June has arrived and the planting season is continuing. The planters in Iowa began operating around April 10 and continue operating for many growers in the Midwest in one of the most drug-out seasons since 1991. Similarly, as that year we received significant rain every 3rd or 4th day and most days were overcast and cool, so just as the ground was dry enough to plant it rained again. In all directions from central Iowa, it is very easy to see fields holding standing water and no crop in the ground. In 1991 there were three small planting windows which each lasted two to three days. An apt term was guerilla planting, where one had to attack when any opportunity to get the planter in the field had to be capitalized upon. Thus, we are now the dreaded May 25th time frame when one could expect top corn yields. Soybeans can be a different story, as they can adjust to being planted late and still yield well, but the clocks are ticking. If the NASS statistics were based upon actual planting progress and not real world, what might the figure for SB percent planted? 60, 70, 75%..?
Seed companies hate these years as much as farmers do, as they have a crop in the field which cannot tolerate any sub-freezing weather, as the germination of the kernels can drop to unsellable levels, and the timing of male and female parent planting can be all screwed up.
To go thru three consecutive years of D1 to D3 droughts with no major spring rains and we unsuccessfully prayed for rain all summer to jump to a spring and early summer is a real switcheroo. It makes us treasure how smoothly spring field work went the last three years.
Twister News
This past spring has been a busy one for damaging tornados. There was the massive system which ran a path from Lincoln, NE to Minden in SW Iowa. Then the one which destroyed Greenfield. One series of storms nailed central Iowa running from the areas running from SW of Des Moines up to Nevada and Zearing. Clean up crews which include high school kids are still walking those fields to pick up the debris to throw into a waiting truck or dumpster. This could continue into the fall.
WHO radio runs a later night show called American stories, where different topics are discussed. This past Friday they ran a story about a book written by Brantley Hargrove titled ‘The Man Who Caught the Storm’, in which he told the story about the greatest tornado scientist of them all, Tim Samaris. Tim grew up in Denver, Colorado and as a kid he did not play with toys, instead he would disassemble every appliance they had in the house or stuff his dad brought home for him to work on or repair. After watching the movie Twister, he was fixated with tornados. He had to see one. A job was posted on a website for a research technician at the National Weather Service so he entered their headquarters wearing ripped blue jeans and with no resume to apply for the position. For some reason his demeaner and tenacity struck a chord with one of the staff and he was hired. He ended up becoming their expert on tornados, designing and building the best tornado tracking devices and radar systems ever seen. He and all of his colleagues were still needing to know what was all occurring at ground level inside a big twister. He designed and constructed a squat, turtle-like device, filled with detection and broadcasting equipment. For years storm chasers for years attempted to place it directly in the path of a large funnel. In 2012 there was the largest tornado ever recorded near El Reno, OK. It was a monster of 2.6 miles across with wind speeds up to 275 MPH. He and his crew were lucky to set the ‘turtle’ right in its path. They recorded this all on their Go-Pros and it can be seen on video. Unluckily the tail whipped in the wrong direction and Tim, his son and another crew member were killed when their vehicle got caught in the funnel. They knew there were risks involved with storm chasing and their luck ran out. I saw myself and a few other adventuresome friends in the story.
For the farms and farmers affected, it can be a devastating event, especially at planting time when everything has to be so coordinated and done on time.
The Corn Crop Progress
In Iowa there are all growth stages of corn plants now. The latest planted fields are just emerging or have done so in the past week. More are in the V3 thru V5 growth stages. Last Friday I scouted many acres just south of the Missouri border which were in the V6 to early V8 stages. I had to tell the two brothers it was there best crop I had seen with them. It was time to gather leaf samples for tissue analyses to detect any micro-nutrient deficiencies. The samples need to air dry a bit and then sent to a testing lab. I will request a complete mineral test including moly.
The current status of mineral sufficiency or deficiency as detected thru tissue analysis was somewhat shocking. What the hundreds of thousands of samples tested showed was that molybdenum was deficient 95% of the time, boron 90%, Mn 85% and Zn 75%. All four of them are crucial for specific purposes in plants: such as N efficiency; directing photosynthate deposition; drought tolerance and root cuticle thickness; disease resistance by blocking fungal infection peg penetration. Moly availability is vital to the corn crop in that this element is needed for efficient nitrogen use in the plants. If the plant is deficient the average grower may needlessly apply more N.
A growing thought that many growers and agronomists have is that their new goals for their fertility program is to manage their crops’ mineral status so well their crops are healthy with an immune system functioning so well that diseases are no longer a problem. Tissue or sap testing at certain growth stages and early enough to be able to correct any minerals deficiencies prior to peak plant demands will likely cost much less than what a fungicide and lowered yields would.
Just a few days ago most corn fields possessed a nice dark green appearance. Then late in the week many of them turned a ghastly shade of yellowish green. How much fall applied N has converted to nitrate N and either moved deeper into the soil profile or flushed out the tile lines. The normal rule of thumb in that once the ground has reached 50 F the loss can reach 5% per day. That is a scary and expensive number. Expect to see lots of equipment and 32% or urea to be applied once the fields dry.
If the prospected forecasts include frequent showers the use of a N inhibitor would be wise. There are a number of these available. These range from Molasses to Nutrisphere (NSN) from Verdesian. In 2008 I saw the NSN treated nitrogen last into the second year.
Another product which farmers may use out of costs and necessity would be the new RDX-N from ReDox Bio-Nutrient firm. Field trials in 2023 across the country showed that when mixed in with a reduced rate of N, optimal corn yields are maintained. This might be the year and time for you to experiment with this product to see if it fits your needs.
Another thing we have not dealt with in recent seasons are water holes and drowned out spots. If the rain water is cool the corn plants can survive as many as 6 or 7 days submerged. If the water is warm the plants may last only two to three days. They need oxygen. In past years we have seen waterholes get replanted two times or until it becomes difficult to reach it thru the taller plants. If not planted to anything they become a weed haven.
Insect Problems
There is a purpose for cold temperatures and freezing weather. After a very mild winter except for the snow and bitter cold in Mid-Jan the survival rates for bean leaf beetles and alfalfa weevil were higher than normal for those critters. Early reports on those two told of record population levels for the weevils and their ravenous larval. They can skeletonize a stand of alfalfa in a few days. They can be a consistent problem by continuing to devour alfalfa leaves as a second-generation pest.
Soybeans Status
Growers and crop scouts are commenting about the soybean fields they are monitoring and how slow they are in adding height and leaf stages. The cause appears to be the cooler nights which have been the rule in most sections of the Midwest. They emerged slowly and seemed to be slower in emerging and penalized more than normal and held back by several of the seed treatment which were applied. The physiological degradation pathway used by beans is the P450 system. This system operates more efficiently and effectively with more heat and sunshine.
Threats to Expect Yet
Herbicides all have varying levels of water solubility. The more soluble ones need less rain to move into the soil and become active when the weeds take them in. But too much rain increases the risk that they will flush below any root zones. Given the fact that areas in the Midwest have received excessive moisture the residual weed or grass control is likely to be less than advertised. Since we now live in an overlapping weed control, especially in soybeans, it will be important to apply a midseason application of a residual herbicide expected to control late emerging broadleaves.
Foliar diseases become more prevalent in wetter years, in that the infective spores typically require a water film on the leaves to germinate and grow their infection peg through the cuticle into the leaf interior. Last year’s dry weather limited inoculum levels and the chance of successful leaf infection. With more wet weather projected, be prepared to scout oftener to detect any disease symptoms appearing early to be able to visualize how fast the infection might proceed and at what incidence level and severity score may require remediating action.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.