Starting the week of 21 April 2012, many people began planting their 2012 crop. At emergence time some of the fields had problems with corn leafing out underground. There are generally two suspects for this early season problem:
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Soil crusting –
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after a period of heavy rains a crust forms which impedes the coleoptile emergence above ground. -
rotary hoe can be used to break this crust early on
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Cold soil temperatures –
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temperatures below 50° F can influence corn at germination. From our weather data collected at the Agronology 10 Research Center at Walcott, IA, some concerns for possible problems can be developed.
Date (April) Day Min. Temp (°F)
23 Monday 34
24 Tuesday 43
25 Wednesday 50
26 Thursday 47
27 Friday 40
28 Saturday 38
