Carland Dairy Mills River

This corn was chopped the week of Sept 26th. Steve Dillon, the NCDA agronomist calculated this field to yield 40.3 tons per acre. Based on the kernel counting method it produced 228 bushels per acre.

The variety is 9009. It was planted on 15" rows and had a harvested population of 44,200.

They have sold several truckloads and are going to be hard pressed to find enough places to store it.

Dean Ross

In this field Dean, Andy and Ronnie are growing both 9009 and NK N91-J1. The N91-J1 is about 2' taller than the 9009.

They started chopping this field but decided that it was too wet so waited a few days and then came back and finished harvesting on September 14th. (when this picture was taken)

This was planted on 20" rows. Plant population was 37.8K.

The N91-J1 in this field tested 238 bushels based on the counting kernels method and 410 bushels based on the weight of shelled corn method.

The 9009 in this field tested 222 bushels based on the counting kernels method and 368 bushels based on the weight of shelled corn method.

Frank & Charlie Medford

Frank and Charlie harvested these fields on September 10th.

He has two fields. One is a bottom with Dekalb 67-88 and Croplan 9009. He has a 4 row planter and had 67-88 in rows 1 and 3 and 9009 in rows 2 and 4. The 67-88 is 2' taller. The ears are set 2' higher so it would be more likely to blow over if there are winds.

You can tell the 9009 when looking at the ears because the shell corn is more orange in color and does not dent as soon when dry or ready to chop. The 9009 in this field is not roundup/herculex and you can tell that there is more worm damage than the 67-88.

This corn is planted on 30" rows. Plant population was 31.8K.

The DK 67-88 tested 181 bushels by counting kernels method. It tested 315 bushels based weighing the shelled corn from 10 ears.

The 9009 in this same field measured tested 165 bushels by counting the kernels method. It tested 272 bushels based on weighing the shelled corn from 10 ears.

The second field is a hillside. In this field they planted 9009 in rows 1 and 2 and DK 67-21 in rows 3 and 4. The 67-21 shows signs of blight before the 9009.

The DK 67-21 tested 179 bushels by counting kernels method. It tested 290 bushels based on weighing the shelled corn from 10 ears.

The 9009 in this same field tested 189 bushels by counting the kernels method. It tested 307 bushels based on weighing the shelled corn from 10 ears.

Frank and Charlie were pleased with all the corn on these two fields but will not likely use the 67-21 again due to the blight issue.

Triple R Silage on Jonathan Creek

This is a field of Croplan 9009 RH planted on 5-16-11. 6 1/2" spacing and 30" rows. Harvest date 9-9-11. Fields are as free from weeds as any I have seen this season.

Steve says he chopped some N91J1 this morning and the 9009 is producing what appears to be more tonnage and a better quality product. The 91 was beginning to come down with blight.

He is measuring trucks per field and will have tonnage per acre information.

The corn tested 76% dry matter as it was being chopped.

This field of corn tested 194 bushels as calculated by the number of kernels around the ear and number of kernels along the length based on the plant population.

It tested 311 bushels wet based on shelled weight.

They grew some 9009RH beside the CO-OP store and it tested 202 bushels based on the counting kernels method and 321 bushels based on weight.

Croplan 8221 harvested on Sept 1

This is Croplan Genetics 8221 variety grown by Ralph Ross Farms and harvested the 1st day of Sept.

Hank was chopping this and he thinks it turned off 30-34 tons of silage per acre. He has weighed other using the same trucks so should be pretty acurate on this estimate.

He likes the fact that this is a little earlier relative maturity.

This is a shorter height relative to some other silage varieties but generally has exceptional grain.

This field produced 161 bushels using the formula method of counting kernels per ear x plant population.

Calculations based on actual shelled corn from randomly harvested ears measured 266 bushels. Ears are harvested by starting at a random point in the field moving forward 10 stalks and pulling an ear and then pulling an ear from every 10th stalk as you move through the field. These ears are then shelled and weighed to calculate bushel weight per acre.

Average row spacing was 29.4".

Hank specifically likes this as compared to the 8505 he planted. He could tell that with the 8221 where he sprayed herbicide a second time and ran over some plants it was much more forgiving and came back where the 8505 did not.

On September 13th I measured another field of 9009RH that they grew in the Bethel area. Row spacing and population was the same. This field tested 229 bushels based on counting the kernels method and 367 bushels based on weighing the shelled corn.

Croplan 9009 RH

This is a field of Croplan Genetics 9009 RH grown by Johnny Bruce Ferguson. It was harvested on September 29th.

Comments: JB thinks this is as good as any variety on the market. He is not happy with some of the other varieities he has tried.

9009 does not dent like most corn to visually tell you when to cut it. The kernel begins to get hard before it dents.

9009 has a good sized ear but smaller than average cob giving you more shell corn.

His plant population was around 35K at harvest. He may cut back to around 32K next year but has a clean field and the corn looks healthy and like it did well especially in this area where he received good rainfall. Bottoms in this same field were even too wet.

This is 20" rows.

Estimated corn bushels using (ear length x ear diameter x plants per acre)/90 was 193 bushels per acre.

Estimated corn bushels using average weight of 11 randomly selected ears was 284 bushels. The reason this is so different from estimation based on other method is likely due to percent moisture.

Corn Silage production

For the past 5 years I have measured production at around 30 producers of corn silage in western NC, upstate SC, SW Virginia and eastern TN. In each case I compare varieties, herbicide & fertilization programs and cultural practices and talk to growers about their concerns, successes and experience to help me better make recommendations and purchases for the coming season.