Integrated Crop Management is published by the Department of Entomology , Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa. If weather permits, many corn producers will feel a strong desire to start planting very early. Fieldwork is advanced in some areas and March was dry, but memories of serious planting delays in 1993 are a major factor. It may be a very hard sell, but my best advice is to plan for a more normal spring in 1994. Switching from proven practices implies knowledge of what the unique weather conditions in 1994 will be, but the record for such assumptions isnt very good.
Many factors can influence the optimum date in a given year.
It usually pays to have corn planting finished by May 10 to 15. The question of when to start is more difficult because it involves more than a date on the calendar. If I had to select the best date for a typical Iowa corn field, I would select the last week of April. Obviously, there are locations where and years when this may not be the case. The tactful answer is that depends.