2008 Crop Conditions Archive
July 28, 2009
June 30, 2009
June 9 , 2009
May 8 , 2009
Crop Conditions For the Week of July 28, 2008
Crop conditions have been improving with help from Mother Nature. Timely rainfall and warm temperatures have helped in what started out as a very wet year. Most corn is in the VT – R1 range. Late replanted corn in low spots is coming along slowly and is variable with some areas looking better than others. Over the past week and a half, we have been seeing a lot of aerial applications, in our area. Soybeans are R1 – R3. Low spots that drowned out and were replanted to soybeans are looking pretty good.
Wheat harvest is complete with most yields being in the 65 to 85 bushels per acre range.
Weeds
Some soybean fields will require a third application, but for the most part corn and soybean fields are looking fairly clean. Volunteer corn is evident in back to back glyphosate tolerant areas.
Disease
Some anthracnose has been appearing on the corn and we have been picking up more grey leaf spot. Along with those we have also been seeing rust in the corn fields. In the soybean fields we have been seeing a little bit of bacterial blight. |
Insects
Corn rootworm beetles are out in full force along with Japanese beetles. Corn earworms were also present in small numbers in our sweet corn.
Marc Roberts
ABG AG Services
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Crop Conditions For the Week of June 30, 2008
Crop conditions have improved due to moderate temperatures and dry conditions. Overall crop development is about two weeks behind normal. Corn is in the V-6 to V-11 stage. We have some 82 day sweet corn that was planted on April 15 that has been tasseling for about 5 days. Overall corn condition is variable with some good corn and some poor corn. Drainage is the factor that seems to be impacting corn growth. Most plants have poorly developed roots.
Last week corn was rolling due to drought stress. It is hard to imagine that there was not enough moisture in the soil since we received 11 inches of rain in June. Soybeans are in the V-3 -V-7 stage. The V-7 soybeans are just starting to flower. Wheat harvest has not yet begun due to the green stems.
I would predict that wheat harvest will begin by next week. Overall wheat condition is excellent.
Weeds
Most corn and soybean fields have received a post application. There has been many delayed applications due to the wet conditions. Most preemergent herbicides have worked extremely well due to the wet conditions. Where there was water sitting in fields the weed populations are reduced.
Disease
The primary disease that we are seeing on corn is anthracnose and some early signs of gray leaf spot. The temperatures and moisture that we receive in the next 3 weeks will have a major impact on disease development.
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Insects
I saw my first Japanese beetle yesterday. They are about 3 weeks behind normal. I have yet to see an adult western or northern rootworm beetle. This morning we dug some corn roots in our trap crop and observed some rootworm larva feeding on roots. We have noticed some bean leaf beetle feeding on soybean.
That is it for the week. Have a good fourth of July.
Fritz Koppatschek
ABG AG Services
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Crop Conditions For the Week of June 9, 2008
The best way to describe our crop condition is WET.
We received over 5 inches in May and close to 8 inches of rain so far in June. Our crop was looking okay until this past weekend when we got 70 mph winds and 4 inches of rain fall. Corn is really beginning to look rough. Lower leaves of corn are starting to show nitrogen deficiency due to poor root growth. Roots are staying in the top 2-3 inches of soil and have no reason to go any deeper due to the excessive moisture. Most corn is in the V-4- V-6 stage.
Soybeans are okay as long as they are not covered with water. Wheat was looking awesome and now is showing leaf disease.
Insects
We have no reports of corn rootworm larva hatch. We are hoping that they have not hatched and are being drowned out. There are no lightning bugs at this point which is often an indicator of rootworm hatch. We have a wireworm trial sight in northern Indiana that has had some excellent feeding injury on the high ground that has not been holding water. The checks in those areas have up to 50% of their plants damaged. White grub feeding is light, with the larva going deeper in the soil with the increasing temperatures.
Weeds
Weed growth has really picked up with warmer temperatures. The month of May was colder than normal, which resulted in slow weed development. Common lambsquaters and annual grass were the prominent species. Giant ragweed and velvetleaf is quickly catching up and becoming more common.
Disease
Conditions are excellent for disease development. Fusarium, phyhium and leaf rusts all will become more common as the wet conditions linger. |
Water Damage
Crops that are covered with water are under extreme stress. Small corn (less than V-5) can tolerate 24-48 hrs of water coverage before death. If temperatures climb the amount of water coverage time decreases. Soybeans can stand slightly longer times of water coverage. Along with the crop stress, nitrogen loss increases due to denitrification and leaching. Overall extreme wet conditions are difficult not only from a plant development stage, but things like crop herbicide applications are delayed which results in loss due to weed competition.
It is hard to believe that last year we only received 0.81 inches of rain in May. How things change!!!.
Fritz Koppatschek
ABG AG Services
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Crop Conditions For the Week of May 8, 2008
Welcome to the first crop conditions update for 2009. We have had a busy off-season and have made excellent progress on getting this year’s crop in the ground.
The purpose of this update is to give our clients an idea of what is happening with crops that are being grown in Central and Northern Indiana. This newsletter is general in nature and if you need specific information on a research trial, please contact us directly.
Throughout the growing season, we will post updates to give you an idea of what we are seeing with the corn, soybean, wheat and tomato crops in our area. The author of our newsletter may change from time to time, to give our staff (and interns) the opportunity to share their views of what is happening. Thanks for your support and we look forward to a prosperous crop year.
Overall Conditions
We had a fairly wet and cool winter. This resulted in significant ponding in areas and some cases of severe soil erosion. We started planting corn on April 20th with conditions slightly wetter than we would like. Soil conditions improved dramatically that week and we managed to get a significant amount planted by April 23. In the Central Indiana area, I would estimate that 90% of the corn has been planted and maybe 10-15% of the beans. Soil temps earlier this week were in the mid 60 F range at the 4 inch level. We have been relatively dry during the past three weeks with a total of 0.5 inches at our main farm in the Kirklin, IN area. We are behind normal rainfall but should receive close to an inch of rain today. Storms have been forecast but seem to fall apart at the Illinois border.
Corn
Corn is taking about 12-13 days following planting to come through the ground. This is due to the lack of heat units speeding the germination process. It takes about a minimum of 200-250 GDD to get the corn to the coleoptiles stage. We have seen little herbicide injury on corn due to the dry conditions. At this time, it is too early for black cutworms. Most of our corn is just starting to be at coleoptile stage
Soybeans
We planted our first beans on April 30th. Soil temps should support germination. They have not yet emerged from the soil. Early season insects like bean leaf beetle can be a problem on early planted beans. |
Wheat
The wheat crop looks excellent. We estimate that it is about two weeks behind last year with much of it at the Feekes 7 stage (2 joints visible). It has gone through rapid growth the last 10 days. Very little disease pressure is present due to the dry conditions.
Insects/ Diseases and Weeds
The winter annual weed pressure was down due to the cold winter and early spring. We started seeing giant ragweed germination around April 15. Common Lambsquarters were the next annual weeds and they appeared around April 20. Weed germination is erratic due to the dry conditions.
There are no major insect or disease problems at this time.
Planting Issues
Planting under the proper soil conditions is critical. Soils that are too wet will result in side wall compaction in the seed trench. This will cause poor root growth. Also, working soils that are wet will cause clodding. This can make planting and seed/soil contact difficult, but can be overcome with a good planter that is set up for no-till. The most important tool in any crop production system is the planter and it must be properly maintained.
Fritz Koppatschek
ABG AG Services
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