Buggywhipping in Corn

Buggywhipping in corn has been common this year due to the wide temperature variances we have seen during the life of this corn crop. Corn leaves emerge from the whorl and if they get caught and can’t unfurl correctly, its called buggywhipping.  I guess because it looks kind of like a bullwhip. This can also be caused by insect injury and chemical injury. Usually the unfurling is just delayed and in a few days the leaves unfurl, sometimes with a tear in one of the leaves. Also you almost always see very yellow leaves that have not been exposed to the sun. In many fields this year we have seen a small percentage of this. It should not affect yield.

A County Agent in Florida, Mace Bauer, has a good report on this problem at this link http://flacrops.com/2013/05/03/buggywhip-corn/

Here’s how the corn looks as it comes out of the buggywhipping.