Corn planting is just around the corner. With 2022’s input costs weighing heavily, most farmers will be paying extra attention to optimize corn yields and economic return.  

Wayne Dulaney is one of those farmers. He and his brother J.D. farm 4,000 acres near Clarksdale, Miss. Wayne is also a sales manager with Local Seed. Through his experiences on his own farm and working with corn growers across the Northern Mississippi Delta, Dulaney has observed several corn planting strategies that consistently lead to higher yielding corn. And new technology is not necessarily part of the equation. 

“Buying new technology is easy. Growing high-yielding corn is hard,” Dulaney said. “Simply having the technology on your farm is not going to be enough to bring you the results you are chasing. You have to use the technology properly and every now and then get off the planter and do some ground truthing.” 

Choose the right hybrid 

Dulaney outlined a few more key factors for corn planting success in the Mississippi Delta. First, make sure you have the right hybrid choice for your field and your yield goal.  

“Really do the research and talk with other people who manage the same type of soils that you do,” he said. 

“Also, don’t look solely at yield data. There are many other characteristics to consider when matching a hybrid to your field, including costs. What is your yield goal? Growers should aim to find a balance between cost of seed and yield potential. There is a lot of difference in a guy that has a 180-bushel yield goal versus a 250-bushel yield goal. Keep all those factors in mind when selecting hybrids.” 

Start clean 

Starting with clean beds in the next priority 

“Make sure you do everything you can to get rid of all the Italian rye grass,” Dulaney said. “Sometimes it takes two burndowns.” 

Dulaney advises a burndown tank mix of glyphosate and clethodim at the full rate to take out Italian rye grass. (Keep in mind there is a 30-day plant back restriction to corn following a clethodim application.) He encourages growers to leave dicamba and 2,4-D out during burndown as it tends to antagonize the other products. 

“I also like using Leadoff herbicide with a burndown, that gives you some residual on corn ground and it has some activity on Italian rye grass.” 

“If you don’t totally kill it at burndown, you can come back behind the planter with a shot of gramoxone to finish it off. But if that grass has gotten really big by the time you’re ready to plant it becomes really tough to kill and you don’t have many options.” 

“I have worked with more people over the years who have tried to plant into that stuff, kill it while they are trying to plant. They may only injure the rye grass, and later it comes back out. It sets back the corn plant so much.” 

Check equipment 

Dulaney said now is the time to tune up farm machinery. In his experience, early preparation for equipment maintenance is time well invested. 

“Go through your planter right now. Are disc openers in good shape? Are your gauge wheels properly adjusted? A complete check list of the planter needs to be done right now. Don’t wait until the week before you go to the field,” he said. 

Find best corn planting window

In 2021, Dulaney and some of his customers began corn planting on March 9, but a window to plant that early does not always open in the North Delta. 

“It’s important to consider the forecasts for weather and soil temperatures after corn planting,” Dulaney said. “Where you really get hurt is when you get a cold, wet spell within three days of planting. That really causes delays in emergence.” 

Dulaney looks for weather forecasts that show at least three 60-degree F days after planting to avoid chilling injury and achieve optimal growing degree units. 

“As long as you have a sunny and warming 5-day forecast, go for it. But if forecasts change and temperatures are predicted to drop, stop where you are,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to stop the planter. If it turns cold and wet within three days of planting, you’re just setting yourself up for a replant. 

“It is amazing the difference between the North and South Delta where weather is concerned. There is about a five-degree temperature difference when you cross Highway 82. In the South Delta when they start planting conditions typically stay warm. But in the North Delta we’re balancing on that line throughout March. You really have to pay attention to the forecast.” 

Plant at proper depth 

“It’s been preached a lot, and I would say 95% of growers out there are putting corn at the right depth. For most situations, that’s 2 inches, maybe a little deeper depending on soil moisture conditions. You just want to make sure that seed is in the soil, has good soil moisture contact and is closing up good without any air pockets or trash in the seed trench.” 

Dulaney said the most troubling thing he sees is people setting their planting depth and not going back and checking it.  

“Your monitor may be telling you what you’re doing, but we’ve got to ground-truth this stuff,” he said. “You’ve got to be behind it periodically during the day making sure your depth is consistent. Check each end of the field. Sometimes the bottom side of a field is a little harder because water sat on it all winter and you’re not getting in the ground as much. That’s why I always say check the down pressure. You can have the depth set correctly, but if you don’t have enough pressure on that planter unit to push it into the ground it doesn’t do any good.”  

Dulaney said it’s easy to depend on technology to monitor planting consistency, but time with your hands in the dirt is still time well-spent. 

“You may think you have better things to do besides spending two hours on your hands and knees checking behind every row unit that first day of corn planting. I promise you, you don’t,” Dulaney said. “Corn is make or break at planting. You can’t go back and fix it. So, while technology is great, we can’t place blind trust in it. We have to ground truth it.”