Corn School: My Standing Corn is Turning Black — Is it a Write-Off?

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Farmers fought hard (sometimes through deep snow that disappeared soon after) to get the 2014 Ontario corn crop off, but there’s as much as 5% of the crop still standing.

There’s really nothing you can do about the crop being out until the snow finally melts, but farmers who have been keeping eye on their standing corn have been alarmed recently by the development of a black mould growing on the cobs.

The black mould looks really awful, says Peter Johnson, agronomist and all-around nice guy, but the actual impact to the corn and corn quality is negligible. In this Corn School episode, Johnson explains what exactly the mould is (cladosporium, if you want to Google it), its potential impact on the crop, and, perhaps most importantly, what this may mean come harvest.

Be sure to watch the video all the way to the end for a moisture estimation, harvest guess and bold prediction from @WheatPete.

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Corn School (view all)Season 4 (2015) Episode 28
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