Central IL | Gerald J. - 9/1/2009 13:16
I heard an interview yesterday on the Big Show and a FPS type said the corn would be drier than the surrounding areas because the contractor for the FPS got the corn in early and its a group of selected early (like 85 day) varieties that can reliably mature by FPS time. Much sooner than the typical 115 or 120 day corn I expect is grown at that latitude. He said they work at getting good early corn numbers, even growing corn there in the off years to learn more. There are corn plots in the Boone IA FPS show site this year which corroborates that story. I drove by there last Friday on my way home from shopping in Boone.
Gerald J.
My understanding is the demo plots were planted April 26th with 96-99 day. The monsoon season hit the next day for 4 weeks and individual seed plots didn't get planted until the same timeframe as most of the area June 1. 115 day is about the max for "normal" corn around here, I'm not personally aware of anyone trying 120. Sure hope not this year as 115 will still be 25% at the end of October at this rate. |