Monday, November 5, 2007
63-16

Corn Recovery after the Late Freeze in South Carolina.

Pawel Wiatrak and Brad Hammes. Clemson University, Edisto REC, 64 Research Road, Blackville, SC 29817

Freezing temperatures of -4 to -5oC in the second week of April, 2007, visually damaged corn tissues. In the first few days, corn in many fields had the appearance of “dead plants”. Planted corn in the first half of March or earlier was mostly affected by freeze, because the “growing point” was above the ground. Generally, the growing point for corn is located in the center of the stem and below the soil surface until the V5-V6 growth stage (5-6 corn leaves with collars). Plants prior to V5 stage can tolerate a significant leaf damage and recover, because the growing point is still below the soil surface. Although the plant tissue was damaged, corn had the ability to recover if the growing point was not damaged. Warm temperatures, following the excess of rain and cool temperatures at night, helped corn to recover in many fields. However, corn was recovering very slowly in some areas due to excess of moisture, diseases, and low plant vigor.