Planting Recommendations
We want to give you the information you need to achieve the best results possible with our corn. If you are successful, we are too.
Fertilizer
The rules of growing corn don’t change; fertilize according to soil test.
Weed Control
Deal with weeds the way you normally deal with weeds with hybrid corn. If you spray any of our corn with RoundUp® it will die.
Plant Population
Plant population is an important element to a successful crop. The following is our recommendation for your planter setting:
First, establish your Target Harvest Population.
We recommend for these O.P. varieties a harvest plant population of 18,000 – 24,000 depending on soil fertility and environmental stress. The lower your soil fertility and the more stress your crop will endure the lower your Target Harvest Population. We have some veteran growers pushing into the high twenties and thirty thousand numbers, but we are more comfortable with the more conservative approach. We don’t see the nutrition or yield advantages at those high populations. The less stress on a crop the better yield and nutrition.
Second, determine Live Kernels.
Your Target Harvest Population divided by the % Germ (printed on the bag) equals Live Kernels (Always change the % to a decimal. Example: 82% = 0.82).
At Green Haven we don’t use any fungicides or chemicals to treat our seed in order to improve germ test results. Therefore % germ can vary especially in a cold wet year. By not using the crutch of the chemicals fungicides, we have stronger genetics. By natural selection, only the hardier seed is allowed to propagate. To determine planter setting, take Live Kernels and divide by a % stress factor. To determine stress factor, consider soil temperature, seed bed preparation, moisture, heat, weed pressure, method of weed control, seed depth, or any other factor that would keep a live kernel from making it to harvest. If you anticipate 10% of the Live Kernels will never make it to harvest, you would use a 90% stress factor and therefore divide by 0.90.
All our seed is open pollinated. None of them are a GMO.