Even as the sun sets on this steamy August day, Joe Breker can’t stop talking about how it benefits the corn he plants in 60-inch twin rows.
When the sun comes over the top this time of year, it shines from the top of the plant all the way to the bottom," says the Havana, N.D., farmer. Rather than bathing the entire plant in sunlight, the sun would coat just parts of a plant in more conventional 30-inch spacings, he adds.
COVER CROP HEAVEN: The wide rows permit more light to penetrate the corn canopy, resulting in thriving cover crops.
The impact is akin to the edge-row effect, in which Breker believes. This is a phenomenon where corn in rows on the edge of a field yields more than corn in rows within the field. More sunlight drives additional photosynthesis and ultimately, more yield, he says.
Breker notes some yield potential is lost due to more plants crowding within a row in wide-row spacings compared to 30-inch ones. “But at the end of the day, the yield seems to be about the same,” he says.
The wider spacings also permit more sunlight to penetrate between rows than 30-inch rows. This allows multispecies cover crops within rows to thrive and provide myriad benefits, such as soil microbial stimulation and erosion control.
Twin-row perks
Breker has grown wide-row corn across the farm for five years. He started with single-row, 60-inch spacings, but also evaluted paired rows spaced 2, 4, 6 and 8 inches apart.
“There are benefits to having paired rows, because the plants aren’t on top of each other,” he says. Less competition between plants for light, water and nutrients occurs, he adds.\
“The other interesting thing is that with single [60-inch] rows, the cover crop can actually get too much light,” he says. “It can start to compete with corn for water.”
In his evaluation, 2- and 4-inch paired rows yielded 4 bushels per acre better than 60-inch, single-row corn yields. Meanwhile, corn planted in 6-inch and 8-inch paired rows yielded 8 bushels more than corn planted in single 60-inch rows.
“I went with the 6-inch twin rows, because there was no yield difference and they harvested a little nicer than the 8-inch rows,” he says. The 6-inch twin rows are flanked by 54-inch spacings, into which he interseeds cover crops when corn reaches the V4 to V5 stage.
Broadcasting is not a fertilizer option in this strategy.
“You want to fertilize the corn, not the space in between,” he says. During corn planting, he applies liquid pop-up fertilizer. At interseeding, four of the drill’s six openers seed cover crops while the openers closest to the corn rows apply liquid 32% nitrogen.
“I’m sidedressing the corn 8 inches away from the row at a time of year when the corn needs it,” he says. The spacing strategy matches his 60-inch-center harvesting equipment. Two rows are empty on his 12-row, 20-inch combine during harvest.
“The other rows suck in corn like crazy,” he says. “There’s no ear bounce, because there’s so much material going through them. We can go a mile and a half faster than we did when we were on 30-inch rows. We also have all this green cover to drive on, which helps in wet falls. It’s just like sod.”
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