Again this August, I joined my colleague Patrick Hatting, Farm Management Specialist for central Iowa, and checked several Polk County corn fields to make yield estimates. After R3 (milk stage) is a great time to venture into corn fields to make yield estimates as kernel abortion is less likely and plant stress will result in reduce kernel size or fill rather than kernel loss.
Anytime after R3 (milk stage) has traditionally been a great time to do yield checks in corn. After R3, kernel abortion is less likely and plant stress will result in reduced kernel size or fill rather than kernel loss. In addition to performing a yield check, walking late reproductive corn provides a good opportunity to check the field for other things like stalk rots or other standability issues and foliar disease, especially if you left any test strips of untreated vs. fungicide-treated areas of fields.
By Roger Elmore and Lori Abendroth, Department of Agronomy
The start of the 2008 growing season was extremely difficult for planting and crop establishment, however, environmental conditions since have been fairly good. What type of yields should we expect from this turbulent season? What will it take to obtain high yields from this point in the growing season forward? And, the other side of that question – what don’t we want to see happen?
