Fall Corn Planting

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, Director: Grain and Forage Center of Excellence, University of Kentucky

Volunteer corn after harvest in 2016.

Drive just about anywhere in the state and you can find old corn fields that have a tremendous amount of young corn plants in them. The amount of plants in fields and the number of fields with volunteer corn plants seems much higher than normal. The extent of ground cover by the young plants makes the fields look as if someone intentionally planted them to corn this fall. There may be a few reasons for this.

Corn Hybrid Trials Online

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky corn for grain hybrid trials and corn for silage hybrid trials are online.

The corn for grain trials were planted at seven locations around the state, two of which are irrigated. Hybrids were divided into early, medium, late and white corn tests. The early hybrids were rated to mature by 111 days or earlier. The medium hybrids were rated to mature in 112 to 115 days and the late hybrids were rated to mature at 116 days or later. The report includes yields, test weight, moisture, final stand and lodging. All of these parameters help assess hybrid quality. When possible, yields are averaged across two and three years. The three-year averages across all locations provide the best predictor for hybrid performance next season.