On the latest Purdue Crop Chat podcast released Wednesday on iTunes, Purdue Extension Corn Specialist Dr. Bob Nielsen talks about the impact of the frost event over the weekend on corn and if replanting will be necessary.
He says data from their agronomy farm, where air temperatures reached 25 degrees over the weekend, shows that soil temperatures didn’t get below 38 degrees. If that’s true across much of the state, that bodes well for corn.
“At this young stage of emergence and one-leaf, even two-leaf, stage, that growing point is about ¾ inch below the soil surface. So, if it truly didn’t get to those lethal temperatures below ground, then we’re just talking about this cosmetic damage above ground,” says Nielsen.
“Once we return to warmer weather later this week, I think fields that have been toasted off above ground, by this weekend there’s going to be some noticeable expansion of those whorl leaves. It’ll be pretty clear by this weekend.”
His concern now is that some farmers might have replanted ahead of this large rain event moving in thinking their crop was dead.
“If they go in and replant yesterday or today, and in fact it’s not dead, and they all recover, and they go in with a full seeding rate to replant, well now they’re looking at 60,000 plants per acre. So, I hope people haven’t pulled that trigger and I hope they’ve been patient. Give it a few more days of time before they make a decision, because I’m thinking at this point there may not be many fields that need to be replanted.”
Nielsen added, “I was worried leading up to the freeze event, but I’m thinking of what I’ve seen locally around here and some of the reports I’ve had from around the state, I’m hopeful that there won’t be much replanting that’s necessary for corn.”
Nielsen and soybean specialist Dr. Shaun Casteel are joined by state climatologist Dr. Beth Hall and Extension forage specialist Dr. Keith Johnson on this Purdue Crop Chat. Hall discusses the record-breaking nature of this past weekend’s freeze and a very wet forecast ahead while Johnson talks about making wheat into forage based on freeze damage.
Click the play button below to hear the Purdue Crop Chat podcast in its entirety.
