The default per plant yield here is set to 0.45 as this is reasonable with dryland conventional planting with 14000-16000 plants per acre and 15 inches of rainfall. In conventional planting higher populations and more rainfall increases total yield.

The much lower density of Hopi planting can yield up to 1.33 lbs per plant. With limited rainfall, <15 inches, high density planting can decrease yield dramatically due to inter-plant competition for moisture and nutrients. Based on several sources Hopi Corn is grown with <12 inches of rainfall, planted 10 seeds per hole 9-10 feet apart, and thinned to 4-7 plants per hill, or 12-25 sq.ft per plant. The density could be as low as 36 sq.ft. per plant assuming 4 paces is 12 feet and 4 plants per hill. Looking at the chart it seems reasonable we could produce at least 20 bushes/acre possibly double that if arrangements produce more per acre. All my plantings to date have been <4 sq.ft./plant, so we need to include a test with 8-9 sq.ft. / plant.

Two supplemental tables are provided to compare the options if planting at a fixed distance and a different number plants per hill, as well as fixed density with different number plants per hill. These tables suggest spacings to test to find the optimum number of plants per hill as well as the effect of density on production. There are a few variables to consider such as within hill and between hill competition for light, water, and nutrients, the effects on pollination and mitigation of damage by wind. These are positive and negative effects interact with each other and need to be optimized to find the best planting arrangement in our location.

1. Change the "Editable Values" and the other values will be calculated. To get an overview other options will be displayed and compared in the tables below.
2. "Plants / Hill" and "Pounds Per Plant" can be set manually and not recalculated by changing other values, so set these first.
3. Adjust "Plants / Hill" first. For conventional planting (not hilled) use 1 "Plant / Hill" and adjust Row Spacing, Plant Spacing, and Pounds Per Plant. For multiple plants per hill use decimal values if there will be an average plants per hill, such that 5.5 could be an even distribution of 4,5,6,7 plant per hill. Hopi thin thier hills to 4-7 plants per hill. Once set, this value is not recalculated, but the tables below provide other hill planting options for comparison.
4. "Hills / Acre" is the number of hills per acre, changing other values will recalculate this value. Conventional and high density planting would be 25000-35000 hills aka plants per acre, but Hopi planting is closer to 3600 or less per acre or lower.
5. "Plants / Acre" is calculated from "Plants / Hill" and "Hills / Acre" but adjusting manually this will recalculate "Hills / Acre" as well as other values.
6. "Square Feet / Plant" will recalculate "Plants / Acre" and "Hills / Acre" to match input density.
7. "Hexagonal" Side is the length of the side of an equilateral triangle where plants are arranged in a hexagonal lattice, this will override other values to match.
8. Square Side is the row and plant distance assuming square planting or offset square planting (eg 30 inch rows 30 inches apart), overrides other values.
9. Adjusting Row Spacing and Plant Spacing (eg 32 inch rows) will modify other values except Plants Per Hill.
10. Adjust Plant Spacing after Row Spacing (eg 10 inches apart in a row) will modify other values.
11. "Pounds Per Plant" is per plant yield, this multiplied by plants per acre gives total yield/acre and bushels/acre. This must be set manually and is not overriden.
12. "Pounds Per Acre" will change "Hills / Acre" to meet the production target. If this is not your aim, adjust the "Pounds per Plant" value instead.
13. "Bushels Per Acre" will change "Hills / Acre" to meet the production target. If this is not your aim, adjust the "Pounds per Plant" value instead.
14. Other options in the bottom 2 tables should not be modified and are alternate layouts with different number of "Plants / Hill" with either the same density "Plants / Acre" or same spacing "Hills / Acre" as assigned in the top table.