Not Ed but I'm pretty sure Phil's program encourages farmers to time and size their nitrogen applications to encourage the correct number of tillers for optimum yield. If you already have the optimum number of tillers, I believe Phil would advise against applying nitrogen early in the year. He would rather not see too many heads at harvest time as he feels it adversely affects yield. At least that's my understanding.

I don't think he's saying that there should be less total nitrogen requirement for a good crop because there are a bunch of tillers. I think he just saying that it might not be a good idea to dump nitrogen on right now, especially if the crops nitrogen needs are already close to being met.