growing narrow rows and on how twinscompare with 20" rows, another narrow-row route to bumpingcorn yields.For the next couple of years, the test plots involved six Illinoislocations, spanning from near Springfield north to Grand Ridge,just south of Chicago. In general, the plot data repeated thepopulation results of previous plots, showing that some hybridsare more suited for narrow rows and indicating that the hybridsgood for 20" rows also work well for twin rows.At the Peak Brothers plot near Springfield, starter wasapplied and FMC supplied a liquid applicator for Captureinsecticide (using the Great Plains tanks and FMC nozzles). TheGreat Plains Yield-Pro twin-row planter was compared with thePeak’s 16-row, 30" Kinze planter,outfitted with Precision Plantingmeters set for the seed size. Twelvefingermeters were used for the 30"rows and six-finger meters wereused for the twins, so the meterscould run at the same revolutionsper minute. In 2004, the Peak plotslooked at twin-row populationsranging from 28,700 to 48,000 ppa.For this hybrid in those plotconditions, yields climbed with thepopulation until 38,000 ppa and thenstarted to trend down (see chart:Yields at Peak Brothers Farm 2004).