A temptation to change crop management plans always exists in late planting seasons.
- There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration when changing your planting plans.
- The question we need to ask ourselves is: Can the hybrid I am going to plant reach black layer prior to frost?
- Sticking to the original hybrid plan is best at this time.
It is early May, but a few questions are already coming in about switching to an earlier maturing hybrid in some regions where planting progress is off to a slow start. There are several factors that should be taken into consideration when changing your planting plans. These include:
- Average first frost date in the fall for your area and long-term average GDU accumulation. The corn must make it to black layer prior to frost to maximize yield. Additional warm weather after black layer is desired to increase in-field dry down. The good news is that we typically get enough GDU accumulation to get our hybrids to black layer, even when planting in late May and early June.
- Adjusted hybrid maturity considering that for every day past May 1st and through June 15th, a corn hybrid decreases its GDU requirements to black layer by 6.8 GDU per day. This means that corn will speed up its lifecycle and reach maturity in fewer GDUs when planted a little later.
- Corn Drying capabilities of the operation due to corn black layer happening at a later date and the potential limited window for field dry-down. Later planted corn increases the chances of needing to dry corn in the fall. Your drying capabilities may determine when you need to change your hybrid plans.
- Prospective short-term and long-term weather forecast. Think positive! It is early May and it will get warmer and drier (hopefully not too dry).
It seems a little premature to be writing about switching to an earlier maturing hybrid at this time. We are doing so because we all still have vivid memories of the 2019 planting season. The original decision to plant a full season hybrid was due to the potential yield benefits compared to a shorter season hybrid; the general consensus is that these full season hybrids still provide the best yield potential and should make it to black layer. The discussion about potentially switching to an earlier maturing hybrid should really start around Memorial Day if the weather does not look conducive to getting corn in the ground. Since we are still in early May, the recommendation is to stay the course and avoid the urge to plant when it isn’t fit. Calendar date is no guarantee of corn yield and planting under the right field conditions is important.
