April 2019 - 32

GROWER'S POSTCARD
Plant culture involves finding the best spacing
Sam's summary of common configurations
SAM HITCHCOCK
TILTON
rcvcfarm@gmail.com
# of
rows
Greetings dear reader,
The relentless winter continues, as I write
to you from my perch here in the town of
Sheboygan, on the western shore of Lake
Michigan. My heater struggles to keep up
with the desolate cold outside my leaky
windows, and so I pile on layers of clothing
as the loose window panes rattle against the
buffeting wind.
Generally, I appreciate the stark
seasonality of my northern homeland
- each season promotes a different
perspective - and winter is the time for
reflection and recharging. But now by late
February I have had my fill. By the time
this prints I hope that perhaps even the first
crocuses will be peeking their jeweled heads
up from the snow, reminding me that " this
too shall pass. " But for now I grind my teeth,
take a deep breath and another gulp of hot
coffee, and release the pointless anger to
share with you a few more thoughts about
planting configurations with vegetables, or
the concept that in the last column I had
introduced as one's " culture. " Come along
with me, won't you?
There are many row spacings and bed
sizes in which we can culture our plants.
Let's start with two rows spaced 18 inches
apart on a 36-inch bed top. Here's why
you should consider this spacing - it is the
cheapest way to begin vegetable growing
at a mechanized scale. This is what I mean:
tractor tires on 48-inch centers are common
for sub-compact and even lawn-type
tractors - with their small size and lower
horsepower these tractors are cheaper than
their bigger cousins. Then implements: you
could get by with just a 4-foot tiller as your
only tillage implement. And again, smaller
implements are cheaper.
With 18 inches between rows and 9
inches of shoulder space, this culture
offers enough room to run a mechanical
transplanter, a multi-row seeder and all
3
2
Inches
between
rows
10
18
Size of
bed top
30
36
Shoulder
space on
one side
5
9
Common
tire spacing
48 "
24 "
Advantage
Most production
for limited space
Human scale; lowest
cost to mechanize
3
15
48
9
60 "
1,2 or 3 rows; can
mechanize readily;
pick-up truck will
straddle beds
3
18
60
12
72 "
Classic European
production model
(equipment available),
plenty of space for 3
rows, larger crops,
and for cultivation
Disadvantage
Tight spacing - can't
mechanize, must weed
by hand
Only 2 rows - less yeild
depending on crop
Can run low on shoulder
space
Must start with tractors
that can reach to 72 " oc;
need larger machines;
nothuman scale
Table 1
Comparing plants per acre for 2 different configurations and crops
Zucchini
Head Lettuce
Beds/acre Rows/bed
2 rows at 18 "
(tires 48 " on
center)
3 rows at 15 "
(tires 60 " on
center)
220/4'=55
1
Plants/acre (200'
long bed)
200x55=11,000
20%
220/5'=44
1
200x44=8,800
3
200x44x3=
26,400
Table 2
manner of tractor-mounted cultivation
tools. The smaller beds keep this
configuration on a human scale, so that
you can step over beds and reach into
them to harvest.
Depending on what you are growing,
this configuration can be the most spaceefficient.
Let's get into the weeds on this
one: In a metaphorical acre we've got an
area about 200 feet long by 215 feet wide.
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Regardless of our configuration, a one-row
crop like zucchini will often be grown in a
single row in all configurations.
Table 2 compares a two-row
configuration to the three-row, because both
contain only one row per bed and because
the two-row configuration fits in more beds
per acre. The two-row configuration gives
us 20 percent more zucchini plants per acre.
That is a significant difference. However,
if we are talking about a crop that can be
spaced more closely, say head lettuce, we can
see that the three-row configuration fits in
17 percent more plants per acre.
So while this point about plants per
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acre may be moot for farmers with diverse
crops planted in both a variety of one-,
two- and three-row configurations, those
farmers growing a small range of crops
can maximize their production per acre
by choosing a configuration that suits
their particular crop. But keep in mind
that plants per acre is just one of many
considerations to balance when choosing
your plants' culture.
In farming there are few hard and
fast rules, so I'll mention that all of these
configurations in Table 1 are somewhat
fudge-able; I know plenty of growers who
are on three rows at 16 inches or two rows
at 20 inches. If conditions dictate, these
cultures have similar attributes when
their size is nudged up or down. The chief
concern is that whatever your precise
spacing, EVERY SINGLE ONE of your
tools is set to that precise spacing.
Speaking of precise spacing, I'd like to
point out an important detail that is often
missed regarding bed size, or the width of
the growing area between the tractor tires.
Many focus on tire spacing - the distance
between the centers of each tractor tire
- with the idea that your tire spacing
determines your bed size, BUT THIS IS
NOT TRUE. This is because the size of
tires varies - so that if you have narrow
11-inch-wide tires spaced 60 inches apart
your bed top will be wider than if you
have fat 18-inch-wide tires also spaced 60
inches apart. For example, my ol' buddy
farmer Hans Bishop has beds 48 inches
wide, but he also has big fat row-crop tires.
To achieve his 48-inch beds he sets his
tractor tires to 65 inches apart on center to
compensate for their girth.
I wonder if by now you realize that I
could talk longer than may be healthy
about choosing a culture for our plants. I
may have spent too much time alone this
winter among seed catalogues and
vegetable-growing books. Let's hope
that the crocuses come out soon! Until
then, I wish you a pleasant time in your
greenhouses. VGN
Percent
increase
Rows/bed
2
Plants/acre
(200' long bed)
200x55x2=
22,000
17%
Percent
increase
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April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2019
