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Be mindful of chilling injury to corn

An agronomist in the Upper Midwest is telling farmers to be mindful of chilling injury to newly planted corn plants.

Craig LaVoi with Peterson Farms Seed says imbibitional chilling was a problem for some of his growers in southwest Minnesota last year.

“Essentially, we just want to be mindful of the following 24 to 48 hours after we’re planting.  If they’re forecasting a cold front to come through with some cold rain, it’s probably a better idea just to pull the pin on the planter and let that weather move through.”

Corn seeds can be damaged by imbibing cold water, leading to poor stands.

LaVoi tells Brownfield most hybrids still performed well after getting hit by frost early last spring.

“But, there was stand loss in some of those harder-hit areas where it just makes you wonder what (the corn) could’ve done had we had a full stand and not the uneven growth.”

LaVoi says soil temps in his area remain below 50 degrees, but anticipates conditions will be fit for planting by the federal crop insurance date of April 11^th.