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Hazelton, Kansas | John and Versy875:
I agree with all John said.
When I plant in 30" rows, with the ability to singulate and hit populations on the nose, I drop 70k. When I airseed in 20" rows, I aim for ~90k, just because I can't control populations as well.
I now plant from group 3.5 to 4.8 beans. I've tried from 2.4 to 7.something over the years.
Other comments.
1: With low pops (50-70k) expect the bases of the plants to approach an inch in diameter. This can challenge your knives. You will probably lock the knife drive up (and maybe pull the head off) if and when you try to harvest perpendicular to the rows.
2: I'm not an agronomist, but I THINK low pops keep plant height shorter by reducing "down-the-row" competition. Short beans are a good thing in the desert, because it reduces water demand. But you want them tall and bushy enough to canopy, if possible. It sounds obvious, but you have to keep them alive through routine, prolonged droughts that are far less frequent and severe in the "I" states. Yearly pan evaporation where you farm is ~90" of water. It's roughly half that in the traditional bean belt.
3: 875, you may not like this one, but GET THE DAMNED COWS OFF THOSE MILO STALKS (if you're going to beans). In my opinion, beans are very responsive to surface residue in this part of the world. Wheat/DC milo stubble is my favorite place to plant full season beans. We never till and never graze. You need to eliminate as much of the "E" in "ET" as possible, by keeping the soil covered. Move cows. Sell cows. Buy hay. At least fence off a strip for an honest test, so you can prove me wrong. And quit tilling. Beans respond to organic matter. If your farm is like many in this region, it's been tilled down to less than 1% OM. That creates a bit of an uphill battle for any crop, but especially for beans.
Sorry if this is blunt or preachy. I'm old and crotchety, so humor me.
:-)
MDS
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risky dryland beans
