Purple corn revisited

I'm pondering now that my purple corn problem is either variety or seed size. I planted 2 varieties of Fielders Choice. One looks excellent. I planted 4 fields of it then went in to the next field and planted the headlands. That variety was a large seed. I have an AC ait planter with pretty much the same units as a White. I had to use the large cell discs. I was just about out when I got done with the headlands. The other variety was the SMALLEST seed corn that I've ever planted. I had to use the small discs. Well,I changed all but one end row and went to the other seed,then put what was left of the large seed in that end. I just checked it. The headlands in that field look super now and that end row looks just as good for as far as that seed went. The rest of the field is coming around a LITTLE and so is the other field that has that variety and seed size.It still looks poor enough to cause me to loose more sleep tonight without a doubt. Anybody know of any studys on seed size that might relate to this,or am I just gonna make DARNED sure that I don't ever plant that variety OR size again?

Randy, Where is (are) your field(s)? I"d like to do a drive by. Was on the road today, went thru a lot of Montcalm county. Lots of corn looks yellow-green, under developed for this time in the season. Some of the most ragged field is west of Entrican - the MSU experimental farm. Man, does their stuff look ragged!

If you want to see the stark comparison,right at the west Sheridan Village limits at Sidney street,turn south there and that corn looks amazing! The guy across the road from it asked me if I was gonna give him ear plugs because the sound of it growing so fast was keeping him awake. The field right across County Farm to the north of there,right behind that stone house is where the headlands are one variety and the rest is the purple stuff. The other field is on Brown road a mile north of my place,1/4 mile north of Ruby road on the east side.It's coming around a little,it's purple for a few feet,then there will be a few green plants. There is a field on the west side just before that that doesn't belong to me. It was planted pretty early,has decent color but isn't uniform in size at all. If you really want to see a pretty field of corn,that little 4 acre piece of mine on County Farm,just west of the Village Limits,north side of the road,west of that yellow house that sits back off the road a ways,I sure wish it all looked like that. That's the same variety and large seed size as that on Sidney Street.
So the experimant farm doesn't look so hot huh? You know who's running that now don't you? Bruce Sackett.

Will be on the road tomorrow with some Driver Ed students, If I can, will slide by.

rrlund;

What a small world!! My BIL is Dr. Bartz, who used to be a dentist in Sheridan before he split 5.2 mil in the lottery. He lives on Brown Road between M-57 and Fenwick Road. Very familiar with that area.

Larry in Michigan

We just planted some wildlife plots back behind our wheat field and I noticed that some of the corn was purple. It looks nice, its just purple. I think I read it was a lack of nitrogen. Can't remember now. We planted the same corn on another place about a week apart and that is just fine. Even the same corn in a different spot in the same field looked good. It was purple in the muck ground. That is what the friggin deer haven't already ate off! I wanted it back there for the pheasants in the winter. I could care less about the deer. We have them by the hundreds over here by Ashley. I planted some sunflowers too and the deer are ruining them too. Did I mention I hate too many deer? Don't even get me going on woodchucks!

Next year try forage sorghum. Deer leave it alone and it provides food and winter cover. I have two food plots. One is half buckwheat and half grain sorghum. I turned half the buckwheat under and then planted sorghum. The other has a dozen rows of corn planted in an L-shape beside some brushy cover and the rest is sorghum. I release young quail for dog training and the crops and cover are for winter. So far, none have survived over winter, except the ones I kept confined, so I know it's not the winter that gets them. I keep hoping and planning for their needs.

Larry in Michigan

It's hard to say without seeing the corn but purple corn isnt all that uncommon. For us it is usually a nutrient problem. That being said, some varieties will show this symptom more often than others and normally it isnt that there isnt sufficent nutrients but that for some reason or another the plant isnt taking it up and using it. Here in central IL we see purple corn in wet or cool weather, when its small, it doesnt hurt anything and is vartiety related.
bill

It is a small world ain't it. Actually he's on Collins road,the next road back east of Brown. I know him well.

Yes,it looks for all the world like a classic phosphorus deficiency. Wnere the planter was coming out of the ground at the ends and going back in,where the fertilizer isn't placed as deep,it looks good. Leads me to believe that the small seed didn't have enough umph to get the roots down to it. The weather isn't helping much this week either. June 19th and I have my long underwear back on.