1
Kansas is agronomically rich, with diverse soils and
growing conditions. The average number of freeze-free
days ranges from 150 in the northwest to 200 in south-
eastern Kansas. The average date of the last 32°F freeze
in the spring is May 5 in the northwest and April 10 in
the southeast. The average date of the first 32°F fall freeze
is October 5 for the northwest and October 25 for the
southeast.
Our rich soils and climatic conditions make Kansas the
number one state in wheat and grain sorghum production.
These conditions not only dictate the type of crop that will
grow, but also cause wide differences in the optimum plant-
ing dates and seeding rates across the state. It is important
that producers recognize optimum planting dates and rates
for various crops, but just as important, producers need to
recognize and understand the differences between growing
conditions on their farms and those of their neighbors.
Tables in this publication show ranges of optimum plant-
ing rates and dates for various crops within a given zone.
Kansas Crop Planting Guide
Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
2
Planting Dates
Generally, the earlier planting dates of the planting range
are for spring-planted crops in eastern and southern areas,
while for fall-planted crops, they apply to northern and west-
ern areas (Table 1).
Table 1. Suggested planting dates for Kansas crops.
Crop Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4
Wheat Sept 10–30 Sept 15–Oct 20 Sept 25–Oct 20 Oct 5–25
Triticale Aug 20–Sept 15 Aug 20–Sept 25 Sept 1–25 Sept 1–Oct 1
Winter barley Sept 10–20 Sept 10–Oct 5 Sept 15–Oct 10 Sept 20–Oct 10
Spring barley Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 25–Mar 15
1
Not recommended
Spring wheat
1
Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 25–Mar 15 Not recommended
Winter oats Not recommended Not recommended Not recommended Sept 20–Oct 10
Spring oats Mar 5–20 Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 25–Mar 15 Feb 20–Mar 15
Corn Apr 20–May 20 Apr 15–May 20 Apr 1–May 10 Mar 25–Apr 25
Sorghums May 15–June 10 May 15–June 20 May 15–June 20 May 1–15/June 5–25
Sudangrass May 15–July 1 May 20–July 10 May 20–July 10 May 20–July 10
Soybeans May 10–June 1 Irr. May 5–June 10 May 5–June 10 W ½ May 10–June 25 W ½
May 15–June 15 E ½ June 1–30 E ½
Alfalfa
Fall Aug 10–30 Aug 15–Sept 10 Aug 15–Sept 10 Aug 15–Sept 15
Spring Apr 25–June 1 Apr 20–May 10 Apr 10–May 10 Apr 10–May 10
Sweet clover
Fall Not recommended Aug 15–Sept 10 E
1
⁄3 Aug 15–Sept 10 E ½ Aug 15–Sept 10
Spring Mar 5–20 Mar 1–15 Mar 1–15 Feb 20–Mar 15
Red clover Not recommended Mar 1–15 E
1
⁄3 Mar 1–15 E
1
⁄3 Feb 20–Mar 15
Millets
Pearl June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1
Proso June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1
Foxtail June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1 June 1–July 1
Lespedeza Not recommended Not recommended Feb 15–Mar 15 E
1
⁄3 Feb 10–Mar 10
Cool Season Grasses
Fall Aug 10–Sept 10 Aug 15–Sept 15 Aug 20–Sept 20 Aug 25–Oct 1
Winter Not recommended Not recommended Not recommended Not recommended
Spring
1
Mar 1–Apr 1 Feb 15–Mar 15 Feb 15–Mar 15 Feb 15–Mar 15
Warm Season
Native Grasses Mar 15–May 15 Mar 15–May 15 Mar 15–Apr 30 Mar 1–Apr 30
Sunflower May 7–June 20 May 15–July 1 S ½ May 10–July 10 W ½ June 10–July 15
May 15–July 10 N ½
June 10–July 10 E ½
1
Not recommended, but if planted these are best times.
3
Planting Rates
As one moves from west to east within each area,
planting rates for the various crops increase (Table 2). For
example, the seeding rate for wheat in western Kansas ranges
from 40 to 60 pounds per acre, and increases from 50 to
60 pounds per acre and 60 to 75 pounds per acre in central
and eastern areas, respectively. These differences are due to
increased rainfall from west to east.
Table 2. Suggested planting rates for Kansas crops.
Rainfall
Western Central Eastern
Crop 20" or less 20–30" 30" or more Irrigated
(pounds per acre)
Wheat 40–60 50–60 60–75 60–90
Triticale 45–60 60–75 75–90 60–90
Winter barley 40–50 60–96 72–96 75–96
Spring barley 60–96 60–96 72–96 75–96
Spring wheat 75–100 90–120 90–120 90–120
Winter oats —
—
64
—
Spring oats 48–64 48–64 64–96 64–96
Sudangrass–drill 10–15 12–20 20–30 30
Hybrid pearl millets—rows 10 10 10 10
Hybrid pearl millets—drill 5–15 10–20 10–20 10–20
Alfalfa 8–10 10–15 10–15 10–20
Sweet clover 8–10 10–15 10–15 10–15
Red clover — — 8–10 —
Lespedeza — — 20–30 —
Cool Season Grasses
Smooth brome (pure live seed) — 10–15 10–15 10–15
Tall fescue — — 15–20 —
Tall wheatgrass
4
10 10 10 NR
2
Native grasses (pure live seed)
Native mixtures 5 5 6 NR
Pure stand of:
Big bluestem NR 8 8 NR
3
Indiangrass NR 8 8 NR
Switchgrass 4 4 4 NR
Sideoats grama 8 8 8 NR
Sand lovegrass 2 2 2 NR
Western wheatgrass 10 10 10 NR
(seeds per acre)
Sunflower
Oilseed 16,000–20,000 17,000–24,000 17,000–24,000 22,000–26,000
Confectionery 12,000–16,000 14,000–18,000 16,000–20,000 15,000–20,000
2
Not recommended for irrigated production
3
Individual species not recommended for irrigated pure stand production. Mixtures of two or more species recommended.
4
Mainly for wet and/or saline sites.
4
Grain Sorghum Plant and Seed Spacings
The recommended plant population and seed spacing
for grain sorghum is dependent on rainfall (Table 3). A
dryland grain sorghum producer who farms in the 20- to
26-inch rainfall zone uses a lower plant population than pro-
ducers in higher rainfall zones or producers using irrigation.
Thus the plants per square foot or plants within a foot of row
will be fewer and the spacing between seeds will be greater
in the lower rainfall areas.
Table 3. Plant and seed spacings of grain sorghum.
Recommended
Average annual rainfall
population Less than More than
and spacing 20" 20–26" 26–32" 32" Irrigated
Plant 24,000 35,000 45,000 70,000 100,000
population
plants/acre
5
Plant population 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.6 2.3
plants/ft
2
Within row
seed spacing
at planting
6
Inches between seeds
10-inch rows 16.5 12 9.0 6 4.5
20-inch rows 8.5 6 4.5 3 2
30-inch rows 5.5 4 3.0 2 1.5
5
Plant populations may be increased or decreased by at least 25 percent from the values given depending upon the expected growing conditions without significantly
affecting yields.
6
Assuming 65 percent field emergence. Calibration of plants should be based on seed spacing. Seeding rates based on lbs/acre have little meaning since seed size com-
monly varies from 13,000 to 24,000 seeds/pound.
Soybean Planting Rates
The suggested soybean planting rates and final stands for
different row spacings are provided in Table 4. If a producer
wants to keep the population the same while decreasing row
spacing, it is necessary to reduce the number of seeds or plants
per foot of row. For soybeans planted on droughty soils in cen-
tral and eastern Kansas or on dryland conditions in western
Kansas, the plant population may be reduced by 25 percent.
Also, the population may be adjusted upward slightly for late
plantings to encourage rapid closing of the rows.
Table 4. Suggested statewide soybean planting rates.
Row width Seeds/linear Plants/linear
inches foot foot
7
30 10.0 8.0
20 6.6 5.3
10 3.3 2.7
7
Assuming 90 percent germination and 80 percent emergence.
5
Corn Planting Dates, Populations and
Seed Spacings
The suggested planting dates for corn range from late March
to May 1 in southeastern Kansas (Zone 4), to April 25 to May
20 in Zone 1 (Table 5). As with the other crops, the suggested
final corn populations are lower in western areas and increase
as one moves eastward (Table 6). Corn planted under limited
irrigation systems will have lower plant populations than corn
under full irrigation systems. The seed spacings for a range
of harvest populations are provided in Table 7.
Table 6. Suggested final corn populations.
Plants per acre
Northwest (dryland) 13,000 to 18,000
Northeast 18,000 to 24,000
East central and Southeast
(normal planting dates) 16,000 to 20,000
Central 16,000 to 22,000
Early planting with early hybrids
dryland 18,000 to 24,000
irrigated 28,000 to 36,000
Irrigated 24,000 to 34,000
Limited irrigation 18,000 to 26,000
Table 5. Suggested corn planting dates.
Zone 1: April 20–May 20
Zone 2: April 15–May 20
Zone 3: April 1–May 10
Zone 4: March 25–April 25
Table 7. Seed spacings required for harvest populations of 10,000 to 36,000 plants per acre.
Harvested Seeds/acre
8
Row width Row width
population planted 30" 36" 30" 36"
seed spacing, inches seeds/10 ft. of row
10,000 11,800 17.75 14.75 7 8
12,000 14,100 14.75 12.25 8 10
14,000 16,500 12.50 10.50 10 11
16,000 18,800 11.00 9.25 11 13
18,000 21,200 9.75 8.25 12 14
20,000 23,500 9.00 7.50 13 16
22,000 25,900 8.00 6.75 15 18
24,000 28,200 7.50 6.25 16 19
26,000 30,600 6.75 5.75 18 21
28,000 32,900 6.25 5.30 19 23
30,000 35,300 6.00 5.00 20 24
32,000 37,600 5.60 4.60 22 26
34,000 40,000 5.25 4.35 23 28
36,000 42,400 5.00 4.10 24 29
8
Assuming high germination and that 85 percent of seeds produce plants.
6
Wheat Seeds and Seeding Rates per Acre
Wheat producers are aware there are big differences in
seed size or the number of seeds per pound among varieties.
Planting a large-seed variety at 60 pounds per acre may be
equivalent to 50 pounds per acre for a smaller-seed variety.
Table 8 shows the number of wheat seeds per acre at different
seeding rates (pounds per acre), as well as thousand kernel
weights and number of seeds per pound. For example, if one
variety has 20,600 seeds per pound and another has 11,300
seeds per pound and both are planted at 30 pounds per acre,
one can see there is a big difference in the number of seeds
per acre (618,000–339,000=279,000).
Table 8. Number of wheat seeds per acre based on thousand kernel weight or seeds
per pound and seeding rates per acre.
TKW
(thousand kernel Seeds per pound
Seeding rate (lbs/a)
weight)
9
(× 1,000) 30 40 50 60
seeds per acre (× 1,000)
22 20.6 618 824 1,030 1,236
24 18.9 567 756 945 1,134
26 17.4 522 696 870 1,044
28 16.2 486 648 810 972
30 15.2 453 604 755 906
32 14.1 423 564 705 846
34 13.3 399 532 665 798
36 12.6 378 504 630 756
38 11.9 357 476 595 714
40 11.3 339 452 565 678
9
Grams per 1,000 seeds.
Wheat Seeds per Foot of Row
In Table 9, the desired seeds or plants per foot of row
can be determined if the producer knows the number of
seeds per pound, drill row width and the seeding rate. For
example, if a producer wants to plant 30 pounds per acre in
7-inch row widths and the seedlot contains 12,000 seeds per
pound, the producer finds 4.8 seeds per foot of row.
Table 9. Number of wheat seeds per foot of row at different seeding rates and row widths
of 7, 10, and 12 inches.
Seeding rate (lbs/a)
30 40 50 60
row width row width row width row width
Seeds/lb 7" 10" 12" 7" 10" 12" 7" 10" 12" 7" 10" 12"
seeds per foot of row
12,000 4.8 6.9 8.3 6.4 9.2 11.0 8.0 11.5 13.8 9.6 13.8 16.5
14,000 5.6 8.0 9.6 7.5 10.7 12.9 9.4 13.4 16.1 11.2 16.1 19.3
16,000 6.4 9.2 11.0 8.6 12.2 14.7 10.7 15.3 18.4 12.8 18.4 22.0
18,000 7.2 10.3 12.4 9.6 13.8 16.5 12.0 17.2 20.7 14.5 20.7 24.8
20,000 8.0 11.5 13.8 10.7 15.3 18.4 13.4 19.1 23.0 16.1 22.9 27.5
22,000 8.8 12.6 15.2 11.8 16.8 20.2 14.7 21.0 25.3 17.7 25.2 30.3
7
Plants or Seeds per Acre
and Seeds per Foot of Row
In Table 10, if a producer counts the number of seeds
per foot of row in a given drill row width, the seeding popu-
lation can be determined. For example, if a producer finds
6 seeds per foot of row in a 7-inch row width, the seeding
population is 448,045 seeds per acre.
Two formulas can help producers determine plant popu-
lations for any crop. The first formula shows the number of
seeds per foot row needed for a desired seeding rate or plant
population.
Table 10. Seeds or plants per acre at various drill row widths and seeds per foot of row.
Seeds per foot
Row width
of row 7" 8" 10" 12"
seeds or plants per acre
2 149,348 130,680 104,544 87,120
4 298,697 261,360 209,088 174,240
6 448,045 392,040 313,632 261,360
8 597,394 522,720 418,176 348,480
10 746,742 653,400 522,720 435,600
12 896,091 784,080 627,264 522,720
14 1,045,440 914,760 731,808 609,840
16 1,194,788 1,045,440 836,352 696,960
18 1,344,137 1,176,120 940,896 784,080
20 1,493,485 1,306,800 1,045,440 871,200
22 1,642,834 1,437,480 1,149,984 958,320
24 1,792,182 1,568,160 1,254,528 1,045,440
Formula 1:
desired seeding rate
or population row spacing seeds or
43,560 square feet per acre × 12 inches = plants per
foot of row
Example 1:
70,000 30 inches
43,560 × 12 inches
= 4 seeds or plants per foot of row
The second formula will show the final seeding rate or
plant population when the producer uses a given number of
seeds per foot of row.
Formula 2:
43,560 square
row spacing
seeds or plants seeding rate or
(
feet per acre
÷
12 inches
)
×
per foot of row
=
plant population
Example 2:
43,560
30 inches
9 seeds or plants 156,816 seeds
(
÷
12 inches
)
×
per foot of row
=
per acre
8
Test Weights and Seeds per Pounds
Producers often want to know the official test weight
and the approximate number of seeds per pound for various
Kansas crops. This information is provided in Table 11.
Producers must keep in mind that test weights are subject
to change. The latest information is available from official
sources. Also, the number of seeds per pound of a specific
crop may range dramatically due to differences in variety and
growing conditions.
Table 11. Official test weights and approximate seeds per pound of various crops.
Crops Standard lbs/bu Approximate seeds/lb
Wheat 60 11,000–20,000
Triticale 50 15,000–20,000
Barley 48 13,000
Oats 32 14,000
Corn 56 1,200
Sorghum 56 15,100
Soybeans 60 2,000–3,500
Sudangrass 40 55,000
Alfalfa 60 220,000
Sweet clover 60 250,000
Red clover 60 260,000
Lespedeza
10
(Korean) 45 240,000
Millet—pearl 60 85,000
Millet—proso 56 80,000
Millet—foxtail 50 220,000
Sunflower 28 3,000–9,000
10
Kobe 30 lb/bu
10
Korean 45 lb/bu
James P. Shroyer Curtis Thompson Randy Brown
Extension Specialist Extension Specialist Extension Specialist
Crop Production Crops and Soils, Southwest Area Crops and Soils, Northwest Area
Paul D. Ohlenbusch Dale L. Fjell Scott Staggenborg
Extension Specialist Extension Specialist Extension Specialist
Range and Pasture Management Crops Production Crops and Soils, Northeast Area
Stewart Duncan Gary L. Kilgore
Extension Specialist Extension Specialist
Crops and Soils, South Central Area Crops and Soils, Southeast Area
Publications from Kansas State University are available on the World Wide Web at: www.ksre.ksu.edu
Contents of this publication may be freely reproduced for educational purposes. All other rights reserved. In each case, credit
James P. Shroyer et al., Kansas Crop Planting Guide, Kansas State University, November 1996.
Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
L-818 November 1996
It is the policy of Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service that all persons shall have equal opportunity
and access to its educational programs, services, activities, and materials without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or disability. Kansas
State University is an equal opportunity organization. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension Work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, as amended.
Kansas State University, County Extension Councils, Extension Districts, and United States Department of Agriculture Cooperating, Marc A. Johnson, Director.
