Stine^® agronomy insights: Early-season crop progress update — continued

Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Erik Salm, field agronomist for Stine, says the planting season is off to a strong start in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“We had a strong stretch — planting ran six days in a row, and we got nearly all of our Product Development Plots (PDP) in the ground,” he says. “Wisconsin is sitting a step ahead of the five-year pace on planting progress, and the dry window last week was the real enabler. It was much needed across the region to help growers push the rest of their acres in.”

With planting winding down in Wisconsin, growers have shifted focus to emergence.

“Subsoil moisture has remained adequate to surplus across most of the territory, setting up a favorable backdrop for the next phase, even as topsoil runs drier,” notes Salm. “Soil temperatures climbed quickly through the week as well, which should pull emergence forward on later plantings. Corn planted into the cooler soils earlier in the week will likely take its time, so watching emergence dates closely is worth doing before drawing conclusions about stand uniformity.”

On the product side, Salm and his team are running a soybean treatment trial across multiple plots.

“A single variety held constant when compared to untreated versus Stine F&I versus Stine F&I + Victrato^®,” says Salm. “The first emergence read comes this week, and that's the comparison I'm watching most closely as we head into the next reporting window.”

Western Iowa, southwestern Minnesota and southeastern South Dakota

Stine Technical Agronomist Tony Lenz reports that corn and soybean planting started early in southwestern Minnesota this year, with many growers having corn in the ground by April 24. According to Lenz, this area didn’t receive its first measurable rainfall of the spring until April 26, which resulted in 1–2 inches in most areas.

Western Iowa had similar conditions, with many areas concentrated on planting soybeans first with the cooler soils and weather patterns.

“The planting update on April 27 showed that trend across the country, with equal percentages of each crop planted, which was historically high for soybeans at that time,” says Lenz. “South Dakota, on the other hand, did not push planting and waited till May 1 to really start planting corn and soybeans.”

He notes some additional observations from the field.

“In the dry western areas I cover, the seed laid in dry and cool soils for a long time,” says Lenz. “The first 48 hours are critical for seed germination, especially when the seed takes in its first drink of water. If that initial moisture is too cold, it can shock the seed and affect how it responds. Ideally, that first drink should be warm rather than cold to support healthy germination. A corn seed also needs to take in about 30% of its own weight in water to start the germination process. We had very dry soils at 2 inches deep. Also, our soils remained in the low 50s at 4 inches. With those conditions, it takes seed three to four weeks to emerge evenly, so corn is coming up uneven.”

He adds that he’s been walking fields seeing 90% of seed up within a 48-hour window, which is behind the trends he’s seen over the last four to five years.

“One other thing that’s slowed emergence has been the cool nights, so the growing degree days are deceiving because the high of the day has only been for a few hours while the nighttime lows have been longer,” he says.

Lenz also notes that most areas picked up timely rains in the past week, which will help with crusting soils so both soybean and corn crops break the soil surface. Once the seed has emerged, he says it will be important to return to much warmer conditions.

“We’re seeing V1–V2 corn and soybeans breaking through in most of my areas,” says Lenz. “Our Stine corn hybrids have emerged very well so far and have had good vigor.”

Western Minnesota, North Dakota and northern South Dakota

In western Minnesota, North Dakota and northern South Dakota, Stine Field Agronomist Susan Hart says that, after a slow start to the spring due to inconsistent weather patterns, the past two weeks have made for some good planting progress on both corn and soybeans.

“With no significant rainfall for the past three weeks and soil temps getting above 50 degrees, the planters have been rolling full speed ahead,” she says. “We have had good progress getting our PDPs planted with only a few remaining on the northern edge of the territory.”

Hart notes that some growers started planting corn the week of April 20, getting an early start to the season. Much of that corn just started emerging over the weekend.

“I expect to see a lot more corn popping up throughout the week and look forward to starting early stand counts next week,” she says. “One specific problem we are focusing on is soil crusting as the corn gets closer to emergence. Some growers got in just before a hard, cool rain followed by hot days and high winds, which created a hard surface crust. Several growers had rotary hoes in the field to try to break up the crust and reduce damage to the emerging corn.”

Due to the inconsistent weather patterns this spring, Hart says many growers turned to planting soybeans first as they are more tolerant to early-season stress. They’re still waiting to see soybeans start popping out of the ground, but that may be for the best as recent high wind events have caused a lot of erosion and sandblasting, in addition to freeze warnings that are still looming in the forecast. 

In her territories spanning into north-central, southwest and west-central Minnesota, conversations of drought are starting to loom as abnormally dry conditions persist.

“According to Minnesota’s Drought.gov, 34% of the state is experiencing drought-like conditions,” Hart stresses. “We missed some key rain events this weekend in north-central Minnesota, making the outlook less favorable, especially in the coarser soil types.”

She notes that not many products are out of the ground yet, but growers are excited about Stine MX481-G, which had really strong performance in the plots last year.

“MX481-G has been a key product this spring for that maturity group,” says Hart. “And MX261-G is a product on the early side that is brand new this year. We’re really excited to see what this product can do with its genetic ties to high-performing hybrids — MX481-G and MX471-G.”

Northern Indiana, Michigan and Ohio

Jacob Foote, Stine field agronomist, covers the northern half of Indiana and Ohio and notes growers in these territories have had their fair share of struggles so far this growing season.

“In the second week of April, growers caught strong planting conditions and ran with them,” he says. “There were a lot of acres that were able to be planted across central and southern Ohio, but early plantings can sometimes lead to an increase in risk.”

Foote notes that late frosts, cold rains and rapidly cooling soil temperatures have led to slower emergence conditions, as well as some early-season stress.

“Thankfully, we have seen some periods of warm weather and sunshine over the last week, which has really helped crops regain some early-season vigor and plant health,” he says. “Northeast and northwest Ohio have just started with planting. Constant rain showers and cold temperatures have not allowed soils to be fit, but with the extended forecast looking promising, I expect we will see some progress in planting and emergence across the state.”

Michigan has had a little bit of a later start when compared to the other two states, says Foote, but they’ve missed recent rains over the past few weeks and have had the chance to get many acres planted.

“We have been fortunate enough to get our corn and soybean PDPs planted as well, which will allow us to gather data and develop a strong understanding of product performance and placement,” he adds.

With the slower emergence conditions, Foote stresses that it’s critical to keep a close eye on corn and soybean fields.

“Diseases, soil compaction and increased insect pressure are all issues that can be amplified based on the year that we’ve had so far,” he says. “In talking with growers across the three states I cover, they have been pleased with crop performance so far. Despite having a slower start, the weather has finally turned in our favor, and crops have perked up exponentially.”