High performance, sustainability, strong yields. With harvest season wrapping up, it’s time to start thinking about what you want out of next year’s corn crop. Stine offers the latest in hybrid technology through our high-population (HP) corn. And what lesser-known benefit makes HP corn one of the best products on the market? HP corn’s early canopy.
Every grower wants a crop that effectively utilizes Earth’s most desired natural ingredients — sunlight and rainfall. HP corn does just that by harvesting the benefits of both. When sunlight hits bare ground, its potential to promote plant growth is lost. The ability to plant in narrower row spacings, such as Stine’s HP Twin 20 rows, and at increased populations creates an earlier canopy than with 30-inch rows. This means more sunlight lands where it matters the most — on the plant’s leaves.
High-density planting also provides more erosion control. When a raindrop hits soil directly, the soil particles can be swept away, carrying valuable nutrients with them. With a dense canopy of corn, rain hits the leaves first and then drips down to the ground. Narrower rows also create less of a channel between the rows for water to run down, allowing solid particles to stay put.
If that’s not enough, higher density rows also provide better weed suppression, affording weeds a much narrower window to germinate and grow. And, contrary to popular belief that more plants make for hotter conditions in the field, the transpiration of the plants actually helps maintain, or in some cases even slightly reduce, air temperatures.
Learn more about the benefits of Stine HP corn by contacting your regional sales agronomist or district sales manager.