Planting Density Calculator

Planting density: plants per hectare

Planting density comes from plants/ha = 10,000 / (row spacing · in-row spacing), with both spacings in meters and 10,000 being the m² in 1 hectare. The targets growers aim for in Brazil tend to look like this: corn ~70,000 pl/ha (roughly 0.5 m × 0.25 m), soybean 250,000–350,000 pl/ha, and coffee ~5,000 pl/ha (3 m × 0.7 m). Say you set rows 0.5 m apart and plants 0.25 m apart in the row; that gives 10,000 / (0.5 · 0.25) = 80,000 pl/ha. Pushing density up usually lifts yield per hectare, but it also feeds disease (sheath blight, fungal foliar diseases) and ramps up competition for light, water and nutrients, so weigh it against the hybrid, soil fertility and how much water you can count on.

Applications

Comes up in row-crop agriculture whenever you plan a season, size a seed order, follow EMBRAPA cultivar recommendations, calibrate a mechanized seeder or project yield per hectare.

FAQ

Does denser always mean more yield? No. Once you pass the sweet spot, the plants start competing, each one produces less, and disease shows up more often.

Why is soybean density so much higher than corn? Soybean is a smaller plant that makes up its yield through branching and the number of pods, so it takes more individuals to fill out the canopy.

Where do I find the right density for my hybrid? Check the technical bulletins from the seed companies and the EMBRAPA cultivar tables, which give the recommended range by region and sowing date.