Cold Damage to Corn and Cotton


The cold temperatures earlier this week have caused some chilling damage to some corn and cotton fields. While scouting around Victoria County yesterday and today, I noticed a lot of differences in the level of damage caused by the cold temperatures. Some of this difference is explained by differences in crop maturity and corn hybrid. Older corn has been more affected by the cold temps than younger corn. This is very apparent in a few fields with two planting dates. 

Dr Ronnie Schnell addressed low temperature stress and chill injury to corn and sorghum in the Texas Row Crop Newsletter in 2021.

Dr Schnell's recommendation for assessing damage is as follows:

  1. Determine planting date in relation to cold weather. Check fields planted on different days and with different hybrids.
    1. Cold soil temperatures occur less than 72 hours of planting, imbibition injury possible.
    2. Cold soil temperatures occur greater than 72 hours of planting, cold stress injury possible.
    3. Freezing temperatures for emerged crops will kill exposed tissue but may not kill the growing point. Exact temperature and duration will determine if growing point was killed.
  2. If seedling injury is observed, make note of hybrid affected for future reference. Some hybrids have better cold tolerance.
  3. Give plantings 5-7 days of warm weather and evaluate seedling germination and emergence or recovery of emerged plants. New leaves will emerge from the whorl if the growing point survived.
  4. Final plant stands will determine if replanting is necessary. Check with insurance adjusters before replanting. Yield potential of current plant populations must be weighed against yield potential of later plantings.

Dr Schnell's complete article can be found here: https://agrilife.org/texasrowcrops/2021/03/01/freeze-injury-low-temperature-stress-and-chill-injury-in-corn-and-sorghum/ 

I think the greatest piece of information Dr Schnell conveyed is to wait a week to assess the damage. 

An AgriLife Extension publication on "Assessing Hail and Freeze Damage to Field Corn and Sorghum" can be found here: https://cdn-de.agrilife.org/extension/departments/scsc/scsc-pu-058/publications/files/assessing-hail-and-freeze-damage-to-field-and-sorghum-1.pdf

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