30s vs 20s corn

we are one 30 inch corn and we do good we have  had 200-280 some 300 bushels acer

Those who like 20 inch rows the best are farmers raising crops like beets on 20 inch rows.

There are regular debates on New Ag Talk Crop http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=3 about this topic. Most often for beans, but sometimes for corn.

I think there is no consensus on these variations in row width. Some report better crops with narrow, some never saw an improvement with narrow and some especially in beans never saw a consistent improvement. Some years narrow better some years worse. In the 70s there was an Iowa Extension bulletin that claimed 30" rows for corn were significantly superior to 36 or 38" rows. One standard argument for narrower rows is quicker canopy and so weeds get shaded out better and sooner. Bushy beans have made 30" row hard to walk compared to beans that weren't bushy.

Planting equipment is easier to come up with than harvesting. I got worried the first year I planted corn with a grain drill in 35" rows and when I drove by my custom combiner's house I saw only a 30" head sitting out. But he still had the 36" head.

I have no experience with rows narrower than 30". Now my tenant does those with strip till and we get a good crop without the washing from heavy rains that accompanies full tillage and he gets to plant earlier than I did with notill.

It is possible to harvest corn with a grain head, but the head doesn't separate the ears from the stalks so a lot more material goes through the combine adding wear to its interior.

One other possibility is split rows, two rows about 7" apart with 30" centers.

Narrow rows and split rows allow for higher populations without crowding the corn in the rows so in theory that could add to the yield. In any case its affected by the weather and the corn breeding. By careful breeding selection in 2007 I raised 173.2 bushel (dried) corn with only 111 pounds of N, which is rarely accomplished. The population was 34K with a Crow's number that claimed to be efficient on its use of nutrition. It was. I had high organic matter too that contributed some nitrogen.

Gerald J.

D21 man -- we have several people do this in the past. Seemed to work for them. Back in the 1970's the guy who set several national corn growing records used 20 inch rows. The guys doing it have very good fertility programs. If I were still doing row crop I would be doing it.

We put every thing in 20" rows but so does every one else. You can use all the same equipment without changing tread widths. Planter,cultivator,sprayer and the bean cutter and rod weader are all set up for it. We combine corn with a all crop head that's 20" rows.rund the head just below the cobs leaves a lot of stalk that doesn't have to go through the combine. All the beet farmers have been at 20" for a long time. So lots of tractors and equipment come up for sale setup for 20" rows and dual or tripled 14.9 x46" tires.