in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date May 4, 2003 Issue IN-CW1803 Agricultural Summary Showers slowed field activities in many areas of the state during the week, according to the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service. Most farmers welcomed the rain as soil moisture was deficient in many regions. Planting of corn and soybeans continued to make good progress, especially in the northern and east central regions of the state. Corn planting is 6 days ahead of average and soybean planting is 1 day ahead of the average pace. Tillage of fields continued along with spreading of fertilizer in fields dry enough to support heavy equipment. Many early planted corn fields have now emerged. Late weekend rain covered much of the state. Ponding is evident in some fields. Field Crops Report There were 3.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Fifty percent of the intended corn acreage is planted compared with 9 percent last year and 34 percent for the 5-year average. By area, 61 percent of the corn acreage is planted in the north, 52 percent in the central region and 23 percent in the south. Eleven percent of the corn acreage has emerged, compared with 1 percent last year and 8 percent for the average. Seventeen percent of the soybean acreage is planted compared with 2 percent last year and 15 percent for the average. Eighty-three percent of the winter wheat acreage is jointed compared with 91 percent last year and 95 percent for the 5-year average. Eight percent of the winter wheat is headed compared with11 percent last year and 16 percent for the average. Winter wheat condition improved and is rated 84 percent good to excellent compared with 66 percent last year at this time. Major activities during the week were tillage of soils, spreading dry fertilizer, spraying chemicals, repairing equipment, moving grain to market, hauling manure, cleaning fence rows, along with taking care of livestock. Livestock, Pasture and Range Report Pasture condition is rated 10 percent excellent, 57 percent good, 27 percent fair, 5 percent poor and 1 percent very poor. Pastures and forage crops continue to improve aided by the recent rain and warmer temperatures. Livestock are in mostly good condition. Spring calving remains active. Crop Progress Table -------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg -------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn Planted 50 26 9 34 Corn Emerged 11 1 1 8 Soybeans Planted 17 4 2 15 Winter Wheat Jointed 83 75 91 95 Winter Wheat Headed 8 2 11 16 Crop Condition Table -------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent -------------------------------------------------------- Percent Pasture 1 5 27 57 10 Winter Wheat 2003 0 2 14 61 23 Winter Wheat 2002 0 6 28 52 14 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable For Fieldwork Table ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : Week : Week : Year ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 1 3 0 Short 6 15 0 Adequate 55 59 32 Surplus 38 23 68 Subsoil Very Short 6 6 0 Short 16 19 1 Adequate 61 65 47 Surplus 17 10 52 Days Suitable 3.6 4.1 1.1 Contact information --Greg Preston, 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 MARESTAIL - WILL IT BE A PROBLEM THIS YEAR? Last summer, there were a number of product performance issues related to poor herbicide activity on marestail. There are a number of reasons why this occurred and the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of these reasons and an update on the current status of marestail in Indiana. Reasons why marestail was difficult to control in 2002: 1) Marestail is a weed which can emerge both in the fall and in the spring. In essence, it is both a winter and a summer annual. Fall emerging marestail will have a more extensive root system than those that emerge in the spring. Plants with more established root systems can be difficult to control because of resprouting from meristems in the lower part of the stem and roots. This occurs if systemic herbicides are not translocated to these meristems in high enough quantities to inhibit growth. Larger or older plants will have a larger number of active meristematic areas in the plant, thus effective herbicide translocation to all meristems becomes very important. 2)Glyphosate products (Roundup, Touchdown, Glyphomax and others) are relatively weak on large marestail. These products provide fairly good control of small (4 inch or less) seedlings, but control falls off pretty dramatically when marestail is more than 4 inches tall. Many of the control failures with glyphosate products were on plants sprayed when they were greater than 1 foot tall. In many of the same fields, glyphosate was the only product used. The addition of 2,4-D or FirstRate/Amplify to glyphosate would have improved control of larger marestail. 3) Weather conditions. Typically, weeds growing in very wet or very dry soils have slower rates of metabolism than weeds growing in less extreme conditions. It is highly likely that the reduced rate of metabolism of weeds growing in these conditions resulted in compromised herbicide activity. We observed this with glyphosate on common lambsquarter in 2002 as well. Common lambsquarter, much like marestail, is difficult to control with glyphosate when it is more than 4 inches tall. So the combination of reduced plant metabolism, plus the fact that glyphosate efficacy on large marestail is variable anyway resulted on control failures. 4) Glyphosate-resistant marestail has been confirmed in Jackson, Bartholomew and Jefferson counties and is suspected in several other counties in southern Indiana. Glyphosate resistant marestail has also been confirmed in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It appears initially that this problem will continue to grow because of widespread adoption of glyphosate use in soybean and the potential for growth in use of glyphosate in corn. In addition, marestail seed is well suited to dispersal by wind. Once a population is established, it will spread very quickly if resistant plants are allowed to go to seed. The Good News. Our observations so far this year is that the marestail populations are lower than they were last year. There are a number of reasons for this. 1) The past fall was relatively dry and seedlings did not emerge. 2) The past winter was relatively harsh compared to previous years. While I was at the University of Missouri conducted studies to monitor winter weed populations in the fall, winter and early spring months. I was relatively surprised by the relatively high rate of mortality of many winter annual weeds, even during relatively mild winters. Typically, henbit and chickweed populations were 50 to 75% lower in the spring compared to the previous fall. So, it is highly likely that any marestail that emerged in the fall would have suffered a similar fate, which would further reduce populations. 3) Spring has been relatively dry in many parts of the state, so spring emergence of marestail is low. 4) 2,4-D provides good control of marestail and is one of the cheapest herbicides we have. In some areas of the state, there is/was a reluctance to use 2,4-D as part of a burndown program for no-till crop production. Crop advisors, representatives with companies that sell glyphosate products, and Purdue University extension specialists have taken an active role in educating our clientele about this issue over the winter months. It appears initially, that much more 2,4-D is being used as a component of the burndown program. This is a wise strategy as it provides another mode of action on this and other weeds and will slow the development of more resistant weed populations. So, to answer our question above, it appears that the marestail problems are of a lower magnitude so far this year. But weather conditions which prevent spraying and/or soil preparation over the next couple of weeks could result in a different story. Stay tuned . Final Comment. Weed Scientists at Purdue University are very concerned about this issue and will be monitoring the distribution and spread of glyphosate-resistant marestail in Indiana. If you think you have a suspect population, please contact your county Extension Educator. We will be collecting seed later this summer and fall from across the state for glyphosate tolerance screening and would to collect seed from as many populations as we can manage. Bill Johnson, Glenn Nice, and Tom Bauman, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University. Weather Information Table Week Ending Sunday May 4, 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------- | Past Week Weather Summary Data |--------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |---------------|-----------|Soil |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN|Total |Days|Temp ------------------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Chalmers_5W |84 36 58 +2 1.34 4 57 Valparaiso_AP_I |76 37 56 +2 1.45 3 Wanatah |78 33 55 +3 1.43 3 60 Wheatfield |80 34 56 +3 1.66 3 Winamac |79 38 59 +4 0.68 2 58 North Central(2)| Plymouth |79 33 57 +2 1.55 2 South_Bend |75 37 58 +5 1.17 3 Young_America |84 39 60 +6 0.33 4 Northeast (3) | Columbia_City |77 32 57 +4 0.41 3 57 Fort_Wayne |78 35 58 +4 0.92 3 West Central (4)| Greencastle |81 38 59 +2 0.23 3 Perrysville |84 35 60 +4 0.57 3 59 Spencer_Ag |82 41 62 +6 0.63 3 Terre_Haute_AFB |81 40 61 +4 0.20 3 W_Lafayette_6NW |83 36 60 +5 1.60 4 60 Central (5) | Eagle_Creek_AP |81 42 61 +4 0.71 3 Greenfield |81 40 61 +6 0.55 4 Indianapolis_AP |81 44 62 +5 0.92 4 Indianapolis_SE |82 39 61 +5 0.36 2 Tipton_Ag |82 36 59 +5 0.87 2 61 East Central (6)| Farmland |81 36 60 +7 0.60 3 58 New_Castle |80 35 59 +5 0.28 3 Southwest (7) | Evansville |82 47 65 +4 0.47 2 Freelandville |80 45 63 +6 0.55 2 Shoals |83 39 63 +6 0.73 2 Stendal |81 46 65 +6 0.59 1 Vincennes_5NE |83 44 64 +6 0.48 2 60 South Central(8)| Leavenworth |82 42 63 +6 0.64 3 Oolitic |80 39 63 +7 0.54 2 63 Tell_City |83 44 67 +7 0.41 2 Southeast (9) | Brookville |82 36 62 +7 0.10 1 Milan_5NE |81 39 62 +7 0.64 4 Scottsburg |82 38 63 +5 0.76 3 ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- | Accumulation | April 1, 2003 thru Station | May 4, 2003 | Precipitation |GDD Base 50oF | | | | | |Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN ------------------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Chalmers_5W | 4.44 +0.29 15 190 +41 Valparaiso_AP_I | 3.77 -0.71 11 183 +74 Wanatah | 4.21 -0.08 12 151 +65 Wheatfield | 4.19 -0.05 10 188 +95 Winamac | 2.90 -1.25 11 198 +81 North Central(2)| Plymouth | 3.84 -0.54 10 171 +44 South_Bend | 4.06 -0.20 11 196 +98 Young_America | 2.01 -1.94 14 209 +96 Northeast (3) | Columbia_City | 2.62 -1.46 13 162 +78 Fort_Wayne | 3.18 -0.64 10 175 +70 West Central (4)| Greencastle | 2.66 -1.64 14 205 +37 Perrysville | 3.14 -1.25 11 237 +98 Spencer_Ag | 3.52 -1.09 12 233 +88 Terre_Haute_AFB | 3.25 -1.21 12 250 +81 W_Lafayette_6NW | 4.14 -0.09 15 225 +107 Central (5) | Eagle_Creek_AP | 2.37 -1.85 12 247 +89 Greenfield | 3.31 -1.27 13 228 +96 Indianapolis_AP | 3.00 -1.22 12 254 +96 Indianapolis_SE | 3.12 -1.19 10 232 +86 Tipton_Ag | 2.41 -2.00 9 172 +75 East Central (6)| Farmland | 1.99 -2.06 10 191 +100 New_Castle | 1.62 -3.01 10 165 +69 Southwest (7) | Evansville | 4.07 -0.55 12 328 +74 Freelandville | 3.67 -0.82 11 276 +88 Shoals | 4.03 -0.71 9 283 +99 Stendal | 4.58 -0.51 10 314 +98 Vincennes_5NE | 3.51 -0.98 11 288 +100 South Central(8)| Leavenworth | 4.10 -1.09 14 289 +99 Oolitic | 3.93 -0.67 11 266 +106 Tell_City | 5.06 -0.39 10 374 +146 Southeast (9) | Brookville | 2.07 -2.35 9 247 +123 Milan_5NE | 3.24 -1.18 14 235 +111 Scottsburg | 6.39 +1.65 12 267 +78 ------------------------------------------------------------- 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 2003: 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. The INDIANA CROP WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is issued weekly April through November by the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite B105, 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 Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite B105, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. Source: Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service