in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date June 3, 2001 Issue IN-CW2201 Agricultural Summary Scattered showers slowed major field activities such as spraying, side-dressing, planting soybeans and baling hay in most areas of the state. Cool, wet weather has slowed crop growth and development. Warm weather and sunshine are needed to improve corn and soybean condition and color. Spraying for armyworms continued in some areas and replanting has been necessary in scattered fields around the state. Farmers should continue to monitor fields for insects. Field Crops Report There were 2.2 days suitable for fieldwork. Corn condition declined and is rated 64 percent good to excellent compared with 82 percent last year at this time. Ninety-eight percent of the soybean acreage is planted compared with 93 percent a year ago and 75 percent for the average. By area, 99 percent of the soybean acreage is planted in the north, 99 percent in the central regions and 93 percent in the south. Ninety-five percent of the intended soybean acreage has emerged compared with 84 percent last year. Soybean condition declined and is rated 59 percent good to excellent compared with 67 percent last year. Other activities during the week included spraying, applying anhydrous ammonia, cleaning and repairing equipment, baling hay, chopping forage, mowing roads and hauling manure. All of the winter wheat has now headed compared with 86 percent for the average. Winter wheat condition is rated 66 percent good to excellent compared with 80 percent a year ago at this time. Livestock, Pasture and Range Report Pasture condition is rated 7 percent excellent, 42 percent good, 26 percent fair, 16 percent poor and 9 percent very poor. Transplanting of tobacco is 48 percent complete compared with 37 percent for the average. First cutting of alfalfa hay is 47 percent complete compared with 51 percent last year and 43 percent for the 5-year average. Crop Progress Table --------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg --------------------------------------------------- Percent Soybeans Planted 98 96 93 75 Soybeans Emerged 95 88 84 NA Winter Wheat Headed 100 100 100 86 Tobacco Plants Set 48 31 60 37 Alfalfa First Cutting 47 30 51 43 Crop Condition Table -------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent -------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn 1 6 29 52 12 Soybeans 2 6 33 53 6 Pasture 9 16 26 42 7 Winter Wheat 2001 3 7 24 56 10 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable For Fieldwork Table ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : Week : Week : Year ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 1 2 1 Short 3 9 9 Adequate 72 65 77 Surplus 24 24 13 Subsoil Very Short 5 7 7 Short 19 23 32 Adequate 66 64 58 Surplus 10 6 3 Days Suitable 2.2 1.7 3.7 Contact information --Ralph W. Gann, State Statistician --Bud Bever, Agricultural Statistician E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov http://www.nass.usda.gov/in/index.htm Other Agricultural Comments And News When Good Corn Fields Turn Bad -Some fields emerged unevenly. Others emerged uniformly, but subsequently turned ugly. -The causes are usually below ground. Typically, more than one cause is involved. -Growing conditions greatly influence the situation. Most corn growers will tell you that the maximum corn yield potential of a hybrid exists while the seed is still in the bag. Once the seed is in the ground, the challenge is to protect that yield potential from the many potential stresses that await the developing crop. This growing season is doing its best to reinforce that belief. Around the state, folks are lamenting the fact that fields of corn that had emerged uniformly and initially developed uniformly are now fields that contain plants of uneven color and size. Other fields did not emerge uniformly to begin with. The recent spate of unusually cool temperatures and (in some places) excessive rainfall has contributed to the further development of fields that can only be labeled as ugly. Why worry about uneven stands of corn? Simply put, it leads to unfair competition among adjacent plants and, ultimately, to a lower yield potential for the field. Research from Illinois and Wisconsin documented potential yield losses ranging from 8 to 20% due to uneven emergence, depending on the degree of delayed emergence timing and the extent to which the field was affected. Basically, if delayed emergers are two leaves or greater behind the original emergers, the delayed emergers will likely be barren at the end of the year. Yield losses to competition among plants of similar age but varying degrees of health or vigor is more difficult to document, but likely mimics that due to uneven emergence. What causes uneven emergence? The three common causes are a) uneven soil moisture in the seed furrow, b) uneven seed to soil contact and c) uneven soil temperature in the seed furrow. The order in which I listed these causes is probably the order of frequency in which they were responsible for uneven emergence in 2001. I've seen more instances of delayed emergence due to soil moisture problems this year than in many recent years. In some cases, the problem was related to a)uneven seeding depth or b)uneven soil moisture at the selected seeding depth. In other cases, preplant tillage left a cloddy seedbed, especially in the tillage tire tracks, and those areas of the planted field had to wait for the recent soaking rains before germination occurred. It is not uncommon to find fields with plant variability for growth stage as great as four leaves, meaning that if the original emergers are at the V6 stage of development, the delayed emergers are at growth stage V2. What causes fields that emerged uniformly to later turn ugly? Almost invariably the cause lies below ground. Several weeks ago, I briefly reviewed how roots are supposed to develop in corn (P&C Newsletter ,11 May). In that article, I emphasized the importance of maintaining the health of the seed and the mesocotyl until the nodal root system was successfully established. As the nodal roots develop, the importance of the seed reserves and the mesocotyl (the 'pipeline' to those reserves) declines. For all practical purposes, the time from planting to about V4 to V6 can be labeled the 'critical stand establishment' period for corn. If a field of corn successfully develops to the V4 to V6 (four to six visible leaf collars) stages with no damage to mesocotyls or seeds, chances are that field will look very uniform. If, however, mesocotyl or seed damage occurs prior to substantial nodal root development, seedlings will either die or be severely stunted. Consequently, a field that may have emerged uniformly and initially looked quite uniform may become very uneven in appearance if initial seedling development has been affected by one or more stresses. What stresses are we talking about? The list of potential stresses that can injure the seed, seed roots or mesocotyl is not particularly long, but deciding which ones to blame can be difficult since more than one is usually present in any given field. The list of possible offenders includes: -Seed rot fungi -Seedling blight fungi -Excessively wet soils (death by drowning) -Excessively dry soils (death by desiccation) -Anhydrous ammonia fertilizer 'burn ' -Wireworms -Seedcorn maggots -Grubs of various types -Prying agronomists -Starter fertilizer 'burn' Other factors that influence the effects of these early stresses include cool soils in general, sandblasting injury, herbicide injury, excessively dry conditions and ponding. All of these weather-related stresses slow or hinder the early growth of corn seedlings and make them more vulnerable to the above list of stresses. Similarly, while most herbicides that can injure corn do not do so to such young seedlings, later injury will subsequently hamper the recovery of an already struggling crop. Seed quality and the hybrid's inherent seedling vigor also play an important role in determining the consequence of injury during stand establishment. Otherwise minor stresses during stand establishment can have major effects on overall plant health if seed quality is less than acceptable or if seedling vigor is simply average. So, what's a guy to do? The bad news is that if stand establishment this year is crappy (an agronomic term meaning uneven), there is little you can do about it now. As you think about next year, there are a few things you can keep in mind to minimize the future risk of crappy stands. -Create as little surface compaction as you possibly can prior to planting -Avoid working wet ground and creating cloddy seedbeds -Don't go hog-wild on earlier than normal planting. Recognize that seed fungicide treatments only provide 10 to 14 days of protection under "normal" conditions (Illinois Pest & Crop Bulletin, 15 May 1998). -Plant your best-vigor hybrids first. (Requires home-work on your part) -Plant your best quality seed lots first. (Requires home-work on your part) -Plant your best-drained fields first. -Consider planter-applied insecticide for protection against wireworm and seedcorn maggot if you are certain of their presence. -If soil conditions are unusually dry at planting, aim for a seeding depth that maximizes soil moisture uniformity in the seed furrow. A Final Comment. Any time that germination, emergence AND/OR stand establishment are delayed significantly, the developing crop is simply exposed to a lengthier period of stresses from the list above. The consequence of such stresses on a slowly developing crop is exactly the uneven stands of corn that some corn growers are lamenting about now. Don't forget, this and other timely information about corn can be viewed at the Chat 'n Chew Cafe on the World Wide Web at . For other information about corn, take a look at the Corn Growers' Guidebook on the World Wide Web at . Bob Nielsen, Dept. of Agronomy, Purdue University. Weather Information Table Week Ending Sunday June 3, 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------- | Past Week Weather Summary Data |--------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |---------------|-----------|Soil |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN|Total |Days|Temp -------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Valparaiso_Ag |67 41 55 -11 0.61 4 Wanatah |70 39 55 -10 1.22 4 60 Wheatfield |72 42 56 -10 0.97 4 Winamac |72 43 55 -11 0.90 3 61 North Central(2)| Logansport |74 45 56 -11 1.07 5 Plymouth |69 40 55 -13 0.84 4 South_Bend |69 37 55 -10 1.42 4 Young_America |74 42 57 -10 1.16 4 Northeast (3) | Bluffton |73 45 57 -10 1.02 4 58 Fort_Wayne |74 42 57 -10 1.15 4 West Central (4)| Crawfordsville |78 43 58 -10 1.39 4 64 Perrysville |77 46 58 -9 0.52 4 62 Terre_Haute_Ag |79 40 59 -10 0.87 2 66 W_Lafayette_6NW |76 45 58 -9 0.73 4 60 Central (5) | Castleton |75 46 59 -10 1.47 4 Greenfield |76 45 58 -9 0.52 4 Greensburg |75 41 59 -9 0.16 4 Indianapolis_AP |76 44 59 -9 0.76 4 Indianapolis_SE |75 44 57 -12 0.41 4 Tipton_Ag |74 45 56 -10 0.95 4 60 East Central (6)| Farmland |75 45 58 -8 0.36 4 56 New_Castle |73 44 56 -11 0.96 4 Southwest (7) | Dubois_Ag |78 45 62 -6 0.20 4 67 Evansville |79 48 65 -6 0.68 4 Freelandville |77 49 62 -7 0.92 2 Shoals |77 44 60 -8 0.21 3 Vincennes_5NE |77 47 61 -8 0.97 3 63 South Central(8)| Bloomington |75 46 60 -9 0.53 5 Tell_City |78 49 64 -6 0.05 2 Southeast (9) | Scottsburg |77 48 61 -8 0.55 4 ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- | Accumulation | April 1, 2001 thru Station | June 3, 2001 |--------------------------------- |Precipitation| GDD Base 50oF |-------------|------------------- | Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN ------------------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Valparaiso_Ag | 8.32 +0.09 35 595 +133 Wanatah | 8.03 +0.22 36 578 +165 Wheatfield | 7.86 +0.25 37 633 +193 Winamac | 9.11 +1.51 34 647 +158 North Central(2)| Logansport | 8.74 +1.15 35 621 +135 Plymouth | 7.65 -0.40 35 563 +50 South_Bend | 8.82 +1.41 33 613 +173 Young_America | 7.28 -0.31 30 697 +211 Northeast (3) | Bluffton | 9.19 +1.48 34 644 +142 Fort_Wayne | 7.27 +0.10 36 634 +169 West Central (4)| Crawfordsville | 6.44 -2.02 30 656 +85 Perrysville | 4.96 -3.37 30 756 +218 Terre_Haute_Ag | 10.30 +1.57 28 843 +243 W_Lafayette_6NW | 6.43 -1.53 29 720 +228 Central (5) | Castleton | 9.49 +1.00 29 735 +168 Greenfield | 7.46 -1.19 29 731 +191 Greensburg | 8.44 -0.81 26 794 +246 Indianapolis_AP | 6.52 -1.54 24 812 +223 Indianapolis_SE | 6.10 -2.39 23 707 +140 Tipton_Ag | 7.57 -0.51 26 621 +168 East Central (6)| Farmland | 9.41 +1.65 29 638 +201 New_Castle | 11.07 +2.17 31 560 +110 Southwest (7) | Dubois_Ag | 5.45 -4.00 23 883 +255 Evansville | 5.56 -3.60 24 994 +234 Freelandville | 5.53 -3.80 24 879 +246 Shoals | 5.70 -4.11 23 816 +207 Vincennes_5NE | 4.28 -5.05 20 913 +280 South Central(8)| Bloomington | 5.81 -3.24 28 826 +207 Tell_City | 4.38 -5.64 16 959 +253 Southeast (9) | Scottsburg | 7.36 -1.67 26 861 +226 ------------------------------------------------------------- DFN = Departure From Normal (Using 1961-90 Normals Period). GDD = Growing Degree Days. Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precipitation of 0.01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. Copyright 2001: AWIS, 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 or call toll free at 1-888-798-9955.