Download Recent storms cause `greensnap` in Arkansas corn crop

June 10, 2014
Contact:
Dave Edmark, Division of Agriculture Communications
479-575-6940 / [email protected]
Jason Kelley, Cooperative Extension Service wheat and feed grains agronomist
501-671-2164 / [email protected]
Recent storms cause ‘greensnap’ in Arkansas corn crop
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Storms, rain and high winds that rolled through
Arkansas in recent days damaged parts of the state’s corn crop in a couple of
ways. One is “greensnap,” which happens when the corn stalk snaps at a node
due to high winds. The other problem is when corn plants blow over but don’t
snap. The bigger problem is with greensnap.
Blown-over plants are probably the result of roots giving way in wet
ground and can often straighten up with minimal impact on yield, said Jason
Kelley, wheat and feed grains extension agronomist for the University of
Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “The smaller the plants are, the better
they will straighten up,” Kelley said.
Greensnap most often occurs when plants have been rapidly growing and
the stalks are brittle. Arkansas cornfields have experienced good growing
conditions and high fertility levels, both of which can increase greensnap
problems. Assuming a north wind was blowing, fields planted east and west
typically have more damage than north-south fields.
“Some fields in northeast Arkansas in isolated areas have been reported
to have 75 percent or more greensnap damage,” Kelley said.
Most of the plants affected by greensnap from this storm appear to be
within a couple of weeks of tasseling.
“Plants at this stage have little ability to compensate since the maximum
number of kernels has already been set,” Kelley said. “There may still be a small
amount of compensating that a plant can do, but it is not nearly as great as if the
damage had occurred earlier in the season. Yield loss associated with greensnap
is nearly directly proportional the percentage of plants that broke.”
Kelley said there is no good solution for fields that have sustained heavy
greensnap damage and suggested that insurance covering such damage is the
best-case scenario. “Fields not covered by insurance become more difficult to
deal with since replanting corn or grain sorghum this late in the season is not
going to provide optimum yields,” he explained. “If replanting of any sort is done,
corn stalk shredding would likely have to be done to be able to plant another
crop.”
The best option in many fields with moderate greensnap would be to keep
the corn crop because a reduced yield due to greensnap may be as good or
better than replanted corn or a late grain sorghum crop since nearly all the
expenses are already into the corn crop, Kelley added.
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