Advantages of Stine’s HP Twin 20 Planting System and an Early Canopy in Corn

It’s never too early to start planning for the 2018 planting season. By now, growers should have received their Stine seed catalogs and talked to their agronomists about what’s worked well for them in 2017 and how to carry that over to the next year. For Region 5, which covers southern Nebraska and parts of western Iowa and northeastern Colorado, we’ve seen a lot of success and interest in the Stine^® HP Twin 20 planting system. 

This year, more than 12,000 acres were planted with the Stine HP Twin 20 planting system in southern Nebraska. This success has registered for farmers who are not only pushing populations on irrigated land but also on dry land.

One advantage of the Stine HP Twin 20 planting system is more equidistant spacing. With that, being able to push the population means that you’re going to canopy the ground sooner, which means you’re going to have less weed pressure later on in the season. Another advantage is that you’re going to see is cooler temperatures in the rows on hot days. When it’s 100 plus degrees, you can see up to a 15-degree difference when it comes to the Twin 20-inch system compared to wider 30-inch rows.

Other advantages of an early canopy in corn include light interception and erosion control. An early canopy keeps sunlight where it matters the most — on a corn plant’s leaves. This enables the plant to maximize every ray of sunlight and drop of rain during the critical late spring and early summer growing season. And one of the lesser-known benefits of the HP Twin 20 planting system’s early canopy is erosion control. When a raindrop hits the soil directly, soil particles bubble up and can be carried away. That’s not as likely to happen when raindrops first hit a thick canopy of corn leaves. The Stine HP Twin 20 planting system helps prevent channels of water running down rows, which means the soil particles stay put.

To learn more about the benefits of the Stine HP Twin 20 planting system, visit our website or talk to your local Stine sales rep.