Agronomy Zone 9

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For the most part, crops in northeast Iowa & Wisconsin are looking good.  As is the case across most of the Corn Belt, there has been far too much rain across my region and as a result, the shallow root system may be a cause for concern if things turn dry in August. However, there has been plenty of moisture to get the crop through the crucial pollination period.  It's easy to see the tile lines, but in most areas there has been just enough time to drain the soils between rains to prevent ponding and resulting denitrification from occurring. 

I have found rootworm larvae and a few beetles over the last few weeks, and am beginning to see a few aphids.  Bottom line, barring any hail storms or high winds in the future my region looks to be on track for a bumper crop this year.

Southeast Minnesota is currently the driest area in my region.  The corn is about 80 to 90 percent planted, with around 30 percent of the beans in.  The soil is dry, so a rain would be very beneficial to get things going.  Quite a bit of the corn is out of the ground and I'm sure by the weekend even some of the soybeans will be poking through.
 
Much of Wisconsin has had rainfall similar to northeast Iowa.  I would estimate that 60 to 70 percent of the corn is in, with about 20 to 30 percent of the soybean planting done.  Due to the rolling landscape, a lot of the fields are no-till, so planting progress may be a little behind northheast Iowa due to the nature of the cooler soils that result in a slightly delayed planting schedule compared to conventional tillage areas.
 
Early rains in northeast Iowa have delayed some areas, so progress is a little more uneven throughout this region.  Nonetheless, 80 to 90 percent of the corn is in the ground.  In fact, many growers in this area are done with corn and have nearly half of their soybeans in.  Corn was planted earlier in this area than any other area I cover, with some of it going in as early as March 31st.  With the unseasonably warm weather, it looks like they will get away with it this time.  Quite a few corn fields have started to poke out of the ground during the last week and, by the end of the week, a few soybean fields may start popping up.

With the cool, wet fall this year, I’ve been called out to quite a few fields to diagnose ear molds.  In doing so, I’ve realized that there are several types of ear molds, and that some of them are rather hard to distinguish.  Since some produce mycotoxins that can be harmful to humans and livestock, I decided to put together some information on what I believe are the most prevalent molds in my region (see attached pdf).  It’s important to remember that even though you may have found a mold that isn’t known for producing mycotoxins, lab tests often come back positive for more than one type of mold in the same sample.  As always, contact your Stine agronomist for more local information.

Ear Molds In Corn

This year I have fielded quite a few questions dealing with LibertyLink soybeans.  So, in this blog I will attempt to address some of those questions as best I can:

Question:  Will LL soybeans yield as well as RR2’s?

Answer:  Yes.  The big promotion with RR2’s is that they will yield 7-11% better because the RR2 trait is inserted in way that it doesn’t interfere with the yield of the soybean.  Well, due to the unique nature of the LL trait, LL soybeans also offer no yield drag or lag.  Each year, most of our soybeans that are new genetics yield at or above 105% of the trial average in Stine’s elite yield data.  So, since our LL soybeans are all new genetics, we can determine they will most likely yield at least 5-7% better than many of our RR1’s because they are new genetics.  In addition, in my opinion, seed treatments can add, on average, a 2 bushel bump in yield.  At an average of 50 bushel per acre, that’s an additional 4%.  Added together, new LL genetics and a seed treatment can deliver a 7-11% yield bump.  So my point is if you plant a LL soybean with a seed treatment, you can expect it to yield just as well if not better than any RR2 soybean on the market.

Question:  Is Ignite more complicated to use than glyphosate?

Answer:  No.  Ignite is used at the same use rate as most glyphosate (22oz./A) and requires the addition of AMS.  Glufosinate (the active ingredient in Ignite) needs at least two of the three following conditions to work as well as glyphosate:

1. 15 gallons of water per acre.
2. Warm, humid growing conditions.
3. Spray tips that produce a small droplet size.

Question:  Does Ignite work as well as glyphosate?

Answer:  The short answer to this question is yes.  For the most part, Ignite has a comparable kill to glyphosate, and with weeds such as common burdock and marestail, even better.  The key to using glufosinate (Ignite) is understanding how it works.  Glufosinate is a contact killer, so coverage is the key.  Where glyphosate travels through the plant and into the root, Ignite causes a buildup of AMS in the weed which in turn stops the weed’s ability to perform photosynthesis.  As a result of this kind of activity, glufosinate has several benefits over glyphosate.  First, Ignite kills weeds much more quickly.  Glyphosate can take up to ten days to kill a weed while you can see weeds die from Ignite in as little as two or three days.  Second, Ignite has far less potential to cause damage to surrounding crops due to drift because it is a contact killer and most plants that get drift on them will only end up with speckled leaves.  And third, there are no weeds that have developed resistance to Ignite.  (There are approximately 16 weeds resistant to glyphosate).  You might not think this is a big deal because you may not currently have any weeds resistant to glyphosate on your farm.  But, consider this; I’m sure many of you have had the experience where it seems like a chemical no longer works quite as well as it used to on the weeds on your farm so, you slowly increase the rate.  This is typically due to overuse of one type of chemistry which results in the weed developing a tolerance for the chemical.  The best way to maintain the effectiveness of a herbicide is to change up the chemistry on your acres.  So, by using a LL soybean program in years you don’t grow glyphosate tolerant corn, you will effectively prolong the glyphosate’s weed killing ability and can ensure you will have weed free corn and soybeans with no forms of weed resistance.