Growers see yellow spots on maize leaves, why is that?

Various dairy farmers participating in the Boerenbusiness Forage tours have seen yellow spots appear on the leaves on the silage maize fields. This raises the question: what is the cause of this and can something be done about it?

To answer this question, the entire growth stage of the plant needs to be looked at. The sowing moment for maize started late in many places. The wet and cold conditions made it impossible to sow maize in early May in many places.

Despite the fact that in many places the maize was sown late or had just been sown, but it was difficult to get started due to the cold conditions, the maize plant made good catching up in June and July. With the right temperature and enough moisture, the maize has made a significant growth spurt. This can be seen from the considerable heights that the maize plant has achieved.

Corn plant determines cob growth early in leaf stage
This growth spurt may also be one of the reasons why there are yellow spots at the bottom of the maize leaves. The maize plant determines early in the leaf stage how the cob will develop later. Due to the ideal conditions in June, this signals to the maize plant that more can be produced, often resulting in a second cob in July or August.

Now that the weather is very cool and wet in early August, the conditions are slightly less ideal than expected. The minerals that the maize plant needs to develop the first cob and then the second cob cannot be properly absorbed as a result.

Other causes
Of course there can also be other causes of the mineral deficiency, such as incorrect fertilization, poor soil life, too little oxygen in the soil or incorrectly worked or sown. In the end, everything can be done properly, but the grower still depends on the weather for good maize growth.

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