in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date April 8, 2007 Issue IN-CW142007 Agricultural Summary THIS REPORT IS THE FIRST CROP AND WEATHER REPORT FOR THE 2007 GROWING SEASON. A SERIES OF WEEKLY CROP PROGRESS REPORTS WILL BE PUBLISHED EACH MONDAY AT 4:00 P.M. ET THROUGHOUT THE CROP SEASON. These reports will cover planting and harvesting activities, crop development, weather data and timely crop management information provided by farmers, FSA, and Purdue University experts. For the earliest possible access, look for these reports on the internet shortly after the 4:00 P.M. release time. Our home page address is located at the bottom of this publication. Follow the links to view the text and Pdf files. Field Crops Report There were 1.5 days suitable for field work. There was some fieldwork completed during the week on soils that were dry enough to support heavy equipment. There are concerns about the condition of wheat, alfalfa and fruit crops due to the sub-freezing temperatures that occurred during the week. Twenty-one percent of the winter wheat acreage is jointed compared with 13 percent for both last year and the 5-year average. Winter wheat condition is rated 51 percent good to excellent compared to 78 percent last year at this time. Many farmers will be evaluating wheat stands to determine if they should leave the wheat for harvest or destroy it in order to plant corn or soybeans. Major activities during the week included: applying dry fertilizer and anhydrous ammonia, preparing planting equipment, hauling grain to market, tillage of soils, hauling manure and taking care of livestock. Livestock, Pasture and Range Report Pasture condition is rated 8% excellent, 48% good, 32% fair, 11% poor, and 1% very poor. Livestock are reported to be in mostly good condition. Feeding of hay has slowed on many livestock operations as pastures have improved in recent weeks. Crop Progress Table ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Winter Wheat Jointed 21 5 13 13 Crop Condition Table ----------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent ----------------------------------------------------------- Percent Pasture 1 11 32 48 8 Winter Wheat 2007 2 12 35 45 6 Winter Wheat 2006 1 3 18 63 15 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable for Fieldwork Table ---------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : : Week : Week : Year : ---------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 0 0 0 Short 0 0 3 Adequate 50 43 56 Surplus 50 57 41 Subsoil Very Short 0 0 1 Short 0 0 8 Adequate 66 61 73 Surplus 34 39 18 Days Suitable 1.5 1.4 2.0 Contact information --Greg Preston, Director --Andy Higgins, Agricultural Statistician E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Indiana --------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Agricultural Comments And News SHOULD WE KEEP THAT WHEAT STAND? Wheat prices have remained high since the crop was planted last fall, and some producers have sold their crop forward, so the incentive to grow wheat remains high. However, corn prices have risen considerably since then, and so the incentive to replace wheat with corn this spring has also strengthened. Planting conditions for wheat last fall were less than ideal, with delays due to wet soils and late harvest of the previous crop. Much of the Illinois wheat crop went into the winter with growth somewhat less than normal, especially where planting was late. Excessive wetness in places, followed by cold temperatures and uneven snow cover in February, contributed to the problems. Still, the crop has had some chance to recover, and present conditions are about average in most places, despite the earlier difficulties. Regardless of its appearance, almost any wheat crop with an adequate stand at the time it greens up has the potential to produce a good yield. An adequate stand is one that will produce enough tillers to result in 60 or more heads per square foot. When fall planting and winter conditions are favorable, we normally say that 20 plants per square foot are enough for high yield, with 15 plants per square foot worth keeping if they're healthy, crop leaves are in good shape, and there is good potential for tillers to form. Though tiller (head) number is the critical factor in determining wheat yield potential, trying to guess how many tillers will form per plant is not easy. If plants are healthy, if leaves cover most of the ground area coming out of dormancy, and weather is favorable (average temperatures and less-than-average rainfall, with a lot of sunshine) for several weeks after greenup, each plant can produce three or four productive tillers, so a stand as low as 15 plants per square foot might be adequate. If the plants are small coming out of dormancy, if the weather stays cold or turns warm too quickly, and if there is added stress from wet soil conditions, then there might be only one or two productive tillers per plant, so even 20 or more plants per square foot might not be enough for high yields. The interaction of present crop condition and weather over the next few weeks suggests a cautious, wait-and-see approach to deciding whether to keep a wheat stand. In most cases, the crop should be given time to develop tillers before the decision is made. Tiller formation slows when the weather is warm enough for upright growth to begin. Upright growth ("jointing") usually begins in late March to early April in the southern half of Illinois and about mid-April in northern Illinois. If the crop recovers quickly to form good ground cover and good tiller numbers before it starts upright growth, then its potential is good. If it warms up early, jointing will start sooner, and tiller number may be reduced. If plants are small with few tillers as they come out of dormancy, there's much less chance that they will get enough favorable weather to produce a good canopy and good tiller numbers. In most cases, the decision on whether a wheat crop is worth keeping can be made when the crop is 8 to 10 inches tall, by which time you can usually count what will likely become productive (head-bearing) tillers. Tillers likely to become productive will begin upright growth shortly after main tillers, and so will be nearly as tall as main tillers by the time the crop is 10 inches tall or so. Small tillers at this point have to compete with larger tillers, and so are less likely to be productive, especially if the weather is warm and growth is rapid. One factor in the decision about keeping a wheat stand is the amount of unrecoverable cost already invested in the crop. For most people, the largest unrecoverable cost by far is seed, which can cost $40 or more per acre. Most of the nitrogen applied as top-dress during the winter should be available to a replacement corn crop, unless there is a lot of rainfall before the corn starts to take up most of its N, which is after it reaches the 6-leaf stage or so. If herbicide has not yet been applied to the wheat crop, it might be wise to wait to apply it until it's clear that the crop is worth keeping. Harmony Extra, widely used for wild garlic and broadleaf control, has a 45-day interval before corn can be planted. Even if we can get a handle on yield potential within the next few weeks, we need to remember that yield potential is not always reached. The condition of the wheat crop in late March is not very well correlated with final yield, because the crop is so sensitive to weather conditions around the time of flowering and a few weeks after. If the weather is dry during the flowering and early grain-filling period, foliar diseases and Fusarium head scab pressure tend to be low, and yields are often good. On the other hand, we have seen that warm, wet weather around the time of flowering can wreak havoc on the wheat crop. The former scenario has been much more frequent than the latter in recent years, but if it is warm and wet in late April and early May when wheat is heading in southern Illinois, one might want to retain the option to destroy a diseased crop even that late and replace it with corn. In most cases, using glyphosate to destroy an existing stand of wheat works fairly well, as long as the weather is favorable for growth. It might help to raise the rate some if wheat plants are close to heading. It is possible to take wheat off as forage, but regrowth after cutting an immature wheat crop can be difficult to control. In some recent work in DeKalb, Jim Morrison and Lyle Paul found that wheat about a foot tall (in early May at that location) had only about a ton of dry matter per acre. We would expect that to double by early boot, so it may or may not be worth the expense of harvesting as forage. If the crop is killed and left standing in the field, with the replacement crop no-tilled, be sure to check for the presence of insects (such as armyworm) in the residue. The loss of the wheat host will have such insects very hungry when corn plants emerge. Where double-cropping is possible, getting a good double-crop is critical to profitability. Unfortunately, double-crop yields are highly variable over years, with no guarantee that there will even be enough moisture at (or after) wheat harvest to get and maintain a good stand of soybeans. Harvesting wheat at grain moisture near 20 % (rotary combines work best for this) and drying the grain might allow earlier planting of soybean, which can greatly improve the chances of double-crop success. Wheat harvested at such high moisture needs to be aerated quickly to prevent spoilage at the high temperatures common during wheat harvest. Some might be considering planting corn or grain sorghum instead of soybean as a double- crop. Neither of these crops is as "proven" as soybean when planted this late, but both might have some potential, especially if planting can be earlier than June 20 or so. While high grain price would be a reason to use one of these crops, disadvantages include high seed and fertilizer cost (especially for corn), sensitivity of sorghum to cool temperatures late in the (delayed) season, less tolerance of corn to periods of dry weather, and the possibility of high insect pressures in late-developing corn. Emerson Nafziger, IPM, The Bulletin (Pest Management & Crop Development Information for Illinois), College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The INDIANA CROP & WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is issued weekly April through November by the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. Second Class postage paid at Lafayette IN. For information on subscribing, send request to above address. POSTMASTER: Send address change to the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weather Information Table Week ending Sunday April 8, 2007 ----------------------------------------------------- | Past Week Weather Summary Data |--------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |---------------|------------|Soil |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN| Total|Days |Temp ----------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) Chalmers_5W 72 21 41 -8 0.11 1 Francesville 69 18 39 -8 0.00 0 Valparaiso_AP_I 67 22 40 -6 0.00 0 Wanatah 68 20 39 -6 0.00 0 47 Winamac 69 21 39 -7 0.00 0 44 North Central(2) Plymouth 72 20 39 -8 0.30 3 South_Bend 73 22 40 -6 0.10 3 Young_America 73 22 40 -6 0.41 1 Northeast (3) Columbia_City 73 19 39 -6 0.04 2 43 Fort_Wayne 76 20 40 -6 0.13 3 West Central(4) Greencastle 76 23 42 -8 1.20 1 Perrysville 78 21 42 -6 0.92 1 46 Spencer_Ag 78 23 43 -6 1.10 1 Terre_Haute_AFB 76 24 43 -7 1.07 1 W_Lafayette_6NW 73 21 41 -6 0.12 2 46 Central (5) Eagle_Creek_AP 76 24 43 -6 1.50 2 Greenfield 78 23 42 -6 0.85 3 Indianapolis_AP 78 23 44 -6 0.78 1 Indianapolis_SE 77 23 42 -7 1.01 1 Tipton_Ag 75 21 41 -5 0.46 1 44 East Central(6) Farmland 76 21 40 -6 0.33 1 45 New_Castle 76 23 42 -4 0.52 1 Southwest (7) Evansville 81 26 47 -7 0.61 1 Freelandville 78 24 45 -6 0.67 1 Shoals 81 24 44 -7 1.54 1 Stendal 81 27 48 -4 0.84 1 Vincennes_5NE 79 25 45 -6 0.89 1 47 South Central(8) Leavenworth 80 24 46 -5 1.96 1 Oolitic 78 24 43 -7 1.14 1 48 Tell_City 81 32 49 -3 0.77 2 Southeast (9) Brookville 82 24 45 -3 0.70 1 Greensburg 81 23 44 -5 0.85 1 Scottsburg 81 23 45 -6 1.34 1 ---------------------------------------------------- Weather Information Table (Continued) Week ending Sunday April 8, 2007 ------------------------------------------------ Accumulation -------------------------------- April 1, 2007 thru Station April 8, 2007 -------------------------------- Precipitation |GDD Base 50oF -------------------------------- | | | | Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN ------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Chalmers_5W | 0.32 -0.58 2 25 +9 Francesville | 0.27 -0.67 1 18 +9 Valparaiso_AP_I | 0.21 -0.80 1 16 +8 Wanatah | 0.38 -0.59 1 12 +4 Winamac | 0.41 -0.53 1 17 +8 North Central(2)| Plymouth | 1.03 +0.04 4 18 +7 South_Bend | 0.50 -0.53 4 19 +11 Young_America | 0.59 -0.29 2 26 +18 Northeast (3) | Columbia_City | 0.44 -0.52 3 19 +13 Fort_Wayne | 0.48 -0.40 4 26 +18 West Central(4) | Greencastle | 1.45 +0.49 2 34 +15 Perrysville | 1.18 +0.17 2 34 +19 Spencer_Ag | 1.72 +0.67 2 36 +20 Terre_Haute_AFB | 1.19 +0.22 2 38 +18 W_Lafayette_6NW | 0.55 -0.37 3 28 +19 Central (5) | Eagle_Creek_AP | 2.31 +1.32 3 40 +23 Greenfield | 1.48 +0.45 4 39 +27 Indianapolis_AP | 1.53 +0.54 2 43 +26 Indianapolis_SE | 2.14 +1.19 2 39 +23 Tipton_Ag | 0.73 -0.28 2 34 +26 East Central(6) | Farmland | 0.77 -0.16 2 24 +16 New_Castle | 1.19 +0.16 2 38 +30 Southwest (7) | Evansville | 1.17 +0.08 2 51 +14 Freelandville | 0.74 -0.27 2 50 +26 Shoals | 2.59 +1.48 2 44 +20 Stendal | 2.03 +0.83 2 60 +31 Vincennes_5NE | 0.96 -0.05 2 43 +19 South Central(8)| Leavenworth | 2.27 +0.99 2 57 +32 Oolitic | 1.76 +0.69 2 39 +20 Tell_City | 1.04 -0.25 3 60 +27 Southeast (9) | Brookville | 0.85 -0.17 2 55 +43 Greensburg | 1.25 +0.19 2 55 +39 Scottsburg | 1.94 +0.81 2 48 +24 ------------------------------------------------------------------ DFN = Departure From Normal (Using 1961-90 Normals Period). GDD = Growing Degree Days. Precipitation (Rainfall or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precip of .01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. Copyright 2007: Agricultural Weather Information Service, Inc. All rights reserved. The above weather information is provided by AWIS, Inc. For detailed ag weather forecasts and data visit the AWIS home page at: www.awis.com