“It’s difficult to evaluate the success of a harvest based on how things went on a particular farm,” says Dale Hicks, University of Minnesota agronomy professor. “Growers often talk of how the corn stands or how it combines, but the bottom line is yield. Growers need to choose a hybrid with good standability, good yield and good harvestable yield,” he says.

Early grain corn harvest has been beneficial in selected areas this year, as many fields experienced extremely hot and dry weather before and during pollination. “Harvesting grain corn early this year was key to ensuring the best possible yields,” says Steve Hyronimus, District Agronomist with Mycogen Seeds.

“The hot and dry weather caused poor pollination at the base of the ear resulting in ear slippage and loss of yield,” says Hyronimus. “There was also quite a bit of Fusariam stalk rot showing up after a late summer stretch of hot weather.”

Many factors can affect late season stalk strength including drought stress, light frosts, and stalk rot diseases. Drought stress prevents the stalks from developing to their full potential. When light, early frosts occur, some of the plant leaves die. And because kernel development is not at physiological maturity in most cases, the plant will cannibalize the stalk to complete kernel development. Stalk rot diseases discolor the interior of the stalk as they destroy healthy tissue. In each of these cases, corn stalks have the potential to deteriorate quickly and cause premature lodging.

“Stalk diseases such as Fusarium, Anthracnose and Gibberella, limit yield and most importantly, are unpredictable,” says Hyronimus. “Management considerations such as good soil drainage, adequate soil fertility, limited soil compaction, and proper hybrid selection for good rind strength can help minimize yield loss,” says Hyronimus.

According to Hicks, the information growers gain from a hybrid they produce should only be part of the equation when making planting decisions for the next year. Hicks recommends that growers base their planting decisions on results from county plots, university plots and/or yield plot data from plant breeders such as Mycogen Seeds, in order to judge the overall success of a hybrid.

“Choosing hybrids based on sound genetics, and not necessarily on how well they performed in your field this past year is the best way to ensure more consistent results,” says Hicks.

“The tendency after extreme years is for farmers to switch all their hybrids to the particular maturity that did well the previous year. The wise choice is to plant a combination of early and late flowering hybrids that fits the area,” says Hyronimus. “This helps to spread the pollination window over a wider time frame.”

“Growers are urged to look at multiple years of data if they are in an area with extreme stress,” says Hyronimus. “What was the best product at the 80 bushel yield level may not be the best under normal growing conditions,” says Hyronimus. “However, if the product performs well under both stressful and favorable growing conditions, you have a winner.”

Mycogen Seeds is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and is an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Mycogen Seeds is the leader in Silage-SpecificTM corn, the largest sunflower seed producer, and a leading producer of seed corn, alfalfa, soybeans and sorghum. For more information on Mycogen Seeds, go to www.mycogen.com on the Internet.