vickruse - 10/14/2018 06:36


Guys several things to keep in mind. You are buying 5% conv in RIB corn as required by law. Also for those who require corn borer management you only need to plant double pro and not smartstax and will save quite a bit of cash. Lastly for those who don't have rootworm issues and corn borer is not a big problem conv corn can be a big moneysaver if you don't spray/need Roundup. I plant smartstax on corn on corn but plant 67% conv on cob. I put double pro in rows 1,2 and 11, 12 on my 12 row planter and conv in rows 3-10. So I have 33% corn borer protection plus the 5% RIB in the double pro, RR protection from drift from neighbors for outside boundary spraying RR. If you have no rootworm issues conv yields with smartstax. If no corn borer issues conv yields with double pro. I use no pesticides with the planter. Savings on conv to smartstax is over $100/bag and is $65/bag on conv to double pro. $100/bag at 2.5 acres a bag is $40/acre less seed. I could take a 13 bu/acre hit and still be even on gross $/acre on smartstax vs conv. But the yields are the same. For those trying to save some input costs this is a no brainer. Take this money saved and put it in fungicide apps. One other thing, plant pops are something else to look at. I plant 32000 and can push corn to 275-285 bu/acre in 2014 and 2016. 36000 pop would not return net dollars vs extra seed cost/acre of 10%. A drop to 28000 could be in the cards and reduce standability issues for some. Its all about profit and seed cost is one to look at when rent doesn't come down.