News
Corn standability issues in NE Missouri
Harvest has begun in northeast Missouri but there are some stalk quality issues. Jody Foutch, Technical Agronomist with Dekalb Asgrow, tells Brownfield a lot of corn was planted in that region in April when cool temperatures and wet soils lasted into May…
“Those roots need oxygen just like we do and if you have those saturated soils they can struggle to put on a good root system.”
Foutch says some fusarium crown rot also developed and compaction added to the problems. Those issues, he says, limited water and nutrient uptake.
“When that plant’s trying to fill that ear and it can’t get all the water and nutrients it needs, it’s going to start working on cannibalizing the stalk. And it’s going to do everything it can to fill that ear even if it has to sacrifice the plant to do it.”
Foutch says growers need to do the “push test” before harvest to see what corn is vulnerable to standability issues.
