The grain fill period begins with successful pollination and initiation of kernel development, and ends approximately 60 days later when the kernels are physiologically mature. During grain fill, the developing kernels are the primary sink for concurrent photosynthate produced by the corn plant.
The other day, one of the patrons of Rudy’s Bar and Grill walks in with an ear of corn that exhibited long, flowing locks of blonde silks tumbling down the sides of the husk leaves and asked two questions: “Why are the silks so long?” and “Do such long silks bode ill for the success of corn pollination?”
Many people have commented that we have the best stands of corn and soybean across the state that we have seen in many years.
After a delayed start to our planting season, we were able to plant both corn and soybean across the state in record or near-record time during May. This coincided with our hottest May on record, which was also dry in many areas of the state.
Increasingly, slugs are becoming a topic of discussion with field crop producers. Not from the slugs’ disagreeable nature, but because damage to crops is becoming more apparent.
The number of 30-, 40-, and 60-ft wide (or larger) field crop planters across the U.S. Midwest is greater today than, say, twenty years ago. Certainly, individual farmers can plant more acres of corn and soybean per day with today’s large field equipment than they could twenty years ago.
The cost of seed corn is the largest single variable input cost for most Indiana corn growers (Dobbins et al., 2017). Minimizing that cost involves a combination of shrewd purchasing skills and wise selection of seeding rates. This summary focuses on our recent research evaluating the yield response of corn to plant population in field scale trials conducted around the state of Indiana.
Every year, I get a lot of phone calls from folks wanting to know why their neighbor’s fields of corn ended up with such poor uneven lousy-looking stands. Since some seem so ecstatic about this happening to their neighbors, I figured maybe they would like to know how to prepare a crappy stand of corn for themselves next year.
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