Rain makes grain is a common refrain among corn growers, and it’s generally true. But this year, wet conditions at the wrong time have contributed to poor pollination in affected corn crops, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, based in central Illinois.
“I’m seeing yield losses of 15- to 40-bushel hits in affected fields,” he says.
This latest problem in corn differs from the issue of overly tight tassel wrap that Farm Journal editors have been reporting on the past few weeks – and has nothing to do with corn genetics.
Moisture At The Wrong Time
This latest issue has to do with farmers having three or four consecutive days of heavy fog and rainfall causing wet conditions in fields. The wet conditions prevented corn pollen sacks from opening on time, essentially interrupting the pollination process.
Ferrie shares what happened and what farmers can look for in this brief video:
Once weather conditions improved, Ferrie says corn crops were able to pollinate but the damage was already done.
“It caused some significant issues with our kernel set,” says Ferrie.
He notes that the issue occurred across parts of the Midwest last week, where pollination should have been well underway or completed. Affected areas included parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.
Farmers were taking to various social media sites earlier this week to talk about the impact of too much moisture. Some were taking the issue in stride:
How To Identify This Pollination Problem In Fields
Farmers who are out checking their corn need to look for ears that have an inch or so of whitish colored kernels, while the bulk of the ear/kernels are yellow in color. In most cases, you will see an abrupt line on the tip of the ear where the kernels go from yellow to white.
“This white tip will abort when the base of that ear reaches a certain maturity, it’s almost impossible to hold it,” Ferrie says. “You can tell when the kernels lose their turgor pressure, they look slightly deflated.”
Farmers checking fields will see the pollinating tips on corn are present one day and gone the next. The loss is abrupt.
“It’s not a gradual pullback. It’s all of a sudden just gone,” Ferrie says. “So if you saw a yellow base with white tips last week, you need to go back and check for that tip abortion.”
In central Illinois, the ear tip abortion is happening in late-April planted corn that was trying to pollinate during rainy days or days with heavy fog. In addition, Ferrie notes that some of the May 1 corn planted in central Illinois had white butts on ears, meaning the fog or rain occurred at the end of the pollination cycle.
“By scouting those fields, you can see when the rain or fog came in and affected the pollination,” he says.
Field Appearances Can Be Deceiving
Farmers are calling Ferrie now to ask why their corn plants that look great from the road are blowing the tips off ears.
“In this case no one did anything wrong; it was nothing but the result of bad luck and the timing of fog and moisture,” he says.
He encourages farmers to get out and scout fields, and identify whether this particular problem is in their fields.
“It’s important to learn that now rather than trying to diagnose it later. By harvest, these tips will dry up and then shrivel down, and that will make it harder to diagnose what actually happened out here,” he explains. “Checking your fields and plots now and recording this will help explain some unexpected yield swings this fall.”
Look Forward And Plan Your Next Move
Ferrie says if the cloudy weather continues, some corn crops could throw their tips as a result of poor photosynthetic processes. In addition, wet, cloudy conditions at this point sets the stage for ear molds because of the wet silks.
“Let’s keep an eye on those corn-on-corn fields, especially, as we may need to move harvest up to stay ahead of molds and insect pressures,” he advises.
One final recommendation for growers who are spraying: Ferrie says if you’re going by air with applications, be sure and keep the swath width tight. A narrow swath ensures that the product is applied evenly, avoiding gaps or overlaps in coverage, and minimizing the opportunity for drift.
“There will be some surprises this fall, so let’s keep scouting. We have 40 to 60 days left until harvest,” he adds.
Ferrie offers more insights on what farmers need to be thinking about now, as the corn growing season moves into the home stretch, in his latest Boots In The Field podcast:
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