When preparing to plant maize, ensuring you have selected the right hybrid is crucial. There are a number of factors to consider when selecting a hybrid best suited to your growing region and specifically for your farm. 

The first question you need to ask is ‘when can I plant and when can I harvest my crop?’ This helps establish the range of hybrids that will fit within your growing time frame. The next step is to understand the challenges your growing environment has; do you expect to have significant wind during the growing season, particularly nearing harvest time? Is the local area subject to any diseases such as rust or Northern Leaf Blight (NLB), and do you have any specific fertility or drainage challenges that need to be addressed prior to planting? These questions help narrow down the hybrid that is best suited to your unique growing environment.

From time to time the weather doesn’t help our planning and delays are caused at planting through wet soils. If you have chosen your hybrid and this happens, you may need to consult with your agronomy team to choose another hybrid that fits the shorter growing time that has occurred. Corson Maize has a range of hybrids that can meet your requirements if this situation arises. 

The Corson Maize and PGG Wrightson agronomy teams work together to assist maize growers in choosing the right hybrid for their farm. A recent example of this was on Waipuna Station, where Corson Maize Sales Agronomist, Mike Turner worked alongside PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative, Mark Arrandale and PGG Wrightson Grain Area Manager, Russell Hayes in supporting Farm Manager, John Kaati in his maize decisions.

John grows maize for grain as he has found this to be a profitable option for Waipuna Station. Waipuna station is located 50 km west of Otorohanga, close to Kawhia on the west coast of the North Island. Across the 800 ha of land, John grew 54 ha of maize this season planting the hybrids Afinity and N51-N4. Both hybrids are ‘dual-purpose’ which means they can be used for maize silage or maize grain end uses. The hybrids were treated with Poncho® Votivo, to ensure the young maize plants were protected from a range of insects and Avipel® to protect the seedlings from bird attack.

Both hybrids, Afinity and N51-N4, were well suited to the growing environment at Waipuna Station. Their length of maturity was the perfect fit for the growing season available. Other challenges included the coastal winds which meant that a hybrid with excellent plant stalk and root strength had to be chosen. This was improved by ensuring the right populations were planted (92,000 seeds per ha). Too high a population and the plants would become tall and thin and not able to stand in the winds they would be exposed too, which could affect their harvest ability. Both hybrids also have very good tolerance to NLB, which is a known challenge in this region and a very important factor in the hybrids selected. 

John was impressed with the average yield from his maize of 14.1 T DM per ha. “Putting the right hybrid in the right paddock is critical and this paid off with both Afinity and N51-N4 performing very well,” says John. He was also very happy with the joint support provided saying “I was provided with excellent support from Corson Maize and PGG Wrightson when it came to maize agronomy decisions, which led to the correct hybrid selection.”

Selecting the right hybrids does not have to be complicated and the PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representatives and Corson Maize Sales Agronomists are on hand to assist you with maize agronomy decisions.  

Corson Maize now offers a wider range of hybrids having incorporated the Pacific Seeds range into their portfolio to provide an even better choice of hybrids when making selections. 

Contact your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative to find out more about Corson Maize Seed hybrids and gain help with hybrid selection for this coming maize season.

Supplied by Corson Maize Seed