Maize Watch: Mild weather helps crops to mature steadily

Maize crops continue to mature steadily through this period of mild weather and warm nights. Plants have dried a lot this week, with many crops having leaves senescing from the base, reports Grainseed’s Neil Groom.

“Sugars in the leaf are moved within the plants to be stored as starch in the maize grains. Cobs can be deceptively mature, and you really need to get into the middle of the fields to truly assess maturity,” he says.

See also: What is ‘Total grazing’ and will it work in the UK?

George John, who is sampling for Farmers Weekly in south Wales, agrees.

“I like to assess both the maturity of the grains and the greenness of the stem, as it’s the whole plant that ends up in the pit. This year, the grains are mature, but plants have remained green until this past week,” he says.

Checking cobs

George opens up six cobs in each row to check uniformity. He breaks them in half and squeezes the back of the grains to see if there is any moisture.

“I then cut the bottom off the plant and twist it several times to see what juice can be squeezed from the stem.

“When the crop is immature, the juice runs like water, but now it is difficult to squeeze any juice out at all, so we are ready to chop.”

Some crops need more time to reach full maturity because wet weather in the spring delayed drilling dates, adds Neil.

“There was a two- to three-week period at the end of April that was too wet to cultivate and drill, so there are crops that were drilled at the end of May and into June that are not fully mature yet.

“These now have milky starch in the grains and, providing there is not a frost, they will reach maturity by the end of the month.”

Maize in Norfolk was harvested on 30 September, having been drilled late. It followed a crop of lambs overwintered on stubble turnips, then heavy rain in April delayed drilling to 18 May.

The Devon crop, however, lies in a rain shadow, and with grass burning up in August, this crop was taken relatively early.

As expected, the Scottish maize under film is two weeks ahead of the standard crop and will probably be cut by 6 October.

Watch the weather

Growers still need to plan a week ahead and anticipate sudden changes in the weather, says Neil.

He points out that, with contractors in full harvesting mode and a lot of customers lined up, sudden heavy rain or sharp frosts can rapidly alter conditions.

“Watch the weather forecast and think about what your crop is going to look like in a week,” he adds.

“If crops get frosted, a nipping-off of the top leaves is OK.

“But if leaves are frosted down below the cob, consider harvesting quickly, as the sugars in the leaves are lost and yeasts and moulds can colonise the frosted leaves.

“I would definitely use an additive if crops get damaged, to reduce further deterioration in the clamp from yeasts and moulds.”