Corn - How will hybrids respond to a late planting date?
Russ Barker, a CCA and Crop Quest nutrient management planner, discusses the potential growth of late planted corn with the assistance of two special grandsons!
I normally don’t pay much attention to heat accumulation. In a most years 80 % of the corn crop gets planted in a 5-6 day window.
If I pay close attention to stages of growth I know whether the crop is ahead or behind the expected norm.
For example a corn crop that tassels in the last half of July indicates a warmer year. If it tassels around August 1 it is normal year. If it tassels August 10 it is a cooler year. I believe everyone instinctively knows that.
This year we have a spread in planting dates from mid May to early June. Very intense activity would happen in a 24-48 hour burst. I think it makes for an interesting scenario to see how the same hybrids respond to the spread in planting date. But we need to keep track, which is what I am now doing.
I enlisted the help of two grandsons to explain what we found so far.
