(edited)Agronomy
Paloma lower population results
I decided to give a half-hearted test plot a try this year with one of our 13 acre upland fields. This was also my first time using FBN genetics. We farm all non-irrigated ground in Northeast Kansas that is all fairly marginal compared to our neighbors to the North. For beans I'd say our farm average yield is around 35-40 bu/acre. Anything over 50 is exceptional.
Soil pH ranged from 5.5 to 5.9 across the field, with most of it around 5.6. This was the 3rd year in a row in beans and has been no-till for the last 4 years. I did not put any lime or fertilizer down after last year either. They never canopied enough to completely cover the rows and were fairly short, but that happened to our other beans as well and is a product of the weather, I can't blame the seed at all for that.
Planted Paloma PL2E410 at 103,000 seeds/acre (usually seed around 130k in our other fields). Just cut them on Saturday and they made 40 bu/acre after making 41 the year prior. Aside from 40 acres that just came out of CRP, these were our best yielding beans. I'm extremely happy with the results and plan to continue these trials and see what the floor is for population vs yield potential. Anyone else try something similar?
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We planted the 4.4 behind wheat here in Northeast Alabama into about the same pH soil and normally we average 25-35 behind wheat. They are a medium bush but they lapped the rows and cut 55-65 average.
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That is impressive. Our after wheats are usually in the 15-25 range, but we aren't able to get them planted until almost the beginning of July. We may have to see what these do as after wheats sometime.