30in row vs 36in

so what kind of a yield difference did you guys experience going from wide to narrow rows. I have a friend who plants my corn and beans but he uses an IH56 plate planter on 30in rows and seems to do ok if we find sized seed and field conditions a just right. But id like to do it my self but I do not want a plate planter. I would like a 7000 series deere but even a four planter row goes high around here. however some times i see a wide 4 row jd 7000 planter at a reasonable price. But I do not want to much of a project and from what some have told me it seems narrowing a wide row 7000 to 30 in rows is a pain. So how big of a difference is there in yield between 30 inch rows and 36 inch rows.

Would that not depend on the size of the field? HA

Some are going 20" on corn, you should see a 20% increase in production going to 30" rows, I also would not want a plate planter for any production field.

Drilled beans will out yield any row beans.We gave up on planted beans 30 years ago.There easier to control weeds in,shade the ground faster and always yielded better than the row beans.

I would not hack up a 36" 7000, they make good sweetcorn planters.

When 20" corn came norm was 40", the 20" only lasted a few years till it was gone and 30" started showing up and has become the norm. Don't think any 20" around now. Don't know if it made a difference in yield or not.The 30" on same population as as the 40" was easier to harvest as not as much material had to go through the snapping rolls with stalks farther apart.

20" is the new thing around here for corn, 15" beans.

Compared to 36", 30" spacing shades the rows quicker for better weed control and spaces the plants a twitch farther apart for less competition from the neighboring plants on each side of it. In corn you might get five to ten bushels per acre more if you are looking at 175 bushel corn. When the population gets above 32,000 plants per acre or thereabouts the corn plants are getting too close to each other in wide rows. 20" rows are seeing a slight comeback in my neck of the woods. Deere made a 20" cornhead in the sixties so there must have been a small demand for them at that time. I think Gleaner had a 20" head too now that I think of it. If you only have ten or 20 acres you can't really justify paying a whole lot more for a 30" planter. The 7000 planter is definitely a better planter than the 56. I switched from an IH 58 to a 7000 finger planter 20 years ago and it was like I advanced 100 years in seed spacing and placement. A neighbor of mine who retired last year planted 300 acres a year with a 4 row 36" 7000 that was bought new when the 7000 series was just out, the early 70's. The planter was used on his farm only. He farmed 39 years and bought it from the farmer who farmed that land previously. If it was bought new in let's say 1973 that's 41 years at 300 acres per year. That's 12,300 acres for a four row planter. I'm sure a lot of parts were replaced several times but that shows the longevity of those old Deere planters.

Not Everywhere! Look around and notice what farmers are doing in your area. Drilled beans and No-Till depend a lot on ground type and location.

Gleaner was the only 20" I ever saw at that time. The first person to go the narrow rows 20" was also the first person to go no till. That lasted possibly 5 years and he was back moldboard plowing and to 30" rows

Maybe in your area but there is no yeild advantage to drilled beans in my area. With white mold 30 inch rows out yeild all others and a drill will never give as good a stand as a planter.Top yeild contest winners in my area are all 30 inch rows. Tom

How many acres are you going to be planting? We still have 38 inch rows and I hit 200 bu corn often and average 180+. We have a good Deere 7200 planter and plant about 90 acres a year of corn and 60 of beans that we split the rows to give us 19 inch. Two of my neighbors have changed to 30's recently and saw maybe 5-10 bu increase.I planted two small bottoms to 38 inch row beans because of white mold this year and they look good, not sure about yeild yet.My combine heads,cultivaters,corn picker,snaplage head and silage head are all in good condition so I feel it would cost to much for me to change to narrow rows. Weed control is not a problem with today's chemicals.If you go to 38 inch rows do you have someone to pick or combine wide rows? Tom

That is interesting.

So you make 2 passes @ 38 for 19" rows?

You can shrink a JD7000 4RW down to 36 inch rows with no mods. That's what I use for corn. Plant beans at 18 inches.

The MF dealer I worked for in the 70s had a farmer that had 20 inch corn. Used an eight row chisel planter on a 1130, had an eight row 20 corn head on a 510.

Different areas can be different.

If around here, you won't find much different 20 30 or 38 inch on corn. If you are running 2000 acres then might want to look into a twin row planter, they are spendy but can coax a little more bushels out of the field. Figuring in the added expense of rare corn harvesting equipment for small operations, what little gain you might get for 30 inch in corn is wiped out by the special harvest equipment needed....

On beans, over 30 inch has the potential to be disappointing. Some years it works well, but combine a lower yield once in a while, and worse weeds, so its a little disappointing.

Fortunately, if you spray for weeds you can easily double plant and end up with 19 or 18 inch bean rows. You can't plant good enough to cultivate, but with herbicides the double planting works great. Shoup and other places sell the special slowdown sprocket you need to plant a half a population each pass. If you have level smooth fields you can drive faster with the slower sprocket so you don't even loose too much time.

JD 7000 is a fine planter, if you choose to you can modernize with Presision Planting seed meters and tubes for corn for extra very accurate seed placement, and replace the seed cups for beans with any of several brands of soybean meters that place soybean seed very nicely. Great planter.

Paul

Herbicides are letting us down and something will have to change with weed control. This year here in Northwest Iowa herbicide resistant weeds have reared their ugly heads in beans big time. nearly every bean field has weeds to some degree. Some fields the weeds are so bad you can't see the beans and it doesn't matter what was used for herbicide. The drilled beans are cleaner though. The wet humid conditions we have this summer has probably brought on the white mold in the drilled beans. This morning I drove past the last field of 38" row beans in the neighborhood and it looked decently clean. Not weed less but not bad by any means. This farmer had some of his farm custom planted with 15" rows and those beans are slightly cleaner. We might see a comeback to wider rowed beans so we can cultivate again. I cultivated 80 acres of beans this summer. First time I have cultivated for at least fifteen years. It's just as boring now as it was then only I cultivate 12 rows now versus 6 rows back then.

Yes it is a slow go but I like the results. I am thinking about a 7100 4 row 30 inch just for soybeans. Tom

I have both heads available
And ih 844 and an 843
I also may be picking up an oliver 7300 with a wide head but the deal has not been finalized.

The fields are all small 2-8 acres total less than 80 acres