Published September 20, 2011 | By admin
And I’m NOT talking about the fine employees!
Central Platte River Valley irrigated corn is giving us at the Orthman Research Farm a vision of hitting some pretty good yields, where we have heard across other portions of the Corn Belt that some yields are much less than desirable. The four ears you see in this image are examples of flex varieties in the two ears on the left, a determinant ear in the middle and a semi-determinant on the right. This year my co-workers and I modified our nutrition program to spread out the nitrogen over the course of the summer and it appears to have given us a better opportunity to gain some large number kernels on the ear.
The two left ears are 850 kernels and 880 kernels, and with final plant populations of 31,500- we have the potential of 290 bu/ac and more. We will still have to stick the snout of the combine corn head in the field before we can dance at the end of the field when the combine unloads into the Orthman grain carts. Even the smaller ear could tap 225 bu/acre.
Taking steps to fertilize several times during the growing season does present us with opportunities to spoon feed and push the corn yields higher. Right now the corn is 8-10 days away from “black layer” which is the complete sign that we made maturity and can finish well. Stay tuned and we will share what goes on from here. Hope your yields are high out there!