Why is my corn yellow? Tune in to find out!
1:02– Growing conditions: Saturated soil, cold soil, minimal tillage
2:32 – Stage of corn recap
3:28 – Corn root transition phase
5:02 – When to act – patience is key!
6:32 – Pay attention to seeding depth
7:22 – Mesocoytl recovery
8:36– Nitrogen or sulfur deficiency
10:07 – Effects of reduced tillage
11:21 – Key takeaway
If considering cover crops for prevent plant acres, the first step is to talk with your insurance agent, early and often. Knowing your options for payments, cover and potential harvest or termination are important parts of the overall plan.
Should your plan include the use of a cover crop, here are some considerations to include in that planning process.
Before ordering, take inventory:
If the main goal is forage for livestock or grazing, timing matters. To receive full prevent plant payment the cover crop must not be harvested before November 1. If the main goal is tonnage, some crop options yield higher quality forage if harvested prior to November 1. Here are some crop options to consider:
Cereal Rye, also Winter Triticale, Winter Wheat
These cereal grain options provide fast establishment in dry or wet conditions and good weed suppression. In terms of forage quality, fields planted early to Mid-August will provide best growth, but will start to lose biomass and quality by November 1. All cereals planted earlier than the August time-frame will struggle to overwinter if planted early summer.
Ryegrass and Berseem Clover Mix
When seeded at about 15 lbs/a this cover crop mix can provide the benefit of fast establishment with excellent forage quality. It can tolerate close grazing and has good hay potential. Great weed suppression and a strong fiberous root system help break up layers of compaction. Berseem clovers adds 50-100lbs/A nitrogen to the mix for corn next season. Great before corn.
Oats
Oats are a great option for quick establishment, fast growth and a good palatable feed. We recommend them in a mix with a legume for added livestock benefit. If mixing, consider Oats with Sorghum-Sudangrass and/or turnips for early summer plantings and for late summer Oats with Berseem Clover.
Italian Ryegrass
Italian Ryegrass is another option for fast establishment while providing excellent forage quality. This crop tolerates close grazing and would have good hay potential with its higher tonnage as well.
Sorghum Sudangrass and Pearl Millet
These warm season options can be grazed within 4-5 weeks with medium to high palatability for livestock. These options would also provide high biomass for haying or chopping for silage.
Teff Grass
Teff grass is fast-growing and can be harvested in 60 days. It’s fine-stemmed with medium palatability for livestock feed.
Cereal Rye (Overwinters)
As mentioned before cereal rye provides fast establishment in dry or wet conditions and provides great cover for erosion control, weed suppression and organic matter to build soil health.
Ryegrass and Berseem Clover Mix (Winterkills)
When seeded at about 15 lbs/a this cover crop mix can provide the benefit of fast establishment with excellent forage quality. It can tolerate close grazing and has good hay potential. Great weed suppression and a strong fiberous root system help break up layers of compaction. Berseem clovers adds 50-100lbs/A nitrogen to the mix for corn next season. Great before corn.
Oats and Radish (Winterkills)
Oats and radish is another mix that can provide the cover needed for weed suppression when planted anytime from June to August. Fast growth and large amounts of aboveground biomass are perfect for holding onto nutrients from manure applications or fertilizer applied. Great before soybeans.
Berseem Clover: (Winterkills)
Berseem Clover is a quick growing summer annual clover with the main benefit being that it can produce 50-100 lbs/A of nitrogen for the following corn crop.
Disclaimer: There are several options available for prevent plant acres, please contact us at 1-877-GO-LATHAM to inquire about the benefits of different mixes. Be sure to communicate with your crop insurance company to understand the rules and regulations for planting a cover or forage crop before or after your “final plant date” and/or “Late Plant Date” in your state.
If you’re fortunate to be done with planting your crops, it’s time to get back out there and check your stands. This year I’m especially concerned with soybean stands for three main reasons:
Walking fields right after emergence gives you the most time to make corrections or to replant. Stand reductions rarely occur evenly across a field. That’s why I recommend taking 10 stand counts in the area where the problem is the worst, as well as taking 10 counts in an area that was not affected or is slightly affected. Most university researchers recommend keeping a final stand of at least 100,000 plants per acre.
University trials also indicate that planting soybeans on or before June 1 in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota gives 95% of expected yield. It is usually June 15 before soybean yields drop below 85% of what is expected. Over the years, we have seen decent soybean yields when soybeans were planted around the 4th of July.
Scouting early and often is the best advice I can give, so you can remedy the situation as soon as possible. Different insects, diseases and pests may be present due to weather conditions and stage of crop development. Scout diligently all growing season long!
Is it time? Tune in to hear Phil Long discuss the question of the season. Is it time to switch corn maturities? #AskTheAgronomist
The official start of the grilling season is almost upon us! What’s better than grilling your favorite brats or hamburgers while listening to a game of baseball on a beautiful spring day?
With the season of good food upon us, it’s also time to feed your crops. Some farmers plan to reduce fertilizer rates or forgo advanced management practices, such as soil or tissue testing, to save money. I understand that margins are tight, but the short-term savings could cost more in the long run.
I want to encourage farmers to hang in there by offering a few strategies to help navigate tight budgets:
For example, alfalfa is coming off a super hard winter. Crown carbohydrate levels are going to be low. Supplemental potash, boron, and sulfur will help replenish crown reserves and prepare for next winter. If you only can afford one supplemental nutrient, consider potash.
The crown is like alfalfa’s gas tank; the roots are its supply hose; and foliage the energy source. More foliage above the ground helps harness more sun, which helps fill the gas tank. When foliage is removed, the plant takes stored carbohydrates from the root to rebuild the manufacturing plant. When the plant has potash and other vital nutrients, its gas tank fills faster.
More access to carbohydrates in the crown can be used to rebuild another cutting for more yield plus leave the gas tank fuller. Without adequate potash, the gas tank fills slower and even more stored carbohydrates are used. The plant becomes more vulnerable late in season.
Bottom Line: Reducing supplemental fertilizer can lower yields and increase winterkill potential. One way to potentially reduce the risk of winter kill during a reduced supplemental fertility year is not take the last cutting of the season to allow plants to build or manufacture as many carbohydrates as possible. Even if you don’t like the idea of one less cutting, it’s food for thought.
If you’re wondering how to best feed all your plants this season, feel free to call me. I’ll gladly talk through your options. I applaud farmers for their ingenuity. With grit and moxy, farmers do the best with what they have. We, at family-owned and independent Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, are here to help farmers protect their bottom line.
Will your planted fields be affected by imbibitional chilling? Tune in the hear symptoms of the chilling effect.
Each day we turn the calendar, I receive more calls from Latham® dealers and farmers asking whether they should change maturities. Keep in mind, the object is to achieve maximum yield potential for this crop. When you switch maturities, you forfeit maximum potential and have essentially decided to lower your yield expectations!
Based on my experiences over the past 40 years – as well as research findings from many Midwest land grant institutions – I can tell you with confidence that full-season hybrids and varieties outperform early maturing hybrids and varieties. Most people jump the gun and make the switch way too soon. Corn planted in mid-June can make decent yields, and there’s no need to switch from corn to soybeans until after that.
There becomes a point in time where the advantages of planting a full-season hybrid diminishes to the point where shifting to a shorter-season hybrid or variety will generally result in drier corn and higher yields come fall. Below is a summary of factors to consider when deciding whether to switch corn or soybean maturities.
I’ll use northern Iowa and southern Minnesota as an example. If your maturity range is 98- to 109-days (which is what I use for the Latham Research Farm), then you should generally not deviate from those maturities until at least May 25. If all you have left to plant is your 98-day hybrids, then you can safely extend your planting window to about June 7-10. On the other hand, if you only have your 109-day hybrids left to plant, you’ll probably be better off switching to 95- or 99-day products.
That brings us to the next subject… if you must switch, how early of a hybrid is needed? You don’t need to take it to extreme and switch from 109 RM to an 85-day hybrid or something equally silly! Research has proven that it pays to stay closer to your “normal” maturity. Switch to hybrids that are about 5 to 7 relative maturity units earlier than full season for the region. Yields in this scenario will be greatly improved if northern Iowa and southern Minnesota farmers (from the example above) move toward a 92- to 95-day hybrid that is more closely adapted to the area.
The decision to switch maturity with delayed corn planting is difficult because of so many variables including: available GDUs, first frost date and fall drying conditions. With this in mind, here are some general guidelines for Iowa farmers:
| Location within Iowa |
Full Season RM | Switch to on May 25 |
Switch to on June 10 |
| South of U.S. 92 | 114-117 | 108-111 | 105-109 |
| Central | 108-115 | 104-110 | 100-106 |
| North of U.S. 20 | 100-109 | 96-105 | 94-100 |
For your convenience, below are few links to related articles: Adjust this information depending on where you farm, but make your decision is based on sound research and not “coffee shop facts.” Just because your neighbor is switching doesn’t mean it’s the best decision. Conduct a little research of your own before deciding what might be best for your operation.
There is absolutely no reason to start switching soybean maturities until at least mid-June. I use June 20 as our cutoff here in North Central Iowa, but again, it depends on what you were planning to plant in the first place. In this area, bean maturities range from 1.8 to 2.7. L 2482 R2’s are still good to plant in this region until mid-June as we’ve done it before with great results.
Soybeans have even more resiliency when it comes to maturity stretch. Because soybeans are more “photo period” sensitive, they actually adjust based on the length of the nighttime. A planting date of June 20 in southern Wisconsin and June 15 in northern Wisconsin, using early maturing varieties, was considered to be the latest practical date by the University of Wisconsin. Soybeans can be planted in our area as late as the Fourth of July with decent yield results as long as we don’t go into a dry period.
The 2019 planting season will certainly test our patience! It’s tough to turn pages off the calendar without putting any seed in the ground, but it’s better to wait a few more days than to mud seed into the ground. Experts warn that compaction and/or inadequate seed-to-soil contact from planting in wet conditions cause yield reductions for soybean farmers. During a wet year, it’s even more important for soybean growers to pay close attention to machinery. Avoiding soil compaction and obtaining good soil closure over seeds will help increase yields. For more soybean planting tips to boost yields, click here.
In 2018, the EPA extended the registration for over-the-top use of select dicamba products to control weeds in soybean and cotton fields that are genetically engineered to resist dicamba. This registration included label updates which add certain measures to further minimize the potential of off-target damage. This registration will automatically expire on December 20, 2020, unless the EPA extends it further. Listed below are some of the FEDERAL updates now in effect:
Minnesota: Must not apply dicamba herbicides after June 20th. There will be no temperature restriction for 2019.
North Dakota: Must not apply dicamba after June 30th. Keeping records of dicamba applications is required and will be strictly enforced.
South Dakota: Must not apply dicamba after June 30th, 45 days after planting or the R1 (beginning bloom) stage of soybeans, whichever comes first. Applicators must also pass a short exam after training is completed.
Illinois: Must not apply dicamba after June 30th. Do not apply when the wind is blowing toward adjacent residential areas. Before spraying, the applicator must consult the FieldWatch sensitive crop registry. Further restrictions apply when spraying near the downfield edge of any Illinois Nature Preserves Commission Site.
These are just some of the new requirements for the application of dicamba over-the-top of soybeans in 2019. There may be additional restrictions from the states not mentioned above or from local authorities. If you will be applying any of the dicamba products in 2019, make certain you attend the required ANNUAL training and conform to what the label requires. Please make these restrictions a high priority so we can continue to use this valuable tool in the fight against weed resistance!