Post by eddiedry on Aug 10, 2011 8:59:45 GMT -5
From an E-mail today, James said to pass it on.
I will be putting together a more comprehensive report later, including photos, but here are my findings of a two day tour of this county. First, a little background. I’ve been doing corn yield checks since 1991 and have good success in extrapolating the data out corn belt wide. As most of you know, Benton Co. is normally in the top three corn producing counties in Indiana and lies right next to Iroquois/Vermillion Co. Illinois. We have very dark, heavy soils that shine in drought years. According to both anecdotal and NWS topsoil/subsoil maps, we are and have been in pretty good shape compared to the rest of Indiana and the southern ¾ of Illinois. My yield checks the last two years have averaged 194bpa last year and 210bpa the previous year.
Raw data using 85,000 kernels/bu. averaged 168bpa for both days. Day one was 177bpa but kernel size was much smaller than normal and I strongly it may be closer to 90,000 kernels/bu., which would knock 10bpa off that yield. The longest ear I counted all day was 39 kernels long. Ears were mostly 16 around, with a few 14/18’s. About 1 in every 6 ears had some form of pollination or much shorter than normal ear size. Day two was 160bpa and saw more average kernel size, but generally smaller ears. Only one ear all day was 39 long and that was partially due to the fact that it was just 12 rows around. Most ears again were 16 with more 14’s than the previous day with just the odd 18 smattered in. On both days, populations averaged 31-32,000 ears/acre. Most ears I saw, even if they had fully filled to the tip, would have been only 36-40 kernels/row compared to the more normal 42-48. Both days saw corn at the late dough/early dent stage compared to late dent stage that is normal for early August, making the crop approximately 10 days behind the more normal April 20th planting date, meaning that the heat in July help catch the crop up approximately a week or so.
My takeaway: ear size is a HUGE issue, with ear fill and pollination problems adding insult to injury. The following quote from a Purdue study on ear size determination notes that, “The potential number of kernels per row is complete by at least V15 and maybe as early as V12 (Strachan, 2004). Kernel number (ear length) is strongly affected by environmental stresses. This means that potential ear length will vary dramatically from year to year as growing conditions vary. Severe stress can greatly reduce potential kernel number per row. Conversely, excellent growing conditions can encourage unusually high potential kernel number.” For more information, read this link www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/earsize.html
It is my thesis that the cool, wet spring set the wheels in motion for a smaller than normal ear and the heat in July merely amplified the problem. Since the majority if not all of the Midwest suffered from too cool/wet early and too hot/dry in July, I suspect that’s why we’re seeing widespread reports of disappointing yield checks. FWIW, all of the crops I checked looked like 200bpa plus corn from the road, healthy, green and lush. I shudder to think what other portions of Indiana where dry weather and poorer soils are seeing. I did have an agronomist who shares a client with me report today that he was checking fields in eastern/southeastern Indiana and finding yields of 129bpa (assuming 85,000 kernels/bushel) or 113bpa (assuming 100,000 kernels/bushel as he did). I will be checking the same area in approximately 10 days as even the agronomist noted that he had to look for fields to check due to the late maturity of the crop. I did see a few acres of June 7th replanted corn here in Benton Co. that was 50% pollinated and much too early to check.
You can feel free to pass this data on. I will be sending out a more detailed report probably next week with pictures and pop/row/kernel counts.
James R. Gerlach
President
A/C Trading Co.
105 S Grant Ave
Fowler, IN 47944
765-884-1871
I will be putting together a more comprehensive report later, including photos, but here are my findings of a two day tour of this county. First, a little background. I’ve been doing corn yield checks since 1991 and have good success in extrapolating the data out corn belt wide. As most of you know, Benton Co. is normally in the top three corn producing counties in Indiana and lies right next to Iroquois/Vermillion Co. Illinois. We have very dark, heavy soils that shine in drought years. According to both anecdotal and NWS topsoil/subsoil maps, we are and have been in pretty good shape compared to the rest of Indiana and the southern ¾ of Illinois. My yield checks the last two years have averaged 194bpa last year and 210bpa the previous year.
Raw data using 85,000 kernels/bu. averaged 168bpa for both days. Day one was 177bpa but kernel size was much smaller than normal and I strongly it may be closer to 90,000 kernels/bu., which would knock 10bpa off that yield. The longest ear I counted all day was 39 kernels long. Ears were mostly 16 around, with a few 14/18’s. About 1 in every 6 ears had some form of pollination or much shorter than normal ear size. Day two was 160bpa and saw more average kernel size, but generally smaller ears. Only one ear all day was 39 long and that was partially due to the fact that it was just 12 rows around. Most ears again were 16 with more 14’s than the previous day with just the odd 18 smattered in. On both days, populations averaged 31-32,000 ears/acre. Most ears I saw, even if they had fully filled to the tip, would have been only 36-40 kernels/row compared to the more normal 42-48. Both days saw corn at the late dough/early dent stage compared to late dent stage that is normal for early August, making the crop approximately 10 days behind the more normal April 20th planting date, meaning that the heat in July help catch the crop up approximately a week or so.
My takeaway: ear size is a HUGE issue, with ear fill and pollination problems adding insult to injury. The following quote from a Purdue study on ear size determination notes that, “The potential number of kernels per row is complete by at least V15 and maybe as early as V12 (Strachan, 2004). Kernel number (ear length) is strongly affected by environmental stresses. This means that potential ear length will vary dramatically from year to year as growing conditions vary. Severe stress can greatly reduce potential kernel number per row. Conversely, excellent growing conditions can encourage unusually high potential kernel number.” For more information, read this link www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/earsize.html
It is my thesis that the cool, wet spring set the wheels in motion for a smaller than normal ear and the heat in July merely amplified the problem. Since the majority if not all of the Midwest suffered from too cool/wet early and too hot/dry in July, I suspect that’s why we’re seeing widespread reports of disappointing yield checks. FWIW, all of the crops I checked looked like 200bpa plus corn from the road, healthy, green and lush. I shudder to think what other portions of Indiana where dry weather and poorer soils are seeing. I did have an agronomist who shares a client with me report today that he was checking fields in eastern/southeastern Indiana and finding yields of 129bpa (assuming 85,000 kernels/bushel) or 113bpa (assuming 100,000 kernels/bushel as he did). I will be checking the same area in approximately 10 days as even the agronomist noted that he had to look for fields to check due to the late maturity of the crop. I did see a few acres of June 7th replanted corn here in Benton Co. that was 50% pollinated and much too early to check.
You can feel free to pass this data on. I will be sending out a more detailed report probably next week with pictures and pop/row/kernel counts.
James R. Gerlach
President
A/C Trading Co.
105 S Grant Ave
Fowler, IN 47944
765-884-1871