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| You're thinking along the same lines a lot of us are in areas with short planting windows and early drought pressure. I’ve been down that road , trying to beat the dry-down by pushing an earlier bloom window , and while there's always some tradeoff on top-end yield, it can absolutely pay off in a year where the rain shuts off early.
Your timing sounds familiar we typically plant around mid-April and lose reliable rains by mid to late June. I've had similar experiences with “60-day” varieties dragging out to 70–75 days depending on conditions, especially cooler starts or if they hit a dry stretch around that early vegetative phase.
Switching to a very early maturing hybrid like M54GR24 makes a lot of sense if moisture is your primary limit. I haven’t run that exact number but have seen other Dynagro early lines perform decently in drought-prone ground. You’re right that you might give up some yield potential, but it’s usually better to bank a crop that finishes than one that’s still trying to bloom into a dry July.
Biggest thing I’d watch is making sure the hybrid holds up on standability and test weight , some of the real early ones can get a little floppy late season if stalks get soft. But if it holds bloom by 50–55 days and you’re ahead of the dry-down, that’s worth something.
Would be curious to hear how M54GR24 performs if you run it next year, I might trial a strip myself. | |
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Planting earlier maturing milo
