News

14/12/2011

Growing Forage Maize Crops in a Spring Drought

Extra care needs to be taken this season as many parts of the South of England are in predicted drought conditions after 2 years of below average rainfall.

Sowing Maize in dry conditions presents a problem. Achieving the fine seedbeds for precision drilling requires several tillage operations and moisture is lost with each pass. Delaying drilling until mid-May when the weather breaks is not ideal and will lead to low yields and planting into bone dry seedbeds is not successful either.

Where there is sufficient soil moisture, sowing early will allow the established crop to put down extensive root systems that are able to take advantage of the summer rain. Tasseling and cob set will be two weeks earlier than usual, providing a longer growing season and time for cob maturity and high yields of ME (metabolic energy) to develop. Well rooted crops grow very rapidly after rain and have the potential to yield in excess of 20 tonnes of dry matter per hectare.

It is critical to retain enough moisture in the soil to allow good early establishment. Where possible the land is ploughed in December or January and then sub-soiled and rolled as soon as it is dry enough to travel.  Once the weather has broken down any clods, a shallow pass of a power harrow is enough to achieve a fine seedbed without losing too much moisture. Where winter ploughing is not possible, minimum tillage can be carried out to minimise moisture loss

Where late spring ploughing is required work the soil as quickly as possible and consider a pass with a roller pre drilling the maize crop.

The length of the growing season is important, as late crops never catch up. 

back