Spread Risk With Corn Planting Dates
JACKSON, TENN.
Recent March weather
has been really mild and
corn planting has begun
in some counties. We are late
enough into March that I
don’t think we are starting
too early, even with the cool
front and rain forecasted for
early next week. But, if we
knew what the weather was going to be like in
April we would know how much March corn we
should plant. Tennessee corn is typically
planted between March 20 and May 10 with the
bulk of acres planted in April. Southern counties
tend to start and finish planting a few days
earlier than more northern counties. Regardless
of location, the perception is the earlier the better
and as long as we obtain a good stand, early
planted corn benefits from lower disease pressure,
more limited pest pressure and sometimes
higher yields due to better soil moisture during
grain fill. But, very early planting does not always
guarantee success. “Spreading risk”
means to protect crop yields by managing specific
things related to production — using Bt
technology, planting a combination of different
maturities of hybrids and varieties, etc. Spreading
our planting dates is another way to spread
risk associated with planting corn in Tennessee.
April can be a very tricky month with tremendous
potential to affect the stand quality of
March and early April planted corn by being too
wet, too cold or too dry. Look at a few past years
as examples:
• 2007: Optimal planting window was second
2 weeks in April. We replanted roughly 200,000
acres of corn planted prior to March 22th after
an April freeze took out many fields that were
off to a great start. Late March planted fields
survived but lower stands may have led to reduced
yields.
• 2009: Optimal planting window was the
third week in April and into May. Earlier
planted fields struggled with cold, wet conditions
and many had to be replanted due to poor
stands.
• 2010: Optimal planting window was first 2
weeks in April. Last year even slightly later
April planted corn yielded 10 to 20 percent less
due to heat effects in the summer.
Bottom line: Every year can be different and
since we can’t predict April weather, we can
help offset potential stand loss problems by
spreading out our planting dates. Planting early
is a good goal and in some years we can plant a
little more corn in March when conditions permit
(this year it looks like they do). It is still a
good practice to spread corn planting over a few
weeks time to hit optimal windows for favorable
soil and weather conditions which seem to vary
from year to year. Δ
DR. ANGELA MCCLURE: Extension Corn and
Soybean Specialist, University of Tennessee