By Heather Darby
Given the delayed planting of corn due to wet and in many cases saturated soil conditions, farmers are asking, “What relative maturity of corn will be harvested before the first killing frost?” Well, as always, the answer is, “It depends.”
As we head into the last week of May, there are competing priorities: harvesting first cut grass and getting crops in the ground. Grass harvest should come first, so you can try to salvage optimal quality. This means corn will most likely be planted in early June. The good news is that most of the growing degree days (GDDs) occur between June and August, so the best part of the growing season is yet to come. The challenge is making sure you select a corn variety that will mature and be ready to harvest before the first killing frost (28°F).
Generally, once we get to May 25, farms should be shifting away from long-season and over to shorter maturity corn. However, long-season corn is relative to your location in VT. If you normally plant 100-day or even later-maturing corn, it is time to reduce the maturity by between 4 and 7 days. Once we are in early to mid-June, consider another reduction in maturity.
Source : uvm.edu