Plant Spacing Calculator
How many plants fit a plot at a given spacing, in rows and in total, with the density per square metre.
Results
What this tool does
Seed packets give a spacing in the row and a spacing between rows, and turning those into a shopping list is arithmetic people get wrong in the same way every time: a ten-metre row at forty centimetres holds twenty-six plants, not twenty-five, because there is a plant at both ends. The triangular figure shows what offsetting alternate rows would buy you on the same ground.
Formula
rows = ⌊width ÷ row spacing⌋ + 1 ; total = rows × plants per row
Variables
| Symbol | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|
ll | Plot length | m |
ww | Plot width | m |
sa | Spacing within the row | m |
sb | Spacing between rows | m |
TT | Plants in total | — |
RW | Number of rows | — |
PR | Plants per row | — |
DS | Density | 1/m² |
DT | Density, triangular layout | 1/m² |
Worked example
- Plot length10 m
- Plot width5 m
- Spacing within the row0.4 m
- Spacing between rows0.6 m
- Plants in total234
- Number of rows9
- Plants per row26
- Density4.167 1/m²
- Density, triangular layout4.811 1/m²
Limitations
- The result is an estimate based only on the values you type. Real situations often include factors this calculator does not know about.
- The calculation runs at full precision and only the display is rounded. If you copy an intermediate value and retype it, small differences can appear.
Frequently asked questions
What is triangular spacing?
Offsetting every second row by half a spacing, so the plants sit at the corners of equilateral triangles instead of squares. For the same distance between neighbours it fits about 15% more plants into the same ground, which is why orchards and vineyards are so often laid out that way. The trade-off is that it is harder to hoe and harder to get machinery through cleanly.