The research and demonstration plots discussed in this publication are a cooperative effort by thirteen Virginia Cooperative Extension Agents and Specialists, numerous producers, local soil and water conservation districts, and many members of the agribusiness community. The fieldwork and printing of this publication is mainly supported by the Virginia Corn Check-Off Fund through the Virginia Corn Board. Anyone who would like a copy should contact their local extension agent, who can request a copy from the Northumberland County Extension office.

Corn hybrid selection is becoming increasingly challenging.  With more seed companies and more GMO options and seed treatment packages than ever before, it can be very difficult to decide which hybrids to plant.  We evaluated early season hybrids (107 day RM or less) and mid season hybrids (108-112 day RM) at 5 locations and full season hybrids (113 day RM or more) at 3 locations.  In a year where rainfall patterns in general favored later hybrids, across all locations the mid season and full season hybrids averaged 20 bushels per acre or more than the early season hybrids.  Corn producers should continue to plant hybrids across all maturity ranges as a method for spreading out risk to adverse weather.

The demonstration and research plot results discussed in this publication are a cooperative effort by six Virginia Cooperative Extension agents, extension specialists from Virginia Tech, and an assistant professor at the Virginia State University School of Agriculture.  We are proud to present this year’s on-farm small grain plot work to you.  The 2010-11 small grain season resulted in some excellent yields as timely planting, timely rainfall, and a cool, relatively dry grain fill period were all very positive for the wheat and barley crops.  With July 2012 wheat futures prices currently trading over $7.00 per bushel, the outlook for the 2012 crop is good.  We hope the information in this publication will help farmers produce a profitable crop.

The demonstration and research plot results discussed in this publication are a cooperative effort by four Virginia Cooperative Extension agents, extension specialists from Virginia Tech, and an assistant professor at the Virginia State University School of Agriculture. We are proud to present this year’s on-farm small grain plot work to you. The 2011-12 small grain season was challenging. Wet conditions in the fall hampered planting and caused stand losses in some fields. Precipitation was well below normal and temperatures were well above normal for January through mid April. Dry conditions decreased tillering and overall growth of the crop. Widespread rainfall on April 22nd basically saved the crop. Some late season diseases developed in some fields. With July 2013 wheat futures prices currently trading over $8.00 per bushel, the outlook for the 2013 crop is very good. We hope the information in this publication will help farmers produce a profitable crop.

Four species of aphids attack small grains in Virginia -- greenbug, corn leaf aphid, bird cherry-oat aphid, and English grain aphid. In general, these aphids are small pear-shaped insects (1/16 to 1/8 inch long) that are green to nearly black, or sometimes pinkish in color. Immature aphids look just like adults except smaller. Both winged and wing-less forms can occur in the same colony. All grain aphids have a pair of conicles, tailpipe-like projections, on the top side of the tail end. Aphids feed singly or in colonies on upper and lower leaf surfaces and stems. They feed near plant bases when plants are young or during cold weather, and on upper-canopy leaves, stems, and even grain heads later in the season.

Cereal leaf beetle, a native to Europe and Asia, was first detected in Michigan in 1962. Since that time it has spread throughout most of the mid-western and eastern United States and has become a significant pest of Virginia and North Carolina small grains. This insect can become very numerous in small grain fields and the larvae are capable of reducing grain yield by eating the green leaf tissue.

Ethanol is produced when starch in corn grain is fermented. Most other constituents in the grain remain unchanged. The end product of the corn is distiller’s grains or DDGS (distiller’s grains with solubles). The DDGS retain the original fatty acids, protein, and phosphorus. In addition, variability in the grain nutrient content used in the fermentation process and the actual process itself results in a feed with variable nutrient content. Distiller’s grains can be fed either in the wet (less than 25 percent dry matter) or dry (greater than 85 percent dry matter) form. Wet DDGS are difficult to store and must be fed within a few days of production. The wet DDGS can be the most cost-effective, however, if used close to where they are produced.

The more than 55 million people who live in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States want to purchase processed grain foods such as bread and other dough products made from hard, or bread, wheat. 

Cereal crops are used throughout the world for livestock feed. When they are managed properly they provide excellent grazing and high-quality silage or hay.

In Virginia, annual ryegrass has become one of the most troublesome and difficult to control weeds in small grains, as well as in corn and soybeans grown in rotation with small grains. Annual ryegrass control has declined due to the development of resistance to Hoelon, which has been the only treatment available for control in wheat and barley. Lack of control in small grains has allowed annual ryegrass to proliferate and become problematic in no-till corn establishment where high rates of triazine herbicides or sequential applications of nonselective herbicides are frequently required for acceptable control.

New and successful techniques have been developed for intensive soft red winter wheat management by a multidisciplinary research and Extension team at Virginia Tech. Research was started in the early 1980's and continues today. The guidelines presented in this manual and the accompanying videotape are based on that research.

Stink bug pests across the south eastern cotton belt consist of three main species: the brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Say); the green stink bug, Acrosternum hilare (Say); and the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.)  Due to the diverse environmental conditions across this production region, population levels of these species vary widely across seasons, states, and fields. In North Carolina and Virginia, green and brown stink bugs are the primary species, while southern green and brown stink bugs predominate in Georgia,and all three species are commonly observed in South Carolina.

An adequate supply of plant-available nitrogen (N) is crucial for efficient corn production, and corn N requirements are greater than any other nutrient. For example, a corn crop yielding 150 bushels per acre typically contains about 165 lbs N in the grain and stover, or approximately 1.1 lbs N/bu grain. These calculations are based on actual N uptake, and allowances must be made for actual fertilizer use efficiency and soil N availability.

A forage production trial of commercial barley, oat, rye, triticale, and wheat cultivars has been conducted yearly from 1994-2009 at the Northern Piedmont AREC, Orange.  Long-term results were published in 2004 and are available on the web at http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/418/418-019/418-019.html

The following tables present results from barley and wheat varietal tests conducted in Virginia in
2009-2011. Small-grain cultivar performance tests are conducted each year in Virginia by the
Virginia Tech Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences and the Virginia
Agricultural Experiment Station. The tests provide information to assist Virginia Cooperative
Extension Service agents in formulating cultivar recommendations for small grain producers and
to companies developing cultivars and/or marketing seed within the state. Yield data are given
for individual locations and across locations and years; yield and other performance
characteristics are averaged over the number of locations indicated in parenthesis near the
column heading. Performance of a given variety often varies widely over locations and years
which makes multiple location-year averages a more reliable indication of expected performance
than data from a single year or location. Details about management practices for barley and
wheat are listed for each experimental location.

Selecting an appropriate, high-yielding variety is one of the most important management decisions that producers make. Yield potential is clearly important, but the decision is complicated by such factors as the cropping system, the need for disease resistance, end-use quality goals, year-to-year climatic variation, and the need to select multiple varieties in order to reduce risk by spreading out flowering and maturity dates.

How a corn crop develops is affected by many factors: fertilization, rainfall, sunny or cloudy weather, hybrid or maturity group, etc. But these factors generally play second fiddle to temperature in determining when a corn crop tassels or is ready to harvest. Many years of observation have shown that plant development at any point during the season is affected very predictably by how warm or cool the season has been to that point. This knowledge, combined with projections about the remainder of the growing season, can sometimes be used to make mid-season adjustments in management and to predict harvest schedules.

Background Information

Performance trials of commercial corn hybrids were conducted at six locations in Virginia in 2010. The Mt. Holly location consisted of both an irrigated and non-irrigated test. All locations were planted with a Wintersteiger PlotKing
2600. All locations were harvested with a Massey-Ferguson 8XP plot combine. The Blackstone site was abandoned due to drought stress. Yields have been adjusted to 15.5% moisture. Grain test weight, moisture, and plot grain weights were
measured with a GrainGauge® manufactured by HarvestMaster. A list of the companies participating in the trials is shown in the above table. All hybrids entered in the Virginia trials were those submitted by commercial companies. The locations at which particular hybrids were entered were specified by the company. Companies entering hybrids were charged a fee for each hybrid per location to support the Virginia Corn Hybrid and Management Trials.

This report contains the results for performance trials from commercial corn hybrids produced for silage at three locations in Virginia in 2009 as well as two and three year average performance, when available. In order to avoid problems with comparisons over sites and years, multi-year yields are presented as a percentage of the total at that particular site-year combination called relative yield. All locations were planted with a Wintersteiger PlotKing 2600 planter and harvested with commercial silage equipment. Yields are presented on a dry matter and 35% dry matter basis for comparison. All hybrids entered in the Virginia trials were submitted for testing by commercial companies or by Virginia Tech. The locations at which particular hybrids were entered were specified by the company. Companies entering hybrids were charged a fee for each hybrid per location to support the Corn Silage Performance Trials.

This report contains the results for performance trials from commercial corn hybrids produced for silage at
four locations in Virginia in 2010 as well as two and three year average performance, when available. In
order to avoid problems with comparisons over sites and years, multi-year yields are presented as a
percentage of the total at that particular site-year combination called relative yield. All locations except the
Washington County location were planted with a Wintersteiger PlotKing 2600 planter and harvested with
commercial silage equipment. Washington County was planted with an Almaco 2-row cone planter and
harvested with commercial silage equipment. Yields are presented on a dry matter and 35% dry matter
basis for comparison. All hybrids entered in the Virginia trials were submitted for testing by commercial
companies. The locations at which particular hybrids were entered were specified by the company.
Companies entering hybrids were charged a fee for each hybrid per location to support the Virginia Corn
Silage Performance Trials.

Annual corn silage hybrid testing in Virginia. This report contains the results for performance trials from commercial corn hybrids produced for silage at four locations in Virginia in 2011 as well as two and three year average performance, when available.

Annual corn silage hybrid testing in Virginia. This report contains the results for performance trials from commercial corn hybrids produced for silage at four locations in Virginia in 2011 as well as two and three year average performance, when available.

The demonstration and research plot results discussed in this publication are a cooperative effort by seven Virginia Cooperative Extension agents, several extension specialists from Virginia Tech, area
producers, and agribusinesses. We are proud to present this year’s on-farm wheat plot work to you. The 2008-09 wheat season was a tough one for producers. Below normal temperatures in the fall and winter
reduced tillering, and wet conditions in the spring delayed harvest and resulted in low quality and yields in many areas. With wheat prices down considerably and input costs relatively high, wheat producers
will need to really focus on maximum economic yields during 2009-10 to produce profitable wheat.

There is apparently a significant acreage of winter wheat that was planted without any fertilizer applied at planting. The “plan” for this wheat may be to see if wheat prices increase and/or fertilizer prices decrease through the winter to levels that enable growers to make a profit. While this type of plan is very understandable with the wheat crop economics that have existed from September through the first of December, careful evaluation of the crop and selective use of fertilizers and weed control can increase potential yields and profits. The following discussion offers some ideas for advisers and growers to consider.