Growing Degree Days Through May 29th

Jarrod O. Miller, Extension Agronomist, jarrod@udel.edu

It takes an average of 475 growing degree days (GDD) to reach V6, so anything planted the last two weeks of April should be in this range for all three counties. Be sure to scout your fields and check out our article on whether you need a PSNT: http://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=11879.

Over the last week, the entire state has experienced about 21 growing degrees per day, so we can easily expect to reach V6 with any fields planted the first week of May if warm temperatures continue. It is possible that saturated conditions have slowed corn development, although there isn’t great information on how this may correlate to GDD. The warmer temperatures that came between rainfalls also could have promoted growth as well as denitrification in saturated soils.

Table 1: Growing degree days accumulated through May 29^th from the beginning of each week.