Cambridge, southwestern Nebraska | Sounds like you have similar conditions as I have. You might consider backing off the population to 16,000 or so. The plants will stand through a drought just a little longer. Maybe long enough to catch a rain.
Tillering is more related to variety than population in my experience.
When we started planting corn in the early 80's we were at 12,000 population. We gadually worked up from there. Through some wet years in the 90's we were pushing 18 to 19,000 but when drought hit we backed off. Now, usually planting in the 16 to 17,000 range. As a rule of thumb we expect corn to be able to produce up to 10 bu. of corn for every 1,000 plants per acre. Even 16,000 plants are capable of producing 160 bu./a. |
Dryland Corn Plant
