Teach me how to plant corn

I will be planting my first corn crop here real soon. I'll be using my JD 7000 6 row narrow. I've gone thru it pretty well and am optimistic about it working well for me. My questions are about me performing well with the crop.

My first concern is planting. Would you recommend that I make rounded corners in the fields? or should I square them when planing my headlands?

Also my planter is 15 feet wide, my sprayer has 45' booms, should I plant 3 passes worth of headlands to make spraying easier? or will I need more than 45' of headland width to make my turn arounds later while spraying the center rows of the field?

Another concern is ending the field, say I come to the last pass on the field and there is say 10 feet between the rows that I am now planting and the headland rows that I planted earlier. If I just turn back around and head back, then I would be overplanting several rows. Is it ok to overplant? Should I remove seed boxes on these rows to prevent the overplant? What about fertilizer for these rows?

Also, how do I deal with overplanting on point rows? I don't have row shut-offs.

Thanks, from a rookie that is very anxious to learn! any help is appreciated

Round corners vs square corners is personal preference. It also depends if anything is piled in the corners like rocks. I do square corners because I like to have things proper and square, but again, it's personal preference. If you have fences a 45 foot sprayer should have 90 feet of headlands. Less than that makes it too hard to turn while counting rows and get straitened back out to line up with the rows. You can't be counting rows and watching the outer end of the boom at the same time. In the 'correction rows' at the end of the field removing boxes or shutting off the rows that are doubling is preferable but very few guys do it. Doubling the population means half the yield from those rows. Again it is your preference.

One question might be is how are you going to harvest the corn. If you are hiring someone with a large combine, make plenty of end rows for room to turn around and also have room for the grain cart. It also depends on the how many row head is on the combine. Ideally the combine will match the rows ie. a 6 row head.
My 2 cents worth and that's exactly what its worth.

Irv

I will be harvesting the corn myself using a 4 row head. I realize that doesn't match my planter, but I will only have an issue 1 out of 3 passes. I'm not sure how big of an issue that will be yet. I've also thought if needed, I could just take 3 rows at a time to keep from having to deal with that issue. We'll see how things go I guess.

You will be fine harvesting 4 rows at a time, make sure you can divide your row count by 12 so it comes out even.

Square corners are best for the planter. Rounded corners will twist the row shank on the planter

I have 6r planter and a 4r corn head. I just take off three at a time, first the left three on the head then the right three.

I see where you get the one in three calculation on harvesting, but you will find that "one" to be a lot of trouble. I did basically the same thing with a 8 row planter and a 6 row head. A lot of corn can hit the ground if you wander with the planter (and you will) and you will go cross eyed looking left and right to see if you are lined up with both sides when picking. You would be way ahead of the game to replace either your planter or head. It was fine when I was planting a small field, but the more I planted the less I liked the battle. This year I am replacing the eight row planter with a six. Harvest should be much nicer.

With your spare row I don't worry about it and just overlap a few. There's a good chance it will be a slight angle at that point and you will run over some when spraying your headland. Keep even with your field and don't try to "adjust it" to meet in the middle - either do that last row on the headland layout or the field layout and don't second guess it. You will go crazy trying not to mash something when you spray.

I don't have a single square field. I follow the field on headlands 24 rows (I plant on 12) and that's enough to turn and get the GPS back from its freak out. When I was growing up all of our fields were rectangles so we did square corners. It just depends on your preference. If you are doing the cutting you will know everywhere there is a quirk in the field anyway so you are a leg up.

I'm not sure I understand the round vs square corners, but if I do, square would be better in any way I can come up with that you mean that?!?! Especially of you are planting 6 and harvesting 4. You want all rows parallel as much as you can beyond any other goal.

Point rows you just plant overlapping into the headlands, all you can do. Don't leave a big gap unplanted, that creates weeds. Your combine header will get most of the extra plants.

You want at least 3 passes for the headlands. Its nicer making 4, as its 2 full rounds. Either way, won't matter much, whatever works for you. But at least 3, for the combine. The sprayer isn't much concern at all.

The last round where the rows meet, I will let one row double plant. When I get close enough for 2 rows to double plant, I go and flip the latch under the boxes to shift off those rows. No need to take the box off, just shut the row off.

One row overlapping isn't a big deal. 2 or more is wasting seed, but I'm a frugal (eh, cheap...) fella.

Paul

(Ha, it wouldn't accept my message, I had to read it real careful before I noticed how I had misspelled the word shift and made it unacceptable!)

What you really need to be concentrating on is becoming a farmer and not just a tractor driver. If your land is on the heavy side be very careful that you don't loose your moisture. Much better to plant after a rain than before. Let ground dry out sufficiently, have your planter ready to go to the field and then work over the ground and plant as soon as possible. You should have very little dust coming off the planting tractor. Planting depth, fertilizer placement and population come in to focus at this time also. This is the most important thing that you will be doing this season and you only have one shot at it. Your rows will come out fine. You might want an extra (3) width on the headlands for the sprayer. A year or two you will gain a lot of experience and not be near as intimidated by the whole process.

I back into the corners instead of dragging the planter around them. You could get by with 18 row headlands but turning with the sprayer will be tight if you have fences. I plant 20 rows on the headlands with a 10rn planter and get by ok. Plant a couple of passes on the far side of the field. When you finish the field and you have an uneven gap or overlap just shut the rows off manually as needed. You might overplant a little but it will all go through the combine.

I have done a lot of harvesting with a 6 row narrow head and round corners equals knocked down corn. 4 row head may be a little better.Did combining for a customer that planted sharp round corners with an 8 row planter and i always made square corners with the combine. Much less corn knocked down. Plant headlands for harvest,IMHO.

I agree on that double the width of sprayer for end rows. And if you can drive corectly when planting then no problems with 4 row head 6 row planter. I planted for years with 4 row planter and 3 row head. Make sure you have marker set correctly to get the 30" between passes. Not 26" or 34"

I plant with a 16 row planter shell 6, square all corners plant plenty end rows, allow for semi, grain cart and combine to have plenty of room

You don't have to have the sprayer completely in the headlands to turn around. All you need is the wheels past the end of the long rows.

Technically, you only need about 8' more than HALF the total width of your sprayer for headlands, if you have a fence or hedge row. Half your boom can hang in over the long rows.

If your sprayer is 45' wide you really only need two passes across the headlands with the planter. 12 rows.

BTW, around here everyone rounds the corners. You've at least got half a chance of following round corners with the chopper, and the BTO's have the "Kemper" heads anyway.

I dont understand rounding the corners....I planted with a 6 row planter and harvested with a 4 row corn head and had no problems..