2014 Field Corn

In many ways the weather has been good for growing things this summer, plenty of rain for the corn in particular, especially right around silking which is the most critical time. The main downside this summer is how cold it has been. Nightly low temps have hit the low 40s several times in July and August. That has delayed maturity and combined with the rain has created ideal conditions for Northern Leaf Blight. There are a lot of lesions in both of my corns, but for the most part they are shrugging it off. Worst effected plants were in my flint corn field, and I have been walking it several times in the past week ripping out the badly affected plants and feeding them to the cow. Ideally the blight would hit harder before tasselling so you could rogue out all the most susceptible plants before they shed pollen. But that didn't work out this year at least. There is a bit of Northern Rust and Eye Spot everywhere as well, but they are not serious diseases in my corns at least, they can't kill whole leaves/plants like Northern Leaf Blight.



The flour corn needs approximately 550 more growing degree days before black layer, flint corn is much further along. At the rate we are going this season, unless we get a hot spell in September that seems questionable before frost. So I may be picking the seed corn before black layer, which is livable, but not ideal.

2014 Field Corn