The Rural Voice, 1990-10, Page 30THE HUNT
FOR BETTER HYBRIDS
by Mery Erb
I was just wrapping up a kitchen
table session with a father & son
account of mine when a car pulled up
the driveway. Peering past the win-
dow curtains, the son commented,
"it's Doug, Dad, and I'll bet he's after
an alfalfa and corn seed order." Half
jokingly I said "Surely not a corn seed
order yet, today's only Sept. 5th!"
With that the father pulled a corn seed
order from his overall's pocket and
explained, "I bought these 5 bags two
days ago just to get rid of the guy. I
had no intention to buy any corn yet
but he kept hounding me!"
I couldn't believe it! There were
people brash enough to try selling
seed corn the first week of September
and then there were those who were
willing to buy albeit begrudgingly.
Upon looking over the order and
talking further, the dealer was pushing
a particular very good and very re-
liable 80 -day hybrid that quite often
has sold out early. My client had used
this hybrid before and wanted to use it
again. Fortunately he bought a win-
ner. Unfortunately, the 15 acres that 5
bags of corn will plant is the whole
portion of his required early season
corn. There is a new two-year-old
hybrid on the market that I'm sure
would surpass his "old faithful."
However he may not have a place to
use it this year. One thing was for
sure. The dealer got the sale and his
competitor didn't stand a chance.
Selecting seed corn has never
been easier. On the other hand, it's
never been more of a challenge. As
market and production practices
change you need to consider more
than yield, price per bag, or a trip to
Hawaii.
Yield and standability still com-
mand primary attention, but in some
cases traits like protein level or ma-
turity may outweigh other factors.
Companies now offer data on head-to-
head comparisons of numerous hybrid
traits of their own numbers together
with commonly grown hybrids from
other firms. Other companies include
printed reports, on-line computer pro-
grams, and mail -in services.
Here are some things for you to
consider.
MATURITY — In our area the long
season hybrids don't necessarily re-
turn the most profit even though they
may post the highest yields. Cutting
back on maturity by 5 days may cut
some yield, but in exchange, you'll
have lower risk of getting caught by
frost or adverse harvest conditions.
You'll also cut down your drying
costs which goes a long way toward
making up for lower yields.
Mid season hybrids often perform
best in the long run. The timing for
harvest is often better. It's important
to spread out your risk by planting
different maturities because then at
least part of your crop may escape ad-
verse weather patterns.
DRY DOWN — Paul Pavkeje of
Erb: "Every hybrid is a compromise."
Centralia had one of the most even
and consistent plots I had ever seen in
1989. A random sampling was
shucked from each hybrid on Sept. 29,
and moisture levels were recorded.
Harvesting was done on Oct. 18. One
particular variety, which appeared in
the plot eight times, computed an
average drop in moisture of .42 per-
centage points per day from Sept. 29
to Oct. 18. Two other hybrids came
close, while the rest posted numbers
like .189, .236, and .268 pts.
This particular full season hybrid,
with the big yield punch, has an un-
usual dry down characteristic for such
a long day hybrid.
STANDABILITY — Most hybrids
don't have to stand hurricane winds
here in Ontario, yet we invariably get
one big -blow every summer. Stalk
strength and other factors are im-
portant when it comes to lodging.
This factor may be an especially
important consideration for a reduced
input or a reduced tillage system.
26 THE RURAL VOICE