While temperature and related growing degree days help control how fast corn and other crops develop, it’s less well known that solar radiation also has an effect. If it’s warm but cloudy, the corn growth will be slower than if skies are sunny. This is one reason that we are planning to put a solar radiation calculator on our UGA weather network before the next growing season starts so that producers will have an additional way to judge corn growth rates. This article from Nebraska Farmer explains how solar radiation affects corn maturity.
