For the most part crops in Eastern IA turned out better than expected. The exception being in the southern most counties that were absent of rain through most of the growing season and areas that were hit by one of Iowa’s several wind storms.
The corn crop was exposed to the hottest 3 weeks on record and we are seeing some of that aftermath now, The integrity if the plant is now giving way. Although the plant seemed to handle the stress very well, I think that it cannibalized itself, more that we imagined, that in turn took away from it later fall intactness. We did see Northern Corn Leaf Blight come in fairly heavy but it came in late and past the time that it can do much damage. It also seems like the later maturities for the zone did a little better than the early ones.
The soybean crop was also for the most part a pleasant surprise. It is amazing to see what we can grow in an environment that has less disease pressure. The heat is kind of a double edged sword; the heat is the yield robbing is what that impacted the yields down South the most. But the heat also kept some of our soybean disease at bay this year, like Brown stem rot and white mold, these diseases can’t survive in above 90 degrees temps for long. This coupled up with the ever revolving door for new varieties; keeps us trying to move the yield cap up.
As always have a safe fall!
