A procedure for estimating leaf area index (LAI) and percentage of ground cover (GC) for inhomogeneous row planted vegetation canopies using measurement of canopy reflectance (CR) data for only four directions is presented. This procedure, referred to as "reconstructive inversion", uses the CR data for these directions to first "reconstruct" the complete bidirectional surface, which is then used to estimate the canopy parameters using the standard inversion of a CR model technique. The technique has been successfully applied to soybean and corn canopies in various stages of growth.