Early in the season, step back and see what your corn stand can tell you.
“It’s important to do this early season,” says Farm Journal Associate Field Agronomist Missy Bauer. “You can learn what went wrong at planting, what may have gone wrong since planting, and what you can do to carry out the season strong.”
She says the steps are as follows:
- Measure 1/1000th of an acre. (In 30” rows that is 17’ 5”.)
- Count all the plants.
- Then do a potential ear count. (compare skinny stalks to their neighbors, look for doubles, skips and misplaced seed).
Bauer says plants at different growth stages than its neighbor may not produce a harvestable ear.
“When plants have skinnier stalks than their neighbors, dig the plant to see what went wrong,” Bauer says. “Check planting depth. Or it could be residue pinched in the seed trench that caused a late emerging plant.”
Other plants to take out of potential ear count could be from double drops, skips, or misplaced seed.
“With double drops, the meter released two seeds at one time,” Bauer explains. “Only count one of these plants toward your ear count.”
Learn more from Bauer as we walks through an example in the field in this episode of Corn College TV.
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