Stop reading if your only goal is learning the names of the farmer and the specific hybrid he planted that went from yield king to joker in one year. You won’t find either name. Yet the story is no less valid. An underlying principle of the Corn Commentary project is not identifying the cooperating grower so both successes and failures can be shared freely.

“Learn from this year to direct decisions for next year,” says Dan Quinn, Purdue Extension corn specialist. Quinn helps monitor the Corn Commentary field. He notes that the grower made key observations, including about hybrid performance, and not just on yield. That’s what led the grower to make a major decision for next season.

“This is how this process should work,” Quinn says. “Evaluate everything, including hybrid performance. What hybrids performed best? What hybrids performed worst? That includes how they tolerated stress and how much disease resistance they exhibited.”

Quinn doesn’t advocate completely changing your hybrid lineup based on one year. Weather patterns vary from season to season. However, what you learn each season can add to your knowledge base, helping you make more informed decisions.

Corn Commentary example

Two hybrids were planted in the Corn Commentary field. They weren’t planted in blocks or side by side. Instead, the grower matched them to soil types using his multi-hybrid planter.

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He grew both hybrids before, with good luck. In fact, Hybrid A was among his top yielders. However, he knew from other reports that some people experienced stalk quality issues with that hybrid. Because he had not experienced those issues, he felt confident to continue using it extensively in his lineup.

Fast-forward to late summer, with a good crop on the way. The Corn Commentary field was sprayed at R2, primarily for gray leaf spot. Tar spot was not yet detected. By the end of August, a few tar spot specks were found on scattered leaves.

When Quinn visited the field on Sept. 11, tar spot was rampant, even on top leaves. “Fungicides only last so long,” he reported. “But since corn was approaching black layer, it should not affect yield here.”

Quinn appears to have been prophetic. Final yield for the Corn Commentary field was 255 bushels per acre, just above the 253-bushel estimate made in early August, based on the assumption that the second half of grain fill would be dry, which it was.

Weather whammy

Yield wasn’t the problem. It’s what happened in between Quinn’s visit and harvest that impacted the grower’s decision. The remnants of Hurricane Helene reached the field in very late September, bringing high sustained winds and 2 inches of rain. That exposed stalk rot developing within some fields.

The Corn Commentary field was impacted, with Hybrid A showing significantly more lodging and stalk quality issues than Hybrid B. Corn began lodging badly. That prompted the grower to harvest corn ahead of soybeans.

It also influenced his decision for next year. Even though Hybrid A is a good yielder, now that he’s experienced stalk quality issues firsthand, he intends to move it out of the lineup. He doesn’t want to risk stalk quality issues and lodging again. In a different year with a wetter fall, lodging and down corn could be a much costlier problem.