Multiple factors can drive up or limit yield potential, and corn and soybean growers need to do all they can to ensure strong, even emergence. LG Seeds agronomist Steve Crafton talks about what factors influence yield and how growers can be proactive with their crop management this season and beyond.

“A big factor in corn and soybeans is getting that seed up evenly-spaced and evenly emerged. If you can do that with both corn and soybeans, you’ve won half that battle. So nice, timely planting, 50-degree soil temps when it comes to the corn and a nice seeding depth, seed to soil moisture. That kind of thing will all help in getting a nice uniform stand and uniform placement.”

In a year when margins are tight, Crafton has tips to help growers maximize their input investment.

“There are some things that we can do on our own that might take us a little extra time but save us dollars at harvest time as far as more bushels and not costing us anything to do. And that is, if we take our time and adjust our planter field to field, that makes a big difference. We want to have good seed-to-soil contact for that even emergence, and as we go from field to field, soil types change. Temperatures change. If it’s windy, you know, it could be drier. You might have to set that planter down a notch. You might have to adjust that down pressure. As we do these things, it’s not actually a cost. All it does is cost a little extra time from field to field, but it can save us a lot of dollars per acre at harvest time, with very high yields or more bushels per acre.”

What are some of the management tactics growers can use to build yield?

“So, if we put a cheap fungicide in along with our herbicide application at V5, we’re already paying for the application. We’re paying for a herbicide. We’re being proactive in our thinking, fending off those diseases early on – tar spot, the stalk rots, those kinds of things that can set in early on and are big-time yield robbers. And it’ll get us to that V12 stage to where we can inspect those plants and say “hey do we any disease set in here?” Then we might have to do another application of a fungicide. The main thing is to keep those leaves clean, photosynthesis, and producing those sugars.”

Growers can also take steps to make sure their hybrids realize as much of their genetic potential as possible.

“Yeah, as we move from the v5-v6 stage, and when you get close to that V 12, it is a very high uptake of nitrogen, so we want to make sure we’re side-dressing the wide drop and given that plant everything at once for its full yield potential. After pollination, the top third of that plant, that canopy, is feeding that plant and filling those kernels in that ear. So, if we’ve got lesions coming at the lower leaves, we want to think about using a fungicide, even around that brown silk time. It’s not too late.”

For planting recommendations or additional support in 2025, reach out to your local LG Seeds agronomist and visit LGSeeds.com.