Storing Borderline Maturity Corn
The 2003 crop year has been interesting to say the least. It was a cold, wet or backward spring depending on where you farm. This resulted in corn that either sat in the ground for a couple of weeks or ended up being planted later than normal. Late July was dry and cool; August had hot spells then frost came earlier than expected in late September. All this combined with marginal heat; poor stalk strength, tall corn, big cobs and high winds resulted in some very tangled corn fields at harvest. The bottom line is that not all the corn may have reached physiological maturity. You should watch this corn more carefully in storage than you normally would.
Any handling of immature corn will result in the production of fines. Corn kernels
that are not psychologically mature are not as structurally sound as mature
kernels. Try to minimize the amount of handling of this immature corn to eliminate
the production of fines as much as possible.
Fines in storage cause problems every year, not just this year. Grain spreaders
do not ensure uniform distribution of fines across the whole bin. The highest
concentration of fines tend to be in the centre of the bin. Excess fines will
result in airflow restrictions in the storage bin. Air will go around pockets
of fines and follow the easier route through the grain. This may result is spoilage
of these pockets of fines. Stored-grain insects are less likely to be a problem
if the fines are removed prior to storage. Insects like Indian Meal Moths and
some others, feed on broken kernels. Since molds grow faster on broken kernels,
cleaning the grain will remove broken kernels and reduce the chance of mold
problems in storage.
The following five items are sound management choices that should reduce the
chance for surprises in storage of your dry corn. If you had corn with marginal
maturity levels and you did not do all of the following, you need to be extra
cautious of your corn in storage. This is not the year for you to check your
corn every two months. Visit your bins at least monthly.
Aerate your bins thoroughly to ensure that the whole grain mass is at the same temperature. The grain mass temperature should be within 5°C of the average outside air temperature. Any more temperature spread than this can result in uncontrolled convective air movement in the corn mass that can result in spoilage.