Do you have what it takes to be a hybrid seed corn producer? Here’s a glimpse at what one seed producer has experienced so far this season:

Still think you want to be a seed producer? Obviously, it takes a different mindset.

“We must think differently than a normal corn grower, no doubt about it,” says Darin Lucas, a field production manager for Beck’s at the company’s Atlanta, Ind., location. “We start out the season with a plan, and we know the steps it takes to produce even hard-to-grow hybrids, but we also have to be flexible enough to shift on the go to a modified plan.”

DESTROYING MALE ROWS: It takes a different mindset to be a seed corn grower. Instead of feeling upset by seeing these two rows destroyed after pollination, a seed grower knows it’s necessary.

Wet, rainy stretches in May meant that seed corn planting, like regular corn planting, was delayed. This is a particular challenge in production fields where the male inbred must be planted after the female and timed correctly.

Related:How automation makes detasseling more accurate

“For some inbreds that aren’t strong pollinators, we plant a male row, then come back and plant the male again in the same row a few days apart,” Lucas explains. “That helps spread out pollination and gives more days of pollen available to find silks of the female inbred. But we only have a narrow window to make that second planting pass.”

Tough summer for seed growers

Here are more challenges seed producers like Lucas faced this year:

Wet soils at detasseling time. “We must get female rows detasseled before tassels can emerge and spread pollen,” Lucas says. Sometimes that means running their cutting machines with custom-designed cutting heads to even up the field when soils are still wet, tracking up fields as they go. Then a couple of days later, the same machines equipped with pulling devices this time must go through the field, pulling tassels.

“We get 85% to 90% of the tassels removed on female rows through that process,” Lucas says. To remove the remaining tassels that escape mechanical removal, crews of H-2A workers meticulously comb fields, taking out remaining tassels.

EYE ON THE PRIZE: For a seed corn producer, the winning strategy isn’t 250 bushels per acre, notes Darin Lucas with Beck’s. It might be 70 bushels per acre of hybrid seed from two top-notch inbreds.

Aphids. Corn aphid numbers appear to be up across the Midwest this year. If you are a commercial corn grower, it might be more of an annoyance than a yield threat. If you are a seed producer, it’s a risk you can’t take.

Related:Corn aphids make noise in 2024

“Aphids like to feed on tassels as they begin to emerge on male rows,” Lucas explains. “Left unchecked, they can produce a sticky substance and gum up tassels, interfering with pollen shed. In years like this one, we spray for them so that we don’t risk interfering with pollination.”