PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA, NE PERMIT NO. 36
Volume VIII, Issue 10
October 2014
Managing moisture
On the Larry Boeck farm, north on Highway 59 between Denison and Schleswig, Chad Petersen drives the combine and John Rosener pulls the grain wagon. Photo by Bruce A.Binning
Field agronomist encourages producers to weigh natural dry-down against stalk condition by Gordon Wolf Issues with stalk rot and corn dry-down are major issues farmers are considering this fall. In a recent email interview, Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Clarke McGrath, who is based in Harlan, said, “These issues are tied together and we may have some tough decisions to make.” “Artificial drying can certainly test a grower’s patience. As energy prices (especially LP) climb and/or availability of LP becomes an issue, costs can really add up. All this makes us appreciate any natural drying that Mother Nature can provide.” He said leaving the corn in the field to dry naturally for too long may be problem-
“Most growers will have finished up the soybeans as soon as possible when it dries up so they don’t start to lose them to lodging and shatter.” ~ Clarke McGrath, Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist
atic in areas for a couple reasons: “The stalk rot issues have only gotten worse. In scouting, field visits and putting in cover crop plots, I have spent a lot of time in corn fields recently with clients in their corn. Stalk rot and resultant standability issues are not hard to find, and seem to have gotten worse as we headed into mid-October.” “If you can scout your corn well and
find areas that have good stalk quality, then some field drying may be in order,” McGrath continued. “For fields with significant stalk rot and risk of lodging, the risk/reward tradeoff of field drying versus pulling it wet and artificial drying is worth a good look.” “Unfortunately, this time of year risk (lodging) escalates and reward (natural field drying) typically decreases. We have
had tough luck getting a lot of growing degree days (GDDs) for speeding along maturity and drying in the last month around 20 percent below average - and as we head into mid-October field drying usually slows even more.” McGrath also explained how growing degree days (GDD) affect the drying of corn in the field. He said it generally takes about 30 GDDs to lower corn moisture each point from 30 percent to 25 percent, and drying corn from 25 to 20 percent requires about 45 GDDs per point of moisture. If “average” conditions return for midOctober, he continued, the moisture could HARVEST, Page 7