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Colo, IA | SmartStax was a good concept with bad results IMO. As people noted here this summer, the SS versions of varieties tassled later than VT3 versions and I am now seeing that that is correlating into wetter corn and less of it. First yield data out of a central Iowa plot where 61-19 and 61-21 were side by side showed a 16 bushel and three point moisture advantage for 61-19. Either the insertion was poor, which I doubt because Monsanto tends to be very good at inserting genes, or the addition of Herculex made the corn worse off. There will be four more plots at least with this direct comparison in central Iowa (I have one of them). I am curious to see if there is a trend or if this was a fluke. SS is a good idea as far as getting lower refuge and getting to a refuge in a bag, but if you do not need all the traits due to pest pressure, it likely will not be the best choice for your acres IMO. I think this is part of the reason Monsanto backed off the push towards SS some. There will always be a price premium for SS because Monsanto has to pay someone for the LL/HX trait, but the premium is only there for those who need the extra insect protection, though I will admit I have seen better roots and stalks on the SS versions, it is just not yet equaling more yield. | |
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Interesting Article on Smartstax performance
