Corn Fail Ideas?

[shawnv]

Is corn seed supposed to last more than one season? I had some leftover stuff I planted a couple weeks ago that had very few plants come up. I know it was dry for 10 days and then we had heavy frost for two days so I'm not sure if that was it or not. It was just for a couple small strips so it's not the end of the world and I'll just replant with cereal grains/brassica mix late summer. I'm just curious as to what might have happened.

 

[Tree Spud]

From what i have read, it can last up to 2 years but must be stored at low temps and the proper humidity.

 

[browndog]

Corn seed is good for a few years. I just planted some 2009 Pioneer and 2010 Dekalb seed and had 95% germination. I had a problem with a small plot a few years ago, I tilled and planted on the same day. Later that night we got pounded with 3.5" of rain and it packed the dirt so tight. It dried out fast and never rained again, it was like the corn seed was encapsulated in cement. I had maybe 5% of the seeds pop up and the seeds I dug out were junk. I ended up tilling and planting it again and everything came up fine using the same seed.

 

[shawnv]

Corn seed is good for a few years. I just planted some 2009 Pioneer and 2010 Dekalb seed and had 95% germination. I had a problem with a small plot a few years ago, I tilled and planted on the same day. Later that night we got pounded with 3.5" of rain and it packed the dirt so tight. It dried out fast and never rained again, it was like the corn seed was encapsulated in cement. I had maybe 5% of the seeds pop up and the seeds I dug out were junk. I ended up tilling and planting it again and everything came up fine using the same seed.

I broadcasted and just packed it in with the tractor tires then it rained super hard when it finally did so maybe that was it.

 

[shawnv]

It was stored in the garage so I'm not sure if that would be too warm or not. I could try and replant tomorrow I guess and see what happens

 

[browndog]

Do you have heavy soil? I have heavy soil and my tractor tiller works it up so fine and I always worry about a heavy rain and then a fast drying.
The other thing that comes to mind are sandhill cranes, they can do some serious damage when plants are just popping out of the ground.

 

[Boone]

Did you put down any starter fertilizer or urea? We are planting corn in a new plot next week, not sure if that's to late but I plan on broadcasting urea when we plant.

 

[Fall guy]

Broadcast And dry weather likely cause.

I have used same corn for up to 5 years but always germinate test.

I planted May 1 multiple locations Western WI . Was very dry for several weeks . All up nicely now but it was all put in 1.5 " deep with planter. Very minimal damage from that 26 degree day.

Plenty time left to replant .

 

[Tree Spud]

It was stored in the garage so I'm not sure if that would be too warm or not. I could try and replant tomorrow I guess and see what happens

From what I have read that ideal storage would be 50 deg F at 40% humidity. Maintains the corn cell structure without dehydrating it.

From my local farmer buddies, corn will survive in early germination as it will take moisture from the ground without rain. That is why timing of planting is important with sunlight and daylight temps.

I don't thing garage storage helped.

End of the day, buy new and don't stress it ... some here will advise you can get by on the cheap by reusing, what's a $150 bag corn worth versus a weekend of prepping and planting, then being 30 days late on your planting date?

 

[shawnv]

Did you put down any starter fertilizer or urea? We are planting corn in a new plot next week, not sure if that's to late but I plan on broadcasting urea when we plant.

Yes, I did.

I'm thinking it was a combo of storage, dry/cold weather with the shallow seed depth. If it's wasn't more of a compliment strip I would have bought new seed. I'll try replanting the rest that is left tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[shawnv]

Do you have heavy soil? I have heavy soil and my tractor tiller works it up so fine and I always worry about a heavy rain and then a fast drying.
The other thing that comes to mind are sandhill cranes, they can do some serious damage when plants are just popping out of the ground.

I have nice sandy loam soil and have yet to see a crane on my property even though they are in the area.

 

[browndog]

It would have popped up easily in your sandy loam. My soil will crust over really bad with heavy rains. Do you know how old the seed was? The farmer that I get my seed from stores his in an old wooden shed that is attached to his barn. He gave me a whole bunch of seed 2-3 years ago. The seed was in separate bags and ranged from 2009 through 2012. I finally used up the 2009 seed this year. When I got the seed, I stored it all in sealed 5 gallon pails in my basement. Prior to that, the seed was in the original bags that were stored in that wooden shed with a zip tie around the top of the bag.
With your sandy loam, I think some of your seed depth was too shallow. There was enough moisture for seed to germinate but dried out and then there wasn't enough moisture for those shallow seeds to get estabished and some of the deeper seeds are the ones that survived. In sandy loam, I would be planting corn seed at 2.5" deep. I really don't think storage was an issue.

 

[shawnv]

It would have popped up easily in your sandy loam. My soil will crust over really bad with heavy rains. Do you know how old the seed was? The farmer that I get my seed from stores his in an old wooden shed that is attached to his barn. He gave me a whole bunch of seed 2-3 years ago. The seed was in separate bags and ranged from 2009 through 2012. I finally used up the 2009 seed this year. When I got the seed, I stored it all in sealed 5 gallon pails in my basement. Prior to that, the seed was in the original bags that were stored in that wooden shed with a zip tie around the top of the bag.
With your sandy loam, I think some of your seed depth was too shallow. There was enough moisture for seed to germinate but dried out and then there wasn't enough moisture for those shallow seeds to get estabished and some of the deeper seeds are the ones that survived. In sandy loam, I would be planting corn seed at 2.5" deep. I really don't think storage was an issue.

I bought the bag last year. Yea, it was probably 1/2" to an inch and I had good germination last year with the manual row seeder. I tried a new round and lightly tilled it in to get it down deeper. We'll see what happens this time.

 

[shawnv]

Round #2 was planted and this time I tilled it in. During this round I was fortunate to get rain and heat so the germination was very good and it now stands almost 4" tall.

 

[FarmerDan]

Round #2 was planted and this time I tilled it in. During this round I was fortunate to get rain and heat so the germination was very good and it now stands almost 4" tall.

Glad to hear your second planting prospered! How's it doing now? I'll offer my apologies up front. Normally, I wouldn't think to offer any additional comments about the situation, but, being new I need to get my post count up!!

The viability of seed year-over-year is related to some large degree by the thickness of the seed coats. Corn and soybeans are thin. Clovers, alfalfa and most other similarly sized seeds are thick and hard.

In the seed business, corn not sold this year is sent back to the processor where it's blended with "new" seed -- to raise the germination percentage. Just making up some numbers, that bag of seed corn you buy next year might have 15% last years seed and 85% seed produced just prior to the planting season. The "old" seed might have a 75% germination rate and the new seed 98%. You can do the math to calculate the percentage germination on your seed tag.

So, the old seed germination rate usually (usually) does go down. The other thing that happens is the vigor of the old seed might decrease. Germination tests are conducted in ideal conditions. When you plant old seed early in cold soils (frost!) its entirely possible for a seed in its second year to suffer serious germination problems. The same seed planted later when soils are warm and moist faces happy times!

I've not been part of the industry for a long time, but I assume the situation for soybeans remains. Few if any old soybeans are every returned to be added to new seed.

Happy day friends!

 

[shawnv]

Glad to hear your second planting prospered! How's it doing now? I'll offer my apologies up front. Normally, I wouldn't think to offer any additional comments about the situation, but, being new I need to get my post count up!!

The viability of seed year-over-year is related to some large degree by the thickness of the seed coats. Corn and soybeans are thin. Clovers, alfalfa and most other similarly sized seeds are thick and hard.

In the seed business, corn not sold this year is sent back to the processor where it's blended with "new" seed -- to raise the germination percentage. Just making up some numbers, that bag of seed corn you buy next year might have 15% last years seed and 85% seed produced just prior to the planting season. The "old" seed might have a 75% germination rate and the new seed 98%. You can do the math to calculate the percentage germination on your seed tag.

So, the old seed germination rate usually (usually) does go down. The other thing that happens is the vigor of the old seed might decrease. Germination tests are conducted in ideal conditions. When you plant old seed early in cold soils (frost!) its entirely possible for a seed in its second year to suffer serious germination problems. The same seed planted later when soils are warm and moist faces happy times!

I've not been part of the industry for a long time, but I assume the situation for soybeans remains. Few if any old soybeans are every returned to be added to new seed.

Happy day friends!

The second round is about 5 1/2 feet tall right now so I would say it's doing very well. After planting that round I did a very shallow till so it had much better soil coverage and that was all it needed. The germination rate was good to excellent. With that said I will be doing that going forward.