Planting is well underway in the southern part of the state. I’m sure there have been others, but I saw my first planter in the northern part of the state in Tippecanoe County Wednesday afternoon.
On the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast from Hoosier Ag Today, ‘Soybean Shaun’ Casteel encourages you to pay attention to your germ score. He’s had a lot of germ lots that have been pretty rough.
“I’ve got some germ lots that are 80%. So, you definitely need to think about seeding rates and the economics of that and the timeliness of it. If we’re going into soils that are warm, warm temperatures, that’s in our favor. I have a seed lot that was 80%, that’s the variety I wanted in the study I had, so it’s like okay, we’re not an April 14th planted of years past that was 60-degree, 70-degree weather. It’s 80-degree weather, so I can withstand that and get a decent stand still. I’ll up the seed rate, but I’m not as worried about that vigor aspect. Now if we get into the cycle of rain and we turn down cold, then we need to think about that.”
Purdue Extension’s Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn points to studies in recent years showing that earlier planted corn hasn’t been the best yielding corn.
“Three or four hybrids that we did, I think, four different planting dates. Usually, that first planting date in West Central Indiana isn’t the highest yielding in corn. And that was consistent across a couple years. It was that second or first week of May planting that was the highest yielding.”
They both agree that soybeans outperform corn when planted this early as corn has shown great yield potential well into the planting season.
Watch the Purdue Crop Chat on the HAT Facebook feed, YouTube channel, or below. Hear the audio only version as part of Hoosier Ag Today presents YOUR Purdue Extension– a podcast network.
