mark.seem's blog

Slugs are beginning to make their presence known in parts of the eastern corn belt. Appearing some 2-3 weeks ahead of normal, these insects overwintered as adults, and with the warmer weather of this spring, have become active earlier than normal. These "snails without a shell" as they are described, have rasping tongues that scrap tissue from the leaf surfaces. Crop injury from slugs is by defoliation of established stands. Freshly damaged plant surfaces will often show a dried slime trail that is deposited as the slug moves across the leaf.

Now that it is May, the story of April, nationally, was heat and planting progress. By month's end, the corn belt had recorded temperatures that were some of the warmest on record. In addition, many states also experienced one of the driest April's ever. Monthly temperatures averaged 5 degrees F above normal in many states, and what precipitation did occur, helped to alleviate the drought stress that was evident going into the planting season. Rains during the last week of the month were especially timely.

Record planting pace has been reported in some regions of the corn belt. The warmer and drier early spring helped start this record planting, and the mostly drier weather since has helped mainitain the pace in many areas. Recent precipitation has slowed progress slightly, and recent frosts and freezes have some producers checking their crops for damage. Field activities (spraying, fertilizing, tilling, planting) are being accomplished with good timing.

Black cutworms are begining to be of concern in some areas of the Midwest. This is due to several intertwined  events: early planting of corn crops in many regions, intense early flights of black cutworm moths, weedy fields, and lack of mortality on black cutworms due to the recent cold freezing temperatures.

Weather around the central Corn Belt during the past week has seen significantly lower temperatures than in March and early April. The early warm weather had seen a sharp increase in planted acres early in April, and also higher than normal emergence figures for this time of the year in some states. Precipitation moved thru late in the week, bring a slow down to planting progress. In the central corn belt, Illinois (17%), Kentucky (32%), and Missouri (23%) have the most acres of corn in the ground.

Many corn hybrids contain multiple transgenic Bt insect traits, the cost of seed reflects the value that these traits bring to the corn producer. Along with the increase of the method of delivering this multiple Bt traits, refuge requirements are also changing. Structured refuges remain at 20% for some traits and are defined as blocks of rows, or portions of the field. Some traits have had their structured refuge requirement reduce to 5%.

Grain markets can greatly influence planting intentions by producers. Recent shifts in corn and soybean prices have some considering the possibility that soybeans may be more profitable than corn in the long term.

Soybeans are an important crop across the Midwest, and with recent high prices, have taken on an even more vital role in generating farm income. Producers are looking for ways to maximize soybean production and grain yield. Enhancing fertility is one potential way of achieving higher yields and higher income per acre from a soybean crop. Fertilizer is an expensive crop input, and close attention needs to be paid to managing this, so as to maximize the return on investment for the soybean crop.

The past 30 days or so have seen the crops withstand heat and drought in some areas, and heat and rainfall in  other areas.  Overall the crops appear to be headed towards a successfull season. A general trend is emerging - early planted crops in western regions appear to be better, while in the central and east, later planted crops appear better. However that said... the expectation for the next USDA crop report is less harvested acres, slightly less corn yield and not much change for soybeans, from earlier crop reports.

Soybean Aphids are being noted in many fields across the upper midwest. Agronomists from Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska are reporting increasing numbers of these pesky yield robbing insects.

Dave Draker, Sales Agronomist for LG Seeds in eastern Iowa, recommends the attached publications are good tools for information on Soybean Aphids, and an excelelnt source of scouting tips and control options.