OT a little- corn in nonaireated bin

HAve a 2000 BU bin with no airfloor, just cement. Corn would be stored in it until probably spring some time. What is the highest moisture corn I can put in, and have it safe for these 6-7 months? Assuming corn temp would be 40-50 degrees when combined. Do not have a drier. Currently come ooff feild at 15-17%, do I need to haul in and have dried to 14%?

13.5% or less is the rule in our area, and then they need to epmty by warm weather.

If you aerate it you could store it at that moisture over the winter. Get an aerator fan at your local farm store.....a small one with 4 inch ducting...and get some perforated field tile. Lay the tile on the floor in a circular pattern and through the corn as you fill, ending at the top of the pile, where you can connect to the fan and duct the exhaust outside. MONITOR the pile weekly over the winter. Run the fan on low humidity days. Did I say MONITOR the corn? Ben

You would probably be ok if you get it out by May. But over 14% there is some risk.

Other issue is the corn on the floor, with it a little damp and the way a floor sweats, you might lose a few bushels on the floor.

I've done 17% in a 1500 bu bin and feed half of it out over winter, here in Minnesota it keeps in winter. The other half I get out before June and it has been ok.

But, I repeat, it is a risk at that moisture, there are no garentee a on this you are over the edge a bit.......

Paul

The 40-50 degrees on top of the 15-17% moisture is really pushing it on a bare concrete floored bin. Your asking for trouble on three fronts. The temperature is higher than I like to store wet corn. The moisture is higher than I like to store field run corn. And the lack of an air floor coupled with the concrete will cause condensation.

If you can not change any of the three your going to have trouble. There is not much of a price advantage holding to just spring right now in the markets. With the large crop we have I really do not see any large price spikes coming. The days of $4-5 corn are gone for now. There is a world wide glut of feed grains so the world wide shortage that cause the high prices is gone. So unless your needing to defer income I would just sell it now and be done with it. With only 2000 bushels even a $.50 per bushel gain can easily be wiped out by spoilage and the resulting dockage.

IF your going to feed the grain it is different story. Even some out of condition grain can still be fed OK. Also just moving the corn out over a period of time will help remove any hot spots.

So it depends on your long term plans. IF it just store and sell come spring I would NOT recommend trying it. IF your going to feed it then you should be able to make it work.

See if you can find some pallets to lay on the concrete, couple layers maybe of 40"x48" give a 8 inch or so under air flow base, let some air flow at bottom. A ventilated pipe, plastic septic with holes standing upright in center would give a little center drying. Pallets can be cheap or free for pickup, might not be the strongest for freebies but for a winters use keeping corn off concrete or dirt, hay off dirt the expendable pallets are useful. Use a big magnet skimmer in spring after crop has been used or moved out, use busted up light pine wood for kindling or ash layer in garden patch, can get 2 to 3 year out of oak pallet boards. Barn cats and black snakes can take care of possible mice problems. RN

I always like to state my credentials before I offer advice. I have grown corn in quantity for exactly 3 years. Prior to that the only grain grew was in the garden. I have my corn dried at the elevator and bank it there. Disadvantage is a nominal fee each month and I don't keep my own corn. Advantage is no risk, storage or otherwise. Last year I put about 100 bushels in the grain truck. Raked it flat. It was about a foot deep. Moisture was just over 15%. It kept all winter fine. In Spring there was a mushroom like odor and some signs of mold pockets. We kept turning it all winter and summer by hand. We are still feeding it. End of summer I moved it all into a gravity box and it is fine. The moral here is though, that at 15.5% and spread out thin...it still got some mold when the weather warmed.

Get the corn down to 13 percent then you'll be fine. You never know you might be storing longer than you planned