Focus on Your Harvest Window says Maize Specialist

In contrast, in ultra-early newcomers Kentaurus (Maturity class 12) and Kontender (Maturity Class 9/10), leaf die back coincides with cob maturity:  This ensures they accumulate starch in line with plant dry matter.

“With warm conditions in mid-September, the earlier varieties will start to lose green leaf quickly, but a number will be lacking in starch particularly under more marginal conditions. 

“So, compared to last year, we are convinced that laying down starch early is a key feature, particularly if conditions turned wet again,” said Mr Burgess. 

His advice where crops still have the potential to fill the cob is not to rush in, particularly if conditions remain favourable.  “Allow them to reach optimum starch and maturity for your desired ration structure, than get them in the clamp,” he suggested.

“This year a lot of plants have got quite leggy and some later varieties are showing smaller cobs than previous years.  Here again, delaying harvest will help maximise starch.  Yields though should be good.”

Robert Baker of Pearce Seeds says that harvest has started in parts of Hampshire on early gravelly ground. In Somerset and Dorset, crops are starting to move quite rapidly.

“We are definitely ahead of last year and crops are cheerfully progressing based on temperature.  Given the long spell of promised sunshine for ripening, we could be into crops next week.

“Dry matters of very early varieties such as Kentaurus are around 25-30%, but later varieties are mid starch production and will need an extra fortnight,” he said.  “Last year these later varieties failed to mature, but this year they should be OK. 

“Year after year there’s pressure on bringing forward harvest and breeders are now providing us with material that helps us to do this.  If we’d have had the BBQ summer we were promised, many of these types would be already in the clamp.”

However, crops in Devon and Cornwall have suffered from the cool, wet July and August.  “By June, the maize looked to be way ahead, with the prospect of an early harvest by mid September, but wet weather again has meant crops have slowed up however we are still ahead compared to last season,” said Matford Arable’s Neil Potts.

He expects it’ll be the end of September before cutting gets underway, with some crops not ready until mid-October. 

According to Dr Simon Pope of Wynnstay, crops are showing a huge range of maturities across Shropshire, Staffs and Cheshire.

“Whilst we started chopping maize under plastic in the first week of September, some of the conventionally grown crops are a little way off yet,” he said. Crop height is also very variable.

“Very early sown crops are maturing well, whereas those that were later sown have produced tall plants with lots of green leaf and these will benefit from a fortnight’s sunshine to pile on the starch.

“The key to deciding harvest date will be to examine not just cob maturity, but the degree of senescence of the stover and adjust chop length to ensure good silage quality,” he stressed.