The Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
1999 Corn Performance Tests
Research Report #661
November, 1999
Edited by
Anton E. Coy, J. LaDon Day, and Paul A. Rose
The 1999 corn season was dry and early. March and early April were dry and clear which allowed planting and emergence to progress about a week ahead of average. Dry conditions in mid-April caused some corn acreage to be shifted to other crops and approximately 25% of the corn planted to be in poor condition. Planted acreage was estimated at 300,000 acres representing a 40% decline from 1998. Early May rains improved conditions, but dry weather returned in late May. Tasseling and silking were a week ahead of average, but the dry weather pattern resulted in nearly half of the state's corn in poor condition by mid-June. Scattered rain and slightly cooler than normal temperatures in early July improved conditions slightly. A hot and dry August lessened grain fill.
The severe drought conditions that Georgia has been experiencing since April 1998 continued throughout the corn growing season. Rainfall at the six test sites is listed below. Total seasonal rainfall amount was below normal at all test locations and only 60% of long-term average.
| Growing Season Rainfall1, 1999 | ||||||
| Month | Blairsville | Calhoun2 | Griffin | Midville | Plains | Tifton |
| --- inches --- | ||||||
| February | 3.94 | 3.01 | 2.19 | 2.49 | 2.62 | 1.73 |
| March | 3.66 | 3.24 | 3.11 | 1.57 | 2.42 | 1.13 |
| April | 1.70 | 2.14 | 1.53 | 2.75 | 2.65 | 2.07 |
| May | 4.46 | 4.70 | 2.56 | 1.62 | 2.45 | 2.14 |
| June | 3.46 | 4.85 | 6.76 | 2.87 | 3.30 | 7.57 |
| July | 3.29 | 4.98 | 1.37 | 4.79 | 3.75 | 4.65 |
| August | 1.93 | 1.49 | 2.47 | 2.30 | 1.78 | 1.57 |
| September | 1.39 | 1.01 | 1.78 | 4.53 | 0.83 | 2.05 |
| Total (8 mo) | 23.83 | 25.42 | 21.77 | 22.92 | 19.80 | 22.91 |
| Normal (8 mo) | 38.53 | 37.14 | 35.88 | 34.70 | 34.71 | 35.28 |
| 1. Data submitted by Dr. G. Hoogenboom,
Georgia Station, Griffin, GA. 2. Floyd County location. |
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Corn harvest proceeded about a week ahead of average. Only 260,000 acres were harvested for grain at an estimated yield of 95 bushels per acre compared to 80 bushels per acre from 265,000 acres in 1998 and the record 110 bushels per acre from 500,000 acres in 1997.