As I drove south this morning I had a miniature panic attack. I looked to the southeast and saw a bright light in the sky. It looked like a burning ball of gases. Yes it has been that long since we’ve seen the sun.
I know that corn planting is on everyone’s mind. Everyone knows that we need to get seed in the ground early to maximize yields. however we don’t need to go too soon and cause more problems than we already have.
We are definitely way behind, but we still have time to get fields ready in time to plant and expect 250 bushel corn. I would say that mid April is about the cut off for us in this part of the state. As we move past tax day we begin to lose yield potential.
According to the experts we start off losing 3/4 bushels per acre per day after the optimum planting dates. As we move further into May we could be losing up to 2.5 bushels per day.
With corn prices the way that we are we need to maximize yields while keeping inputs low. Being able to plant in the proper window is one thing that doesn’t cost but can return dollars at the end of the season. Read more here beginning on page 5
