For alla the OP Corn farmers openions

[FarmboyBill]

OP Corn is supposed to be planted further apart than H corn. Is that in the row, between rows, or both. Whats the closest you can plant it in both cases?

See if I can get spring here any earlier by thinking on growing corn lol

[jwal10]

Either or both, less population/acre. Corn was planted on 40" rows, a lot on check rows, 40" in row and 40" wide rows, in hills. 3-4 kernels /hill. Then 38" then 36", then 30". Some is even in 15" rows. OP corn will not set ears good or has poor pollination if planted too close, the soil and nutrients available will dictate planting population and row width. How will you cultivate, what you have to cultivate with will determine that also....James

[Wanda]

Originally Posted by jwal10

Either or both, less population/acre. Corn was planted on 40" rows, a lot on check rows, 40" in row and 40" wide rows, in hills. 3-4 kernels /hill. Then 38" then 36", then 30". Some is even in 15" rows. OP corn will not set ears good or has poor pollination if planted too close, the soil and nutrients available will dictate planting population and row width. How will you cultivate, what you have to cultivate with will determine that also....James

Row width was the width a horse needed to walk between the rows to cultivate which was 40 inches. Corn was checked with a wire and stakes and could be cultivated in 2 directions to better remove weeds and grasses.

[jwal10]

Yep BTDT. We also used a tractor too, later. All the same equipment....James

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by Wanda

Row width was the width a horse needed to walk between the rows to cultivate which was 40 inches. Corn was checked with a wire and stakes and could be cultivated in 2 directions to better remove weeds and grasses.

And the row crop tractors were built to that horse rump size to accommodate the planting and cultivating equipment. (The planter in row spacing was governed by the holes in the cast iron planter plates.) Then the corn pickers were built to fit around the tractors until folks found about nitrogen and how it could allow closer spacing and higher yields. Today we have tightly spaced planters, narrower corn heads, ....and Roundup.

For Bill's question, it depends on the equipment he has, how much Nitrogen he wants to apply, how he will cultivate and harvest, how much irrigation he will use, and the maximum yield potential of his OP variety.

geo

[sammyd]

That question should be asked of your seed supplier.

[ronbre]

all corn is wind pollinated so I wouldn't put it too far apart..

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by ronbre

all corn is wind pollinated so I wouldn't put it too far apart..

Corn spacing is more of a concern for the roots than anything else,,,nutrition uptake, root spread vs. crowding, stalk size, water availability, lodging.

"The amount of pollen is rarely a cause of poor kernel set. Each tassel contains from 2 to 5 million pollen grains which translates to 2,000 to 5,000 pollen grains produced for each silk of the ear shoot. Shortages of pollen are usually only a problem under conditions of extreme heat and drought. Poor seed set is more often associated with poor timing of pollen shed with silk emergence (silks emerging after pollen shed)." From: http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0128.html

Modern hybrids are spaced pretty close, around here in thirty inch wide rows, with about a four inch in the row spacing, maybe a little closer under irrigation with high nitrogen application to support it. For open pollinated, I would recommend to Bill thirty inch rows(if his equipment can handle it) with six inch spacing in the rows, and especially if he uses no irrigation. Again, the equipment will govern......fertilizer application will likely be by the bag in granular form at planting, or applied by a broadcasting truck from the co-op, and the cost may be pretty high for corn that is already known to be not as productive as hybrid. It would also help if he is planting on soil that has been manured, or had beans the year before, or was clover or legume sod--for the residual nitrogen he would get.

geo

[jwal10]

Bill, do you/will you use chemical fertilizer? Never heard you say if you do or not....James

[Rustaholic]

I am loving this topic.
I have a plan for bringing my little acre back to life.
First work it up smooth and two runs of Buckwheat in year 1.
Year 2 depending on what I find I will either do another year of Buckwheat or go to Alfalfa.
Whatever, The year after the Alfalfa it will be divided into four 1/4 acre plots for corn, peas, beans and oats.
Every year right after harvest each section will get a cover crop that will help feed what will go into that quarter acre the following year.
All OP corn will be planted in rows 30" apart and 30" in the row like I grew up doing. No added nitrogen that doesn't come from the previous crop and cover crop.

Growing up my step-father never did the cover crops nor did he rotate crops much.
Once I do remember him switching the potatoes and the field corn.
The soil there was great though and mine is worn out potato dirt.
Once I get that acre into productive growing I have another one to work up and put to Buckwheat thick.
I have plows, a disc, a field cultivator and several drag sections. Plus a spike tooth drag. I have a half dozen or more of the old wooden corn planters that I will use for the corn after I mark the plot both ways.
I have one of those walk behind planters with a full set of seed plates for the corn and beans. I would love to find an old grain drill for the oats but I might be able to use that planter if I make a lot of trips across the field.
If the planter does work for oats I will probably buy several more of them and tie them together for oats.

[FarmboyBill]

I cant get the planter past 32in.
Fert would be in bulk in the back of pk and into the fert hopper on my planter
6in planting is what I have it set for.

I will not plant corn this year, as I hope to move from here. Just wanted to think about it online.

[rambler]

You would space it farther apart in the row, between the stalks.

Row spacing is set with your equipment, not so easily adjusted. Older equipment will be 38 or 40 inches apart.

Modern hybreds they plant about 30,000 to 34,000 plants per acre.

Open polinated you are around 19,000 or so?

Both numbers can be adjusted up or down for dry, poor soil, or great conditions....

Ideally you want your corn spaced in a grid, equally spaced from each plant beside it. For modern corn they are working on a planter that spaces each seed 12 inches apart, 12 inch rows. Such narrow rows have their own problem with harvest and fertilizing and such, but they are working on it.

Paul

[Yvonne's hubby]

Several years ago I raised OP red corn. planted it with a two row planter set at 36 inches apart and planted a seed every 8 inches. I cultivated it with the tractor once a week till it was too high to get the tractor over it without breaking the stalks. If memory serves I got about 150 bushel to the acre. The squirrels, beaver and coons got a little too. The one thing I do remember was those ears were way up on the stalk... made it a lot of work hand picking reaching way up over my head to pick.

[FarmboyBill]

My planter is nearly the first model to come out, pull type for a tractor.
It will plant from 32 to 42in wide rows.
I have planted Reids yellow Dent, and it wasn't hardly a bit higher than H corn
The ears are secondary in what id be wanting. The more the marrier, true, but what im going for is the OP Stalks for cattle feed.

[Missy M]

Yvonne's hubby has an ideal spacing. If you plant the corn too close you will get a very poor yield. Trust me I've done that and it turned out very poorly. The OP corn gets really high and needs the spacing to feed the root system.

[fatrat]

I have tried planting my OP corn both checked and in rows. MY experience has been it is best to not plant closer than 12 inches in the row. Sometimes I have seen even better results 18 inches apart in the row. I prefer rows about 42 inches apart. In my experience the most important things for growing OP corn in my area is,

1. Plant spacing not over 18,000 per acre. Never plant seeds closer than 12 inches.

2. Good fertility, for me it seems well rested ground does better than highly fertilized ground.

3. Good cultivation of weeds, especially between the rows. Do not cultivate deep after the plants are higher than six inches or you will damage the roots.

[FarmboyBill]

In my experiences, both doing it myself and seeing others doing it, It seems to me that when the corn is around 20in wide rows, there is less weeds. more competitions from the corn, and less sun getting down to the ground floor.

Course, the narrower the rows, the less likelihood of its been cultivated. Less likelihood of its needing cultivation.

Could be that corn planted in 20in rows and not cultivated wouldn't have any more weeds than corn in 36in rows and cultivated repeatedly

[jwal10]

I have planted a lot of OP silage corn at 26,000 population on 30" rows. Good river bottom and irrigation. This corn got 12' tall and a lot of it has 4 ears, not big ears as it was for silage....James

[FarmboyBill]

Shumways has several varities of OP corn that gets that tall.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

My planter is nearly the first model to come out, pull type for a tractor.
It will plant from 32 to 42in wide rows.
I have planted Reids yellow Dent, and it wasn't hardly a bit higher than H corn
The ears are secondary in what id be wanting. The more the marrier, true, but what im going for is the OP Stalks for cattle feed.

I do not believe row width matters too much. I would pick 30 or 38 inch, as that is common to cultivators and pickers and silage choppers, etc. it is good to be common on this. It might be easier to find old used cheap equipment at 38 inches. On the other hand if you are hiring any of the work done, or would decide to want the help some day, the 30 inch would likely be more common with the neighbors.

You want the plants spaced 8-12 inches apart in the row for open polinated. Whatever the math comes out to make about 19,000 plants per acre.

Paul