Hard to complain, even while producers are trying to get the crops planted for a nice 85″ rainfall on May 9th. This rain event coupled with the earlier precipitation on April 29th will go a long ways towards getting the crop out of the ground and growing. Thru today, from planting date on April 27th, the plot has accumulated 163 GDU’s. It takes about 125 GDU’s for VE stage, or emergence of the corn plant, with adjustments made for soil type, tillage practice, seeding depth, and soil moisture level to name several variables.
The above photo showing the corn plants just spiking through the ground is at 141 accumulated GDU’s, just about right according to the research suggesting that corn needs roughly 125 GDU’s for emergence.