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Corn crop is handling the hot weather

The extreme temperatures that have moved into the Corn Belt at pollination has some farmers worried.

Purdue Extension corn specialist Bob Nielsen says this hot and humid weather may be unbearable for people, but it doesn’t impact the corn crop as much as one might think.  “As long as there is sufficient soil moisture those kind of temperatures are not – I’ll say seriously stressful to the corn crop,” he says.

He tells Brownfield it is a different story in areas that have been dry.  “Fields that are pollinating or close to pollination that are experiencing these high 80’s, low 90’s without adequate soil moisture – certainly there could be some stress on those,” he says.

However, Nielsen says these hot, humid, and muggy days are conducive for corn plants to be infected with foliar diseases – like Grey Leaf Spot.  “Those certainly merit an awareness and I encourage people to be out walking and scouting parts of their fields and looking to see if that disease is in the crop now,” he says.

He says if growers find disease – they’ll need to weigh the return on investment of a fungicide application at this stage of the crop.

AUDIO: Bob Nielsen, Purdue Extension