For years, you have been lied to! You don’t need 50-degree soil temps to plant corn, and the longer you wait to plant, the better chance you have for LOW yields. Plus, if you delay your corn planting, you’re automatically delaying your soybean planting, your spraying, and most likely a number of other important jobs on your farm.

CORN CAN GERMINATE AT TEMPERATURES WELL BELOW 50 DEGREES.

WITH HEFTY 40 SERIES CORN, FOR EXAMPLE, DID YOU KNOW WE TEST THAT SEED AT 40 DEGREES?

We also have a seed treatment package that stimulates early growth, speeds emergence, and helps the plant fight off many of the challenges it will face when you plant early.

If you only have one field of corn to plant, you can pick the perfect day. For those of us with lots of acres to put in the ground this spring, it’s important to start early.

In this article, I’ll discuss 9 REASONS why you have likely been planting your corn when it’s too warm in the past, and why I would encourage you to start earlier (or at least as early as crop insurance and your soil will allow) this spring.

I WANT YOU TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL ON THE DAY YOU FINISH PLANTING EACH YEAR. Now think about how you feel when you are waiting to plant and considering all the effort it will take and worrying about all the things that can go wrong. As farmers, we’re supposed to be tough, resilient, and unaffected by anything life throws at us, but let’s be honest – it’s hard to stay positive, happy, and upbeat when life is weighing on you. The sooner you get your planting done, the sooner that burden is off your shoulders and a smile returns to your face.

EARLY PLANTING MEANS SHORTER CORN. The earlier you get your crop in the ground, the cooler the weather (on average). Lower temps mean less gibberellic acid is produced in the plant. Gibberellic acid is the growth hormone that mostly controls plant height. More of it, and your plants get taller; less of it, and you’ll have shorter plants. When your plants are shorter, you have less chance for lodging.

EARLY PLANTING MEANS SHORTER CORN AND USUALLY BIGGER ROOT SYSTEMS. This typically means stronger stalks and less chance for greensnap.

THE EARLIER YOU PLANT, THE FASTER YOUR CORN REACHES MATURITY. This means drier corn in the fall and less drying expense.

EXCESSIVE HEAT IS THE NUMBER ONE ENEMY OF POLLINATION. Beat the heat by planting earlier and reaching the pollination window sooner.

WHEN YOU PLANT CORN LATER IN WARMER SOILS, IT IS MORE DESIRABLE FOR INSECT PESTS like fall armyworm, western bean cutworm, corn earworm, and 2nd-generation European corn borers, in our experience. It often has a smaller root system than early-planted corn, which makes it harder to tolerate corn rootworm larvae feeding, as well.

AS WE HAVE SEEN THE LAST TWO GROWING SEASONS, Southern rust needs a living host, and later-planted corn gets hit much harder as it has green material further into the growing season. Younger plants have a tougher time with diseases in general because they are not as far along in their development when the disease hits. This is true with other diseases like gray leaf spot and tar spot, for example.

EARLY PLANTING MEANS HIGHER YIELD ON AVERAGE. Plus, when you plant earlier you can plant a longer-day corn that has more yield potential.

IT’S NOT THE DAY YOU START PLANTING YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON – IT’S THE DAY YOU FINISH! For example, you may say that April 20 is your ideal planting date, but crop insurance allows you to start April 10. By waiting until April 20 to start, you might not finish planting until May 10. Instead of comparing the yield from an April 20 planting to April 10, compare April 10 to May 10. When you finish a month after your first planting date that crop insurance allows, your odds of top yields are extremely low.

It is possible the seed you purchased can’t handle early planting very well. We have tested many “competitor” hybrids; and while the warm germination percentage is usually good, the cold germ is much more questionable. Plus, they don’t have the extra seed treatments like Nutri-Cycle, Heat Shield, and more that you’ll find on 40 Series Corn. I know it seems crazy when we are the only company out there advising you to plant corn seed in 40-degree soils, but we’ve been testing this for over a decade. Since we came out with 40 Series Corn several years ago, and across LOTS of acres, we’ve had ZERO cold-soil replants.

NOT A SINGLE REPLANT DUE TO COLD SOIL TEMPS. THIS CORN CAN HANDLE COLD SOILS!

We are big believers in planting corn before soybeans if top yield is your objective, but that doesn’t mean we want soybeans planted late. In our region, April soybeans are outyielding May soybeans, which is why our farm and many others have moved all their soybean planting into April.

HOWEVER…

If you plant any crop in cold soils, it will sit there for a while before it emerges. That gives diseases and insects more opportunity to feast on your crop. Many of the same seed treatment components we use to make 40 Series Corn work in 40-degree soil temps are in Hefty Complete Soybean Seed Treatment, so you probably know where I’m going next…

WE ARE PERFECTLY COMFORTABLE SEEING YOU PUT SOYBEANS IN 40-DEGREE SOILS IF THOSE BEANS ARE TREATED WITH HEFTY COMPLETE.

Of course, just like with corn, we want to see a high cold germination score, so either test your soybeans to make sure – or just plant Hefty Brand.