Good morning, everybody. Evan here with EZ Custom Ag Services with another edition of Field GX from AgriGold. This morning we’re going to be talking about Family F, one of my personal favorites.
One of the hybrids we’ve been planting for quite a while now is 642-59. Had a lot of experience with it and a lot of success. So, we’ll be talking about a lot of its characteristics along with just the family in general.
So, your Family F’s are going to be Kernel Flex. So, looking at the other families that we’ve already talked about, the other ones were flexing in girth and length, or one or the other where this is Kernel.
So, grain fill needs to be long. We need to have time to fill those kernels up, get you the good depth, really blow those things up. Because of the long grain fill time and the Kernel Flex, we’re going to end up with a high test weight. We’re going to end up with a very dense kernel, great grain quality, just a great overall product to handle.
So you’re looking at 58 to 60 pound test weight, super, super hard kernel, just great quality. These hybrids can go almost anywhere, but they can also handle wet feet. They don’t have to be on those sandy acres or anything like that. They can handle a little bit of water underneath of them.
Their nitrogen usage is going to be late and if you break the connection, we’re filling kernels. That’s where we’re getting a lot of our yield. We want a long grain fill, so we need that plant to stay alive as long as possible. So, we want to keep the nitrogen on the later end of that. So, a late side dress, or at least side dressing, not at the front loading everything, is definitely a need for this family.
Another thing for this family that we’ve noticed and that has been documented is that it almost has to have fungicide. I’m not going to put a Family F on a grower that is against using fungicide, or is not planning on a fungicide pass because this family is just not one that will excel on your farm without the use of fungicides.
So, super great family to work with. A little bit higher management because you’ve got to have that late nitrogen. Also, your populations need to be a little bit higher because you’re going to have a very consistent ear length. About 16 to 18 around and about 35 to 40 long. They’re not going to blow up much bigger than that, but you can drive some really big yields because you’re going to have really heavy big ears.
So, we’ll see you next time in front of the whiteboard.