Roughage tour Corn Week 23
Corn fields turn green from the weeds
With the warm weather ahead, the maize plant can recover well. The soil is moist and there are enough nutrients available. The maize plant is not the only thing that grows quickly, because the maize fields turn green from the weeds.
The maize fields have already been sprayed in a number of places in the country and that will only increase in the coming days. Where the carrying capacity of the plots is sufficient, the sprayers move across the field. “The moist soil is perfect for the soil herbicide and that is a lot more favorable this year than last year. Because last year we saw many seed sprouts after spraying, it is expected that it will be a lot less this year'', says Ludwig Oevermans, roughage specialist in the Northern Netherlands of Limagrain.
At the North Holland dairy farmer Frank Rooker from Aartswoud and at Jan Henk Waterink from Beerzerveld (Overijssel) the maize land was sprayed last Friday (week 22). "It's a green blanket of weeds and it's in great shape," adds Rooker. The corn can be sprayed from the second or third leaf stage. When spraying, it is good to keep an eye on the undersowing, which will come from the sixth leaf stage. "Usually, the under-sowing is planned around June 15, but that will be a little later this year," Oevermans adds.
In some parts of the country, instead of under-seeding, an over-sowing is planned. After heavy rainfall and fields are flooded, the maize no longer comes up. Re-seeding is then the only option. ''Sowing maize now is always exciting, in principle you can sow maize until June 15th. But certainly here in the north of the country it has work to mature. The autumn also has to go well, to get it off the land'', says Oevermans.
Erik van der Deure
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