Stine® offers a full spectrum of high-yielding corn products in a range of maturities to ensure growers have the right fit for their field type and growing conditions. Our unique, conventional genetics are paired with the industry’s leading trait packages to achieve outstanding performance. Our products alone will provide you the means to achieve high yield, but treating your corn program as a system and not simply as a product can help you achieve maximum, if not record-setting, yields.
As our corn research evolves, so does our understanding of what management practices help produce maximum yields. The first step to achieve yield is choosing the right product for your fields, but growers can implement more to get the most bang for their buck come harvest — a system of best management practices, so to speak. Based on our multi-year research, we encourage growers to follow this checklist of best management practices to achieve optimum corn yields.
Pre-Planting
- Choose the right hybrid. This step is perhaps the most important management decision. While we stand behind every Stine corn product, we encourage growers who have productive soils and optimal conditions to consider choosing a product suited for high-population planting. Because our HP Corn® products have outstanding roots and stalks for excellent standability and are designed to capture more nutrients and sunlight, they thrive in high-density conditions.
- Check soil fertility. Nutrients like sulfur and nitrogen are vital to the success of a crop. Before growers begin planting, they should consider soil sampling to ensure they have adequate nutrients for their crops. Our Stine sales reps are available to help determine the appropriate amounts of fertilizer for our specific corn products.
- Prep the planter. For optimal outcomes come harvest, growers need to plant the seed at the right rate at the right depth. For variable rate or precision planters, calibrating software will ensure everything is programmed properly. Checking the meters and field-mapping software is important as well. You should also check for common signs of wear and tear and ensure all seed tubes are in good shape. Gauge wheels should also be checked to make sure the row units will have the proper contact with the ground. Prepping your planter will give you a head start to ensure proper seed placement and desired populations are achieved come planting time.
- Check soil temps. It is recommended that soil temperatures reach at least 50 degrees for three or more consecutive days before planting to ensure good germination and emergence. Avoid planting into cool, wet and water-logged soil, which can lead to poor seed to soil contact, among other problems.
Planting
- Plant early, if possible. When field conditions are right, plant as early as possible. Delayed planting results in bigger plants that take up more room and require more nutrients, which increases the need to lower populations. The earlier you can plant, the higher you can push populations. If planting is delayed, Stine sales reps are available to discuss how to adjust populations down.
- Plant at the appropriate range. Growers planting in highly productive soil should plant at the 41,000 to 51,000 range, with the high-end of the range restricted to products that include HP genetics. If high-population planting is not an option, plant populations are recommended between 32,000 to 34,000.
- Try narrow rows. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: narrow rows are the way of the future. Our products are bred so that growers can achieve higher yields by pushing populations and narrowing rows. Growers who traditionally plant 30-inch rows might consider transitioning to 20-inch rows this planting season. If you have a 15-inch soybean head, you might consider testing your corn in 15-inch rows by swapping your soybean head for a 15-inch corn head come harvest. Consult with your local Stine sales rep on the advantages of narrow-row corn.
Growing Season
- Consider a side dress. For higher populations, ideally, you’ll want medium to high levels of phosphorus and potassium combined with the appropriate amount of nitrogen and sulfur. These levels can be achieved by applying the appropriate nutrients during the growing season as a side dress or over-the-top application. In-season applications should always include sulfur.
Harvest
- Harvest early. When possible, harvest early to reduce yield loss. Getting the crop out of the ground in a timely manner will help minimize yield loss caused by lodging, ear loss, cylinder loss, separation loss and header loss from being too dry.
We know this to be true — any corn product on the market has the best opportunity to achieve its full potential when it’s approached as a system and not simply as a product. Our years of research and data back this recommendation. Consider this, switching to narrow rows with more equal planting distance can result in yield gains of three to nine percent. Selecting the right product with our HP Corn genetics can translate to a five to 12 percent yield increase. Ensuring your soil has the proper nutrients, as well as timely nitrogen applications, may result in a 10 to 20 percent yield boost. Before you hit the fields this spring, keep these recommendations top of mind. And when in doubt, your local Stine sales rep is available to lend a helping hand.