Corn School: Ontario Corn Needs Hot August to Cool Frost Concerns

After a cool July that felt more like September, much of Ontario’s corn crop will need a steamy August to make maturity.

In this episode of the Corn School, Pride Market Agronomist Ken Currah explains that Ontario’s corn crop is about halfway to maturity and late-planted corn could be flirting with killing frost if Mother Nature doesn’t turn up the heat in August and keep frost at bay through September and early October.

SEE MORE CORN SCHOOL Episodes

Currah estimates that much of the late-planted corn in the province will need 70 days after tassel to reach maturity and that puts it on a collision course with established first-frost dates in many areas of the province.

Related: Introducing biodiversity in to the corn/soy/wheat rotation — one farmer’s experience

Currah also notes that he seeing evidence again in 2014 of the benefits of planting corn into good soil conditions. He notes that corn planted into fit conditions continued to “truck along” through the cooler July days and nights while corn planted into tough conditions has struggled to advance.


 

Listen to the audio version.

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