Quite a number of years ago I had a computer model that allowed me to project the timing of the developmental stages of corn based on the planting date and corn relative maturity. This model ran off of the old dos system and I don’t even have a usable copy of this program any more. However, I do have information from an old news article that contains some information that was generated from this old program. So I am going to try to use this old article to make a loose prediction of when various stages of the development of this year’s corn crop will occur based on the late planting dates for this year.
First of all, the planting dates I used in my old article are not as late as some of the late corn planted this year. There was a fairly substantial amount of corn planted after May 20 and that really is late. My model only goes to May 1 so I will have to make some projections based off of this planting date.
First of all, a 100 day corn planted on May 1 should silk about June 27. It should reach the silking stage by June 27 and should reach blister kernel stage by about July 6. That doesn’t seem too bad, but a long accepted rule of thumb is that corn should be in the roasting ear stage by July 4, so the May 1 date makes it a little late.
You can’t use a straight line progression based on the time lapse between planting dates, so a May 20 planting date doesn’t automatically push the dates ahead by 20 days relative to May 1. In reality, the actual difference will only be about half of the time difference between planting dates. I think allowing half of that time would be a more accurate representation of how late each of these stages will occur. So if that is the case, planting a 100 day variety on May 20 would mean that the corn is in the silking stage on July 6 and will reach the blister kernel stage by July 16.
If a 108 day corn was planted on May 1, it would reach the silking stage by about July 4, and blister kernel stage will be reached by July 16. If we project out to a May 20 planting and allow ten days difference in actual development, the silking stage will be reached on July 14, and the blister kernel stage would be reached by about July 26.
By looking at these dates it quickly becomes obvious that the May 20 planting date is problematic. If we have another summer in which it continues to rain all through July and August, we could have some pretty good corn. Conversely, if July and August turn out to be hot and dry, then there is a problem.
The truth is that farming is a gamble no matter what the approach, but there are times when the odds are stacked just a little higher. Personally, I’m hoping for a wet summer.
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Quite a number of years ago I had a computer model that allowed me to project the timing of the developmental stages of corn based on the planting date and corn relative maturity. This model ran off of the old dos system and I don’t even have a usable copy of this program any more. However, I do have information from an old news article that contains some information that was generated from this old program. So I am going to try to use this old article to make a loose prediction of when various stages of the development of this year’s corn crop will occur based on the late planting dates for this year.
First of all, the planting dates I used in my old article are not as late as some of the late corn planted this year. There was a fairly substantial amount of corn planted after May 20 and that really is late. My model only goes to May 1 so I will have to make some projections based off of this planting date.
First of all, a 100 day corn planted on May 1 should silk about June 27. It should reach the silking stage by June 27 and should reach blister kernel stage by about July 6. That doesn’t seem too bad, but a long accepted rule of thumb is that corn should be in the roasting ear stage by July 4, so the May 1 date makes it a little late.
You can’t use a straight line progression based on the time lapse between planting dates, so a May 20 planting date doesn’t automatically push the dates ahead by 20 days relative to May 1. In reality, the actual difference will only be about half of the time difference between planting dates. I think allowing half of that time would be a more accurate representation of how late each of these stages will occur. So if that is the case, planting a 100 day variety on May 20 would mean that the corn is in the silking stage on July 6 and will reach the blister kernel stage by July 16.
If a 108 day corn was planted on May 1, it would reach the silking stage by about July 4, and blister kernel stage will be reached by July 16. If we project out to a May 20 planting and allow ten days difference in actual development, the silking stage will be reached on July 14, and the blister kernel stage would be reached by about July 26.
By looking at these dates it quickly becomes obvious that the May 20 planting date is problematic. If we have another summer in which it continues to rain all through July and August, we could have some pretty good corn. Conversely, if July and August turn out to be hot and dry, then there is a problem.
The truth is that farming is a gamble no matter what the approach, but there are times when the odds are stacked just a little higher. Personally, I’m hoping for a wet summer.
