In the push to get harvesting done and taking out corn with moisture in the mid to high 20s, remember to watch your drying times and high temperature limits. Corn will be wetter so drying times may double. Don’t make the mistake of increasing temperature to maintain drying capacity because you may scorch and damage the grain. Since the corn will be sitting in the drier long, you probably need to back the plenum temperature down 10 to 20 F to prevent damage.

Continous flow drier on Martin farm in Elkton, Ky.

Ken Hellevang, extension agricultural engineer at North Dakota State University in Fargo said that a wet fall and wet crop creates a number of issues.

First, harvesting higher moisture grain means more difficulty with harvest, more mechanical damage, more foreign material and fines and that affects grain quality and drying capacity.

Second, mechanical damage affects drying. "We normally see an increase in test weight when drying. But as mechanical damage increase, increases in test weight will be less."

And third the more aggressive the drying conditions the less the expected increase in test weight.

He explained that in a wet fall, growers might want to increase drying temperature to increase drying capacity, but thismight also damage the grain.

"As we go through the drying process, higher moist content (grain) will be in drier for a longer period of time," said Hellevang. "When drying 21 to 22% corn, you operate (the drier) at 210 to 220 plenum temperatures. When harvesting 25 to 30% (corn), drying at 210 to 220 will increase damage because corn is in drier for longer. (There are) more stress cracks, more broken kernels and end up with scorched kernels."

Hellevang's general recommendation is to reduce drying temperature and to slow down drying to reduce scorching - and not raise them to maintain drying capacity. "Corn is super wet so don’t up the temperature. Remember corn is going to be in the drier a long time. If you normally run (it) through the drier in 1 or 2 hours and now it will take double that. You just can't increase temperature to maintain flow."

"I hear a lot of the guys in North Dakota arereliving their 2008 experience," said Hellevang. "I'm hearing reports of guys backing (temperatures) down to 190 degrees."