News

Stalk quality could be an issue

The effects of excessive rain are still showing up in corn.

Peter Thomison, Extension corn specialist at the Ohio State University says everything from nitrogen loss, to stunted corn plants, to restricted root systems have set the stage for issues growers may face at harvest.

“Probably one of the major issues we’re hearing people talk about right now is scouting for stalk quality issues, stalk rot, which can lead to stalk lodging,” Thomison said. “We say something like this about every year, it’s a perennial issue, but this year because of the nitrogen stress conditions that’s contributed to root injury, marginal roots systems that are very shallow and very small in size.”

Thomison says growers should also scout for leaf diseases and ear rots.

“It’s really critical that growers go out because of the variable nature of the crop too, and many of these fields, between fields and within fields, you may have corn at all ranges of plant sizes which is going to warrant some consideration from the standpoint of combine adjustments,” said Thomison. “So this range of different conditions within a field are going to warrant, not only scouting one spot in the field, but maybe several spots within different areas of the field that have been affected by excessive rainfall.”

The Ohio State Extension corn specialist was on the program at the Seed Consultants field day near Washington Court House on Thursday, August 27.

Audio: Peter Thomison, Extension corn specialist, Ohio State University