By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

JACKSON, Mich. – The conflicting problems of too much water, then not enough, severely affected the yields of a corn seed test plot in Southern Michigan this year.

A Midwest Seed hybrid earned the top score at the test site on the Jackson County, Mich. farm of Bill Pietkow. Midwest Seed hybrid 76126VT3 averaged 124.3 bushels per acre on the test conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) this summer. The Midwest Seed hybrid had an estimated gross income per acre of $568, and the hybrid’s moisture level was 23.6 percent.

Pietkow’s field is a sandy, clay loam with a 1.5 percent slope. The test site was moderately well drained. F.I.R.S.T. manager Rich Schleuning planted at a rate of 31,000 seeds per acre on May 8, and he harvested approximately 28,600 plants per acre on Oct. 30.
In between those two dates, Mother Nature played her water games, Schleuning said.

“This location was under water three times this spring,” he reported. “Then a dry July and August hurt the full potential of this crop. There was Anthracnose present at this site.”

Finishing second at this test site was Trelay hybrid 4T105 with an average yield of 123.0 bu./acre. This hybrid had an estimated gross income per acre of $593.50, and its moisture level was 18.5 percent.

Other top-finishing hybrids include: G2 Genetics 1H-005, 122.5 bu./acre and moisture level of 23.8 percent; Stewart Seeds 6N385, 122.4 bu./acre and moisture level of 25.5 percent; and Fielders Choice NG6520, 122.1 bu./acre and a moisture level of 19.3 percent.

A list of all of the hybrids at this Southern Michigan test are available at www.firstseedtests.com