Has anybody here tried to pick ear corn planted in "twin rows", or know of anybody who has? Twin rows being like the new concept being promoted by Great Plains and Monosem, where two rows are planted 8" either side of what would be the normal 30" or 36" row, seeds staggered to make optimum use of the sunlight and prevent root crowding. It can be picked with a conventional snapping roll corn header on a combine (I have seen it done), but was wondering how it would work with a stripper plate header like most pickers had.
Well, a JD 300 shouldn't have problems because the head is a 40-series, same as combines. I would think the New Idea pickers could do it . . . but what kind of mess would that make if the corn went down?
Theoretically speaking, the stalks should be stronger because the aren't competing with their "neighbor". Yes, I guess the mess after a hurricane or something like that would be something you wouldn't want to deal with. But isn't it always? I was thinking about the stripper plate header like the old Uni's had. They didn't have snapping rolls to pull the stalks in like a later corn head. I guess the gathering chain would still pull it in.
-- Edited by jwmfarms on Thursday 28th of April 2011 08:30:03 AM
It might be more of a challenge staying on row, but with stronger stalks, the gathering chains on the NI324/327 should take care of business. As I have mentioned several times in this forum, we are using 324/327s (wide row pickers) on narrow row (30") corn with good results. The twin row situation seems to present less of a challenge, but I might be proven wrong. If someone gets experience this year with twin row corn, I think several of us would like to know the results, including what picker (especially wide or narrow) and any special modifications needed.
-- Edited by Bleeding Orange on Friday 2nd of September 2011 10:12:46 AM
Still don't know of anyone who has picked ear corn planted in twin rows, but know of a fellow who picked a non-irrigated "plot" (actually was a 10+ acre field) that yeilded 244 bu./ac. across the scales at the elevator. Not too bad for an area that considers 150-175 bu./ac. corn excellent. Of course, he is probably one of the best farmers in this part of the state. Some are happy to break 200bu./ac. with irrigation.
I doubt there is anyone who has ever tried picking twin-row corn with a picker, so if your waiting for someone to tell you "it works, I've done it", your not likely to hear it. The reason I say this is that twin row planting is realitively new again, and the guys most likely to adapt the technology aren't messing around with pickers anymore (unfortunately). As others have said, the later pickers should be able to handle it, and I wouldn't be afraid to try it.
