In a year when cold, wet spring weather and crusty soil conditions forced farmers to replant much more of their corn than normal, a new type of coated seed demonstrated its value in protecting the crop against inclement conditions.

“Replant acres were higher than average in many areas of the Corn Belt,” says Jim Beuerlein, an agronomy professor with The Ohio State University. “Here in Ohio, farmers normally need to replant less than 1 percent of corn acres. In 2005, conditions overall were variable but growers replanted more than 10 percent of their corn acreage. Cold, wet conditions and soil crusting were the biggest issues.”

But some growers, including John Kromer of Norwalk, Ohio, minimized the headaches that accompany replant decisions by using seed corn coated with Intellicoat® Early Plant®, a patented polymer coating that prevents germination of the seed until soil temperatures are right. Developed by Landec Ag, the coating protects corn in the soil and allows corn growers to plant up to four weeks earlier than normal while avoiding the risk of chilling injury.

“We had our 125 acres of corn planted by April 11,” explains Komer. “Then we got three inches of rain with eight inches of snow on top of it. It stayed cold - in the 50s - for 30 days. The uncoated seed just rotted, and we had to replant 85 to 90 acres. But the Early Plant corn germinated later and the population was good enough that we didn’t need to replant any of it.”

Roger Stang, a Norwalk-based agronomist for the Sunrise Co-op, said many of his customers in the area had similar experiences.

“We had great planting weather the first 10 days of April and then it turned back to winter,” he explains. “The uncoated seed that had sprouted just sat idle for three and a half to four weeks and we had all sorts of seedling diseases. About 50 percent of the acres needed to be replanted.”

But the Early Plant corn performed as advertised, he notes.

“The coating worked just like it’s supposed to,” Stang says. “When the soil temperature dropped back below 50 degrees the coating closed back up and protected the seed until the conditions were right again. I tell people that, if conditions are right, they should start planting anytime after April 1. Using the Intellicoat is a heck of a good insurance for people who want to plant early.”

2005 Conditions Drive Early Plant Interest

According to one of the seed companies selling Early Plant hybrids, there were quite a few positive comments about performance in 2005.

 “Our customers who planted coated hybrids were very satisfied with the product’s performance,” says Dennis Schlott, vice president of sales and product management for Fielder’s Choice Direct^®. “The chilling injury some growers experienced with uncoated hybrids, particularly in Ohio, Missouri and Nebraska, has certainly prompted additional interest in hybrids with Intellicoat Early Plant for the 2006 season.”

Intellicoat Early Plant seed coating is currently marketed through nine seed partners: Beck’s Hybrids; Dyna-Gro Seed, a division of United Agri Products of Greeley, Colorado; Fielder’s Choice Direct of Monticello, Indiana; Horizon Genetics of Mason City, Illinois; Hubner Seed Co., Inc., of West Lebanon, Indiana; Legend Seed of De Smet, South Dakota; Ottilie Seed of Marshalltown, Iowa; Seed Consultants, Inc., of Washington Court House, Ohio; and Southern States of Richmond, Virginia.

Landec Ag’s parent company, Landec Corporation (NASDAQ: LNDC), designs, develops, manufactures, and sells temperature-activated and other specialty polymer products for a variety of food, agricultural and licensed partner applications. 

Intellicoat and Early Plant are registered trademarks of Landec Corporation.