Published on Wednesday, December 11, 2019
The wild weather of 2019 created challenging conditions, which caused many to implement unconventional practices on some farms. Heavy downpours on tight Midwestern clay soils delayed planting in much of our marketing area, and the shorter planting windows left farmers wondering, “Should I switch my corn hybrids to shorter-season maturities?” This question prompted our Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team at Beck’s to organize a delayed planting hybrid response study.
Wet Weather
Saturated soils were typical field conditions in May and June. The data from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration’s Regional Center (below) shows the monthly precipitation accumulation across the Midwest.
May 2019 Total Monthly Precipitation Accumulation – Midwest
June 2019 Total Monthly Precipitation Accumulation - Midwest
PFR Data
Our PFR sites in London, OH, and Atlanta, IN, were two sites that faced delayed planting conditions in 2019. A new study was implemented to test the impact of delayed planting on hybrid selection. We tested various hybrid maturities planted on the same day. These hybrids ranged from 96-day, 105-day, 108-day, and 112-day and were planted at the two locations. These Eastern Corn Belt locations typically plant 112-day hybrids. The Indiana and Ohio planting dates for this study were June 3 and June 7, respectively. Harvest dates were October 23 for IN and October 18 for OH. Our multi-location data emphasizes that when delayed planting conditions arise, switching to an unadapted early maturity hybrid that is not typical of the geography can be a costly strategy. The graph below shows the multi-location data for this year’s Delayed Planting – Hybrid Response study.
2019 IN & OH - Delayed Planting Hybrid Response Net Return
Implications of Switching to Shorter-Season Hybrids
May 2019 GDD Accumulation
June 2019 GDD Accumulation
Additional Thoughts
Source
Nielsen, Robert L., Peter R. Thomison, Gregory A. Brown, Anthony L. Halter, Jason Wells, and Kirby L. Wuethrich. 2002. Delayed Planting Effects on Flowering and Grain Maturation of Dent Corn. Agron. J. 94:549-558.
Author: Deatra Gremaux
Categories: PFR, PFR Reports
Tags: Farmserver, PFR, PFR Report, Delayed planting, Precision Farming, hybrid selection