2009: Farmer Josh Checks on Corn

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By Josh Baynes

Story Created: Jul 8, 2009 at 10:59 AM CST

Story Updated: Apr 18, 2010 at 2:47 PM CST

I recently met with agronomist Rich Lee from Golden Harvest to see how my corn is progressing after 55 days of it being planted. In a nutshell, Rich said the corn is doing well and has really come along in the last few weeks.

I asked Rich if we could see an ear at this point and he said no, but it is there in the lower leaf shoots. After sampling a portion of the stalk, Rich determined that a tassel should show in about 15 to 20 days. In this case, that would be between July 15-20.

I've heard the old saying that you want corn to be "knee high by the 4th of July." My corn was waist high when I visited with on July 1, so I assumed I was in pretty good shape. According to Rich, nowadays with new hybrids and the way farming is currently done, corn should have a tassel by the 4th of July, so my corn is actually a little behind. He says that is because of the early-season cold weather we had here in Eastern Iowa.

We continued talking about the weather and I learned that when temperatures are 90 degrees or higher, that can be stressful on corn. Rich says corn is a tropical plant and corn does best at 86 degrees. When it is 90 or more, the corn has trouble getting moisture and when that happens, you can lose 1 to 2 percent of your corn yield per day.

From here on out, Rich says my work is pretty much done until harvest time and it is all up to Mother Nature. Ideally, we need to keep the winds down and avoid a lot of heat. He also said we will need some rain.

The next time you see me will be in a combine!

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