June is here and surprisingly many parts of the cornbelt are struggling to get their last percentage of corn planted. It took a long time for the warmer air and fronts to make their way north and act like the warm weather was here to stay. A glance at the weather maps and still seeing blue coloration on the state by state summaries indicate that in parts of the Northern Great Plains the higher elevation locations are still measurable snows and temps in the mid to high 20. April and not June is the correct time to see fronts more thru on a regular basis. And move though they have, on an almost daily basis with many days bringing winds of 25 to 45 mph. If these near constant winds become the norm, gaining the upper hand in fighting weeds gets tougher. Most farmers try to be good neighbors and avoid as much as possible applying volatile herbicides when the wind gusts exceed the safe limits. But if fields begin to show signs of major grass and broadleaf escapes, they will push wind limits if they think the escapes.
In the markets we saw a day where many of the grains suffered major down moves. Some of that may have just been trader anxiety. Or else it was hearing an announcement that Russia was going to permit loaded grain hauling ships to head for their destination. The question that remained was did Lloyds of London believe the reports or fail to believe the news. In retrospect, with Russia being a major wheat exporter they would want wheat prices to remain as high as they are now. Which on the board were near $11/Bu. In this country I know there are farmers living on the eastern fringe of the wheat belt, so with rain and flooding delays wheat may have more profit potential with much lower input costs.
Playing Catchup
So, how is the planting season progressing? I have to work with the state survey figures for May 29th. In summing up the 6 major corn growing states the planting was 87% complete. When you account for the Dakotas and Ohio the figure drops to 79%. Hearing how wet parts of the Dakotas and N Minnesota have been we may see prevent plant come in to play depending on how insurance figures would be affected. Now as of 5 pm on Sunday afternoon and storms moving thru on a path that stretches from N Missouri thru p to N Dakota, the next few days may determine how many of those last acres are planted to one of the major crops.
Two of us met a few weeks ago with a very good environmental engineer who wrote a book about how the rundown and eroded farm he bought has been repaired by using cover crops to keep the soil where it was and to declaring that some of the steeper sloped be kept for pasture. Right now he is involved in some very heavy genetic sleuthing along with several colleagues who are seeking to identify and quantify the location of the so-called ancient microbes which, before the era of modern hybrids, did a better job of releasing minerals and fixing N from the atmosphere. Currently with high N prices expected for the foreseeable future for corn growers, being able to tap into N held in the atmosphere would be very valuable. Farmers would love it and retailers would hate it.
Part of the reason we met with him is that I heard Steve give a presentation on soil preservation and the importance of higher carbon which left both the farmers and tree huggers in the audience happy. I did not think that would ever happen. The former will learn that higher carbon levels will serve as a larger food supply for the N fixing microbes, thus amounts of fixed N will increase, while at the same time help lower CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
We had a great zoom call with a top biochemist on Thursday night. What he pointed out that the atmosphere is 76% composed of N, about 21% O2, 0.9% argon, with the remaining .1% including neon, krypton and a smattering of CO2. And that CO2 is split by the plant in the presence of Manganese into carbon and atmosphere which they use to make sugars. So when plant researchers conducted CO2 enriched atmosphere greenhouse studies in Florida, increasing the level of CO2 the plants responded very favorably. Proposing a pipeline to take it from the Midwest dump into wells up in N Dakota made no sense to him and it is not a poison.
Spraying Interruptions
Finding a calm day where wind speeds are under 12 to 15 mph for the entire day have been impossible. Being filled and ready to spray at sunup and shutting down by mid-morning have been more commonplace. Less than two weeks ago one person was giving the advice to give the plants a few days to recover from cloudy conditions and cold temps before spraying their first planted corn. There is something to that. Back in the early 1980s, when several new herbicides were being introduced each year, a number of us agronomist networked to share the knowledge we were gathering from reading the masters and Phd research studies of students from Ag Universities in the Midwest. We wanted to know lots about each chemistry family, solubility, soil absorbtion and adsorbtion, degradation pathway and persistence in each soil type. This was when there were 25 to 30 herbicide companies and not everything was patented.
There were also several very good pesticide experts who would share their knowledge at conference or with several agronomists who called them to ask questions. What we learned is that what weed scientists hoping to shepherd a numbered compound thru the introductory process and have it commercialized have to be looking for what is called differential metabolism. That means the targeted crop can degrade that herbicide while the weed can’t. The two major degradation pathways in plants are the P450 cytochrome system and the GST or Glutathion S-transferase. Each place an energy burden on the plants which the plants get from sunlight and warm temperatures. If cool and cloudy conditions happen in the days following application of herbicides which are borderline on safety, there can be an adverse reaction in the plant. This is what the yellow halo on the cotyledons of SB plants following application of one seed treatment. In most cases it is advised that an applicator spray elsewhere or use a herbicide deemed safer to the crop.
GDU Accumulations and Maturity Considerations
When you look at the stated GDU accumulations in each state they are quite a bit higher than normal, which doesn’t seem possible. In fact, when one drives around the state very few fields have corn advanced beyond the V2 stage. With beans less than 50% have emerged. In Iowa by 5/29 94% of the corn had been planted while 85% of the beans were in. Now it would be easy and quick to advise staying with your normal full season hybrids. It would be time to visit with your seed dealer to see which earlier, yet adapted hybrids may still be available. With soybeans stay with your normal mid maturity variety thru June 15th. After that date switch to a variety one half maturity group earlier.
Because plants have the ability to turn water and CO2 into sugar, and we can’t, we have to reason that the amount of sugar and grain they can produce depends on how much heat and sunshine they can capture in the remaining months. If we just have soybeans emerging now, and corn at the V1-2 growth stage, any GDUs and photons from the sun that hit the ground in April and thru mid-May didn’t get captured by the plants. So, any government survey which predicts record yields is not facing the facts. Now if grain fill conditions are much improved in late August versus late July you may hit a jackpot.
One common comment from farmers this spring is that there were very few days when the ground and planters seemed to work perfectly. In order to get more acres planted ahead of the next predicted rain front, they often planted before the ground was fit. Will we have to pay a penalty on sidewall compaction or from the crust that formed when temps shot up to 95 degrees for a full day.
If you have every thought about trying foliar products that state they contain kelp or hormonal components, this would be the year to experiment with them. All plant activity is based on based on internal hormonal reactions, and they have shown that foliar products can speed their development up. In past columns when discussing which steps can help later planted soybeans overcome a later start, foliar applications are very valuable. I like applying cytokine based products as they trigger the formation of additional side branches. Products which supply minerals and amino acids can help the plants to form their own hormones. This is needed as the gain from expected earlier planting didn’t happen. So, your Planned Plan B comes into play.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.