“Ultra-early” Corn Performance

Dec 19, 2019

By Rich Minyo, Allen Geyer

Confronted with June planting dates, some Ohio corn growers planted hybrids with relative maturity ratings earlier (less than 102 days) than those of our commonly grown maturities. At the Hoytville OCPT test site, we evaluated 27 ultra-early hybrids with maturities ranging from 93-101 days. Yields averaged 190 bu./A and ranged from 163 to 219 bu/A; harvest grain moisture averaged 19.3 and ranged from 18.3-20.3%; and test weight averaged 56.6 and ranged from 53.3-58.5. In contrast, a 107 day commonly grown maturity hybrid included as a check yielded 220 bu/A with a 22.9 % harvest moisture and test weight of 51 lb/A. The Hoytville test site planted June 12 and harvested November 18, benefited from favorable growing conditions with timely rains. Pest injury was negligible. Several hybrids were subject to severe animal damage and not considered in this performance overview.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.