what would some of you recommend for brand and variety of corn for ear picking? this past year i just planted some left over Golden Harvest my neighbor had. dont know if one brand is better or worse than another. heavy ground dryland
New to the forum, but have been growing corn for 30 years, and plan on expanding my acres of dry ear corn.
The best corn for picking will have flared husks and quick dry-down. These traits go together. This results in clean cribs & better crib drying. Every company has these varieties, and they're mainly short-season corn. My favorites have been DeKalb 36-34 and 35-55, Mycogen 2P172 and 2T222, and Wolf River 2982 and 2977. These varieties' ears tend not to be too girthy. You'll get longer ears, usually only 16-18 rows (14-16 this year!) but, in a good year, nearly 40 kernels/row. There are lots more varieties like them. I like the longer ears vs. girthy ears because they seem to flow through the bed better - no jumping around - and the rolls can grab husks better. At least that's my theory. I go to as many test plots in my area as possible to look for varieties with these characteristics.
