Spudman January 2023 - 36

Reduced row width for
increased yield
Machinery may have decided traditional
spacing, but it could be time to change it up
By Wes Crandall
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
P
otatoes have been grown in a specific way for decades,
with traditional spacing between them, but research
has proved that they can be grown closer together
without affecting tuber size and can potentially increase yield.
Mark Pavek, professor and potato specialist at Washington
State University, likes to question farming practices that
aren't particularly marked by research, and then research
them himself to see if these practices are the most efficient.
" If you look back, row width was probably more of a
convenience of machinery, " said Pavek, " and being able to
use equipment that's already designed. "
The usual, traditional row width is around 34 to 36
inches in the Northwest U.S., but newer machines are
available to growers that want to make changes as their
current equipment goes into decline.
The adoption of narrower widths hasn't caught on as
quickly as some researchers hoped it would, but significant
changes in farming practices are typically expected to take
time before widespread adoption - there's risk involved in
big changes.
" Some people wait to see what their neighbors do. If the
neighbor has good luck with it, then maybe they'll adopt it.
If there are positive results, adoption will feed off of that, "
said Pavek.
36
Spudman * January 2023
Planting 30-inch rows at a
Washington State University
farm. Photos: Washington
State University
Though this is a process measured in years, there have
been some recent changes for growers in the Columbia
Basin. More growers have made the move from 34-inch
rows to 32-inch rows. Pavek said these growers stand to
make more money over time, despite increased seed costs
to plant into tighter rows.
" It'll pay for all that, " Pavek said.
The research that has been done up to this point has
found that the best row width for the Columbia Basin
area is somewhere around 30 to 32 inches for russet-type
potatoes, and anything smaller begins to cut into potato
size and yield. The focus of these studies was about
balancing plant population and row width to get the best
growing situations.
The initial research was conducted from 2013-2018, but
it's still ongoing. The next phase of this research, slated to
begin this year, will focus on row width in combination
with irrigation and how changes in plant population affect
water use.
" We want to figure out more about the moisture part
of it, because as plant populations get really condensed,
you start to have problems keeping the soil moist, " said
Pavek. " We're going to apply more irrigation than we did
with the first round and see if we boost the yields of the
narrowest rows. "
One of Pavek's former students, Rhett Spear, is now
conducting row width research in Idaho. Rhett is an

Spudman January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spudman January 2023

Spudman January 2023 - 1
Spudman January 2023 - 1A
Spudman January 2023 - 2A
Spudman January 2023 - 2
Spudman January 2023 - 3
Spudman January 2023 - 4
Spudman January 2023 - 5
Spudman January 2023 - 6
Spudman January 2023 - 7
Spudman January 2023 - 8
Spudman January 2023 - 9
Spudman January 2023 - 10
Spudman January 2023 - 11
Spudman January 2023 - 12
Spudman January 2023 - 13
Spudman January 2023 - 14
Spudman January 2023 - 15
Spudman January 2023 - 16
Spudman January 2023 - 17
Spudman January 2023 - 18
Spudman January 2023 - 19
Spudman January 2023 - 20
Spudman January 2023 - 21
Spudman January 2023 - 22
Spudman January 2023 - 23
Spudman January 2023 - 24
Spudman January 2023 - 25
Spudman January 2023 - 26
Spudman January 2023 - 27
Spudman January 2023 - 28
Spudman January 2023 - 29
Spudman January 2023 - 30
Spudman January 2023 - 31
Spudman January 2023 - 32
Spudman January 2023 - 33
Spudman January 2023 - 34
Spudman January 2023 - 35
Spudman January 2023 - 36
Spudman January 2023 - 37
Spudman January 2023 - 38
Spudman January 2023 - 39
Spudman January 2023 - 40
Spudman January 2023 - 41
Spudman January 2023 - 42
Spudman January 2023 - 43
Spudman January 2023 - 44
Spudman January 2023 - 45
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Spudman January 2023 - 49
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Spudman January 2023 - 51
Spudman January 2023 - 52
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