Management Considerations for Continuous Corn Production

Growing a corn crop after a previous crop of corn on the same ground requires special management. But we\u27ve done it before! In 1976, Iowa had around 14 million acres of corn and 6 1/2 million acres of soybean. That is about a 2:1 ratio. The ratio of corn to soybean in 2006 was 55:45 with nearly 13 million acres of corn. We can grow more corn. The question is how to do it without sacrificing yield. Although in some of the better years for growing corn and in some environments in those years yields are similar for corn following corn and corn following soybeans, we don\u27t yet know how to duplicate this. In other words we know of no magic bullet or recipe that will allow us to repeatedly obtain similar yields in both systems. Certainly, understanding tillage, fertility, and equipment issues help us understand some of the limitations and potentials. Other speakers in this session address those areas. Here is a checklist of some other things to think about

Updated Planting Date Recommendations for Iowa

Note: A full-length summary and publication on this data set will be available later this year. The statistical analysis and recommendations used and stated in this article may be changed slightly given further interpretation. The recommendations are not expected to be altered significantly though and are stated now to aid producers and agronomists this planting season

Splitting Corn Seedlings to Assess Plant Viability

A hard freeze last weekend resulted in leaf loss in emerged corn seedlings across central and northern Iowa. Several recent articles in ICM news provide insight on the situation. Photos 1 and 2 here show damage in one field in Story County; corn was at about V2 when the frost occurred