Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky
All spring we have been discussing deficiencies on corn plants and trying to determine if they are to blame on the weather or something else. Below are few fields with some images as examples.
Field 1: Healthy Corn, Adequate Nutrients, No Compaction
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| Field 1. Striping, but no compaction. |
This corn in Field 1 is at V7 and has striping that might indicate a deficiency in manganese or sulfur. There is no compaction and all nutrients should be in adequate supply, based on a recent soil test and fertilizers applied. A sidedress application of nitrogen occurred about about a week before these photos. So, a gentle rain and some sun will make this corn "jump" and the striping disappear. I refer to this kind of symptom as a "transient deficiency" meaning that the symptoms are related more to weather than anything else.