Rain slowed down a few weeks ago and corn planting began. We have corn coming up now with good growing conditions. This field had great emergence. I did a stand count this morning. To check stands, we start with our row width. The 2015 UGA Corn Guide has the calculations from this point.
We also want to be checking for seedling insects. Many of our seedling pests are not an issue when corn moves into the whorl stage. Check around and on the plant and in the soil. Below is some etching on the leaves caused by thrips. Unless damage is severe – not here – plants will grow out of this by whorl stage (V5 – V7).
4th Leaf Collar
Also, we want to check growth stage. I noticed that the first leaf is already shriveling up and hard to find. The tip of the first leaf is oval shaped in contrast to all other leaves, which are pointed. From the bottom, count all leaves with a collar on the backside. This collar indicates which growth stage the plant is in. This field is at V4. This is inportant in terms of weed management. UGA Extension Weed Scientist Dr. Eric Prostko likes to have our post emergent application done before V5. This is becuase these are the weeds more competing with corn growth. We certainly do not want to go past V7 since research indicates a loss of corn yield. The earlier, the better. Photo above shows the collar on the plant.
Thomas County Ag 