Variable Corn Height and Yields

Jarrod Miller, Extension Educator, Somerset County

With the weather this spring, planting windows and excessive soil moisture have made for some variable corn heights. There can be a lot of reasons for short corn, including soil compaction, lack of nitrogen and the weather.

Early planted fields may be shorter since corn is growing during cooler, wetter periods, creating an entire field that is shorter than normal. Fields with ponding or sidewall compaction may have variable growth across the field, with drier areas having normal heights. Some of this can be related to lack of nitrogen, either from denitrification in wet soils, or limited uptake from poor root growth. In some cases ponding in lower parts of the field simply kills the plant altogether. Alternatively, during drought periods, those drier parts of a field may have shorter corn due to the lack of water.

Portions of this field won’t recover from excessive water, while those on the edges may be shorter due to restrictive root growth.

Whether or not shorter corn plants have lower yields depends on canopy cover. Continue reading Variable Corn Height and Yields