"Any corn plant that doesn’t emerge within 12 hours of others is a weed.” Immortal words from an immortal farmer. My friend Steve Albracht. The brash Texan certainly had a way with words. And with corn. I called him the Ric Flair of corn growers – he held as many National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) yield contest titles as Flair has wrestling championships. And he was just as bold. Visiting his Hart, Texas, farm was akin to visiting that of Francis Childs or Roswell Garst. Fast, uniform crop emergence and singulation weren’t just a goal; it was his obsession. He wanted every plant in the entire field to emerge within eight hours. Studies show that plants emerging 24 hours later can lose up to 25% of their yield. While some corn hybrids may be called racehorses, they don’t close on each other like racehorses do. Slow emergers and runt plants will never catch up to early risers.