We haven’t had enough consecutive dry days to get much corn planted early this spring and it looks like producers who want to stay with their intended corn acres will likely be wrapping up in May.  Most areas in Tennessee have not received the heavy rains that soaked other states but wet is still wet regardless of the total rainfall amounts.  I have talked with some growers who are about 50% planted and waiting for 3 or 4 good dry days to show significant progress.  TN Agr Statistics reports we are less than one third planted statewide and some producers with cotton waiting in the wings may be planning to switch crops without finishing their intended acres after looking at the limited options for dry days forecasted next week.  For those who want to stick to their intended acres, our planting date data indicates we can plant corn into the first week of May with minimal (about 6%) yield reduction compared to corn planted during the last week in April.  

How late is too late to plant corn??  I don’t have a problem recommending planting through the first week in May.  Crop insurance is actually an option for corn planted as late as May 20th.  Yields depend a lot on the year (2009 was a favorable year for late planted corn), location and the soil type of the field.  Southwest Tennessee may hurt worse in late planted situations than Northwest Tennessee based on Jackson vs Milan date of planting data for non irrigated corn.  Most producers know to expect lower yields with corn planted shortly after mid-May (around 8% in NWTN and 15 to 32% in SWTN compared to yields for corn planted in late April).  Corn yields typically take a nose dive when planted at the end of May (as much as 40% reduced yield in dry years).