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| Modern hybrids perform best here at 32000 to 34000 plants per acre. I have done numerous stress wheel studies in my years.
A stress wheel is planted like spokes in a wheel. On the inside the population is 100000 PPA on the outside the population is about 9000. Even thought the corn plant double ears on the outside you can't get as many kernals per acre as you would at the 60000 PPA and smaller ears. It is more effiecient to have one ear per plant and have more plants.It is a proven fact here in the upper midwest if you don't get a stand of atleast 25000 PPA your yields will drop like a rock under that.
Years ago when they hand picked corn and before the use of hybrid corn , they picked the biggest ears for replanting. They also planted pretty thin back then, probably 10000 or so. I suppose it was easier to pick 10000 big ears than 30000 small ears. How times have changed. Yields were way less than 100, maybe less than 50 BPA in most cases. Yileds here run 150 to 225 BPA now with modern hybrids.
Also would comment on no-till, not feasible in our cold sticky clay soils. Been there done that. We need every heat unit we can get in some years. If no-till delays emergence you never catch up.
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waseca strip till show
