Grain maize

[turbo]

Seems like hardly any ww is going to get planted here this year and just wondering wether grain maize is worth considering,Anyone who has done it in the past care to share the good and bad points of growing it

 

[Badshot]

I've known it combined in January.
Wouldn't want it here.

 

[Manny]

Friend for mine is trying to cut his at the moment, all getting crimped and clamped. Some is traveling but most is making a mess or getting the tracked combine stuck. On a good day at the moment he's cutting 20ac but he says is worth it when he clamping over a 100t a day.

 

[Brisel]

Some grown around here for crimping. Cut in early November by a tracked combine. I don't know how they got on with it. They hired the special header from a local Velcourt unit as they both run the same combines. I think there was a bit more done around here this year as many silage clamps are full with better than expected yields, so this was spare crop. Drying grain maize is very expensive and can add £25/t to the cost of production, mostly due to the high moisture content at harvest. Most combines will handle maize but you need much of the hp into the header and have to slow the straw chopper down.

Is much grain maize grown in Lincs? I'd have thought it was too far north but varieties are better these days.

 

[SRRC]

Finished mine two weeks ago and just finished getting wheat in afterwards. Late October or early November is normal to get it down to about 30 to 35% MC. Usually 2 to 3 weeks later than forage maize.
It's a simple crop to grow but does need to be in the very best locations. Any thing not regarded as good early fields is a waste of time.
The trick is to have a market for it signed up before you plant. Drying it down is prohibitive unless you have "free" energy so crimping or milling into a clamp is the most common way of storing.
Dairy herds like it, I feed to pigs, some markets (when dried) for pet food.
It's really exciting on a dull day when you see that stream of gold flowing into the trailer! Not, of course, that that has anything to do with cropping decisions.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Drying grain maize is very expensive and can add £25/t to the cost of production, mostly due to the high moisture content at harvest.

Depends if you're on the RHI racket:

Drying it down is prohibitive unless you have "free" energy

 

[teslacoils]

Near neighbour was cutting some a couple of days ago. Grain looks pretty. But unless on land you would enjoy cutting in late November, and which would plough and press straight behind I think it's not a crop for many who haven't got planted this time.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Good stuff- if you can sell it. Drying it is nonsensical, crimping it and putting in a pit is a much better option.

No fungicides really and modest fertiliser spend. Most grain varieties will be November cutting which necessitates tracks. Also the header must follow the rows so drilling needs to sensible.

 

[Oscar]

Use to grow it but market fell away and not a nice feeling having a clamp of grain maize which is only going to deteriorate and no body wanting it !!
Surprising how well combine will travel as your running on the chopped mulch [on our header]. More problems were the trailers.
I went pass @SRRC place last week when he was on and basically despite all the rain here,[14 plus inches since 23.09.19] , did nt look any worse than last year and see yesterday its all drilled up and looking better than most ground around here.

 

[Pebd99]

How far north can it been grown? North east Scotland would be 400 miles too far I’m guessing?

 

[turbo]

Thanks for all the replies,it’s the market that is worrying me at the moment,if I can get that sorted I might just give it a go

 

[miniconnect]

How far north can it been grown? North east Scotland would be 400 miles too far I’m guessing?

Put your postcode in to this calculator, I'm 430 units of heat short unfortunately, although there's fellas growing it quite successfully about 30 miles away over in ballycastle area.

Heat Map - LG Seeds

www.lgseeds.co.uk

 

[miniconnect]

How far north can it been grown? North east Scotland would be 400 miles too far I’m guessing?

Put your postcode in to this calculator, I'm 430 units of heat short unfortunately, although there's fellas growing it quite successfully about 30 miles away over in ballycastle area.

Heat Map - LG Seeds

www.lgseeds.co.uk

 

[miniconnect]

How far north can it been grown? North east Scotland would be 400 miles too far I’m guessing?

Put your postcode in to this calculator, I'm 430 units of heat short unfortunately, although there's fellas growing it quite successfully about 30 miles away over on the north coast of N.I.

Heat Map - LG Seeds

www.lgseeds.co.uk

 

[Pebd99]

Put your postcode in to this calculator, I'm 430 units of heat short unfortunately, although there's fellas growing it quite successfully about 30 miles away over on the north coast of N.I.

Heat Map - LG Seeds

www.lgseeds.co.uk

Handy tool. 488 units short of heat here

 

[neilo]

Thanks for all the replies,it’s the market that is worrying me at the moment,if I can get that sorted I might just give it a go

I’d be more worried about physically getting the crop combined and into a shed, rather than the market, especially in a year like this.
I posted recently about being offered just such a crop a few years back, grown on the Cotswolds and the grower had given up on the idea of combining it by early December. We went to look at it and it was about rotten, with lots of mould on the cobs. We declined the kind offer of ‘just take it’....

After this Autumn, I would imagine the area of grain maize put in here will fall to about zilch again, much as for the UK Soya experimenters.

 

[Wombat]

I have a rule about planting stuff that needs a heater in the combine

 

[Cowcorn]

Thanks for all the replies,it’s the market that is worrying me at the moment,if I can get that sorted I might just give it a go

Why would you punish yourself with grain maize ??? If you want a late crop try spring beans or rape. Grain maize is a bit like fodder beet unless you have a watertight customer contract its a big gamble . Better off making maize silage at least the clamp will last till it can be sold .

 

[Bury the Trash]

Can be a bit fungussy in the damp and lower daylight conditions not good for late maturing ....that we tend to get .....and which will make it anti nutritional to say the, least

 

[SRRC]

Use to grow it but market fell away and not a nice feeling having a clamp of grain maize which is only going to deteriorate and no body wanting it !!
Surprising how well combine will travel as your running on the chopped mulch [on our header]. More problems were the trailers.
I went pass @SRRC place last week when he was on and basically despite all the rain here,[14 plus inches since 23.09.19] , did nt look any worse than last year and see yesterday its all drilled up and looking better than most ground around here.

Went quite well, started Nov 5th, which is about normal, 2 1/2 days combining to get the 290 tons done. Excellent yields, just over 16t/ha @ 32% MC. The key this year was the long daylight hours back in June and July.
Then last week ploughed and followed with combi, odd wet corners but pretty decent considering. Another 2" rain since won't have helped though, some dry weather needed.