I'm cautious (scared) about trying to tell you Dawn! Is the days to maturity regarding sweet corn (tender stage) or dry seed? Also, "days" are not exactly the same, depending on the time of the season. You actually get less growth per day early and late in the season, and more during the hottest time of the season.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say you could plant in about a week. I pulled up my 2008 notes and found that I planted Cherokee Squaw corn on May 21 and that it was beginning to tassel on July 7.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Tigerdawn,

It is hard to say how corn will perform if you don't know precisely what the temperatures will be. For example, if May temperatures have highs in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s, corn will grow and begin to tassel and silk much more quickly than if May has highs in the low 80s and lows in the upper 50s or low 60s. I plant several types of corn every year and try to time their planting so they will not be tasseling and silking at the same time. Often, the later corn will catch up with the corn that was planted earliest because the later corn grows in warmer soil and air temps from Day 1.

I always plant my sweet corn as early as possible because when I do that, I often get it harvested before the corn earworms even arrive. I hope to be planting by the end of this week if the weather is agreeable. I don't generally have much of a corn earworm problem here (and there's plenty of them around) which might be a matter of timing or it might be luck. Last year I didn't treat my corn with anything at all and found earworms in 2 ears out of about 200. Last year, though, was not at all a normal year because the weather was cooler/wetter than average, so you can't judge all years by last year. In a hotter, drier year I'll see more earworms and, in any given year, the hotter the weather gets, the more earworms I see here--hence, the early planting.

Many corns, though probably not all, will be mature at the sweet corn stage from 18-24 days after silking, so you can use that number to count backwards from your DTM and figure about when the corn ought to silk. That might help you figure out a planting date that would have it tasseling or silking at the time you need. Remember, thought, that it is just an average, and is based (I assume) on average temperatures during the corn season.

Do you routinely have a corn earworm problem there or do you always treat preventatively just in case? Do you have a neighbor who might come over and treat your silks once for you so that you could treat them before you leave and that neighbor could treat them about 3 or 4 days after that?

Dawn

I'm pretty sure the DTM is for sweet corn. I have lost every single attempt at growing corn to the corn earworms. I was going to give up but then I found you guys and decided to try treating the silks with vegetable oil this year.

I don't know anyone that I would trust to treat my corn. If it happens to silk while I'm away I'll just hope for the best. I will count back from the DTM and try to time it that way. Thanks guys!

I sprayed my corn silks last year with pam and didn't have one worm. Good Luck!

Like Dawn said weather influences DTM's greatly. I've planted from the same bag two years in a row on or within 2 days of the same date and seen 10 days difference in the DTM. Another thing about DTM's is where was it grown when that was determined. Was that in a long day or short day area. Sunlight hours along with temps greatly influence the number of days it takes to reach to mature. I've seen as much as 15 days or more difference in tomatoes from one area of the USA to another. So like George I would be hesitant to say. Unless you plant it early enough or late enough there is no danger of it being in the silk stage during that time. If you plant late April or very early May I would say you should be fine. But again that is just an opinion. Jay

I checked this morning and my corn is up. About an inch above the soil. YAY!