Ferrie: Evaluating Hybrid Characteristics Supplies Great Insights for Seed Selection
Harvest was underway this past week in Illinois as farmers worked to grab some of the early harvest premiums that are available. Moisture reports have been coming in ranging from as dry as 26% up to 30%, according to Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, Heyworth, Ill.
“Field averages so far are in that 200-bushel to 240-bushel range,” he says. “So far, I don’t have any soybean yield reports in.”
Ferrie traveled to the Helena, Ill., area to talk with growers and says those he connected with are “pretty pumped” about their potential corn yields.
“Seasonal moisture has been good enough to hold that crop together but not high enough to kick up the tar spot, so they're expecting some pretty decent corn yields out of that area,” Ferrie reports. “On the bean side, farmers’ anticipation is closer to average. We are seeing a little bit of white mold.”
From there, Ferrie traveled to south of Iowa City to look at some hybrid characteristic plots with one of his farmer customers. The plots are planted to hybrids at 22,000 and 36,000 populations and are being evaluated to determine how the hybrids handle stress. He is looking specifically at ear flex, leaf structure, plant height, disease resistance and insect resistance.
The impact of dry conditions is evident, Ferrie says, noting the area’s corn crop received little moisture from June through the end of August.
“The cornfields out there, in many parts that we could observe, are pretty much dried up,” he says. “In September, they've received more rain than they did in July and August put together. With that much water stress, there is a large difference between the 22,000 and 36,000 population.”
He was specifically interested in observing stress implications at the higher population of 36,000. “That population not only showed more drought stress, but many hybrids showed more N stress as well,” he says. “The 22,000 side of the plot looked like it had received another 4 inches of rain or more, based on how green it still was.”
The farmer’s plots included 56 entries of 108- to 118- day corn hybrids. His main objective for evaluating the hybrid characteristic is to identify some hybrids with good defensive qualities.
“Finding offensive hybrids is pretty easy, but finding those defensive ones is more of a challenge,” Ferrie says.
“This plot was sprayed earlier with the fungicide, and along with the fungicide and the dry weather spider mites had flared in this plot and a few aphids. Now we know some hybrids are more susceptible to aphids, and this plot showed that,” he adds. “What I found interesting was there was a difference in spider mite loads between hybrids. Some of the mites were still below the ear and others were two leaves from the top, and they were causing stress on those hybrids.”
Ferrie says hybrid characteristic plots can “go a long way” in helping farmers sort out their hybrid decisions for the future.
From Illinois, he then traveled to north-central Iowa, near Osage, to evaluate corn and soybean crops. “We saw a lot of drought stress in that corn from Iowa City all the way up to Highway 20, as well as a lot of good-looking corn in the Osage area,” he says. “I expect to see some big yields come out of that area.”
Ferrie then drove over to southern Minnesota, near Blooming Prairie. “We saw some very strong corn potential there as well. A lot of it was at half milk,” he says. “They are also dealing with tar spot. Some of the fields will be pushed to make black layer before this tar spot takes them out. Soybeans there looked average, not really exciting on the lower pod set but did finish strong at the top.”
Get Ferrie’s complete insights from this week’s Boots In The Field report here:
