By Chad Lee
Corn in the central Kentucky region that emerged prior to April 20 and 21, 2026, experienced frost or freeze damage to plant tissue above the soil surface. The weather for the following four weeks slowed recovery of the corn plants, frustrating farmers, crop scouts, county agents and one Extension Agronomist. The rains on May 20 and 21 will finally help us identify which fields truly made it through.
On young corn seedlings, the growing point is below the soil surface. Even with some leaf damage from a frost or freeze, the growing point survived on most plants. Some of these damaged leaves were twisted into the whorls. When conditions immediately after the freeze event return to the 70s or 80s Fahrenheit and there is adequate rainfall, corn will quickly recover from the freeze. However, in 2026, the frost and freeze events were followed by another couple of weeks of cooler weather. The cool weather at the end of April and first of May really slowed recovery of corn. Once temperatures started to heat up, no rain came with it, adding more stress to the crop.
In fields that I scouted the couple of weeks after the freeze damaged, I counted 1% or less plant death. Those counts were in areas where 100% of the plants had freeze or frost damage. Corn in most of the fields was slowly improving, but was in desperate need of rainfall. The rains on May 20 and 21 should solve that problem.
Expect that corn to grow much faster over the next month as projected temperatures are more favorable for corn growth and development. In most of those fields, 100% yield potential still remains.
In other fields in the central Kentucky region, corn was planted and then germinated in these cool or cold conditions. The sudden drop in air temperatures results in soils getting cooler near the surface than at the 2-inch depth.
Source : uky.edu