Uncategorized

I am concerned with the amount of non-treated soybean seed available for this year’s planting.  For the four varieties I received for 2013 planting only one variety was treated as ordered.  The germination for the treated seed was only 80% while the remaining non-treated seed had 90% germination.  In a spring with extremely wet soils, I would advise treated soybeans to reduce the potential problems with pythium and phytophthora seeding blights and root rots.

Remember, the penalty from “side wall” compaction is significantly greater than the penalty for late planting. Until the 3^rd week of May (20 May 2013), the corn yield losses are small for this delayed planting. 

The morning soil temperatures at the Agronology 10 Research Center were generally better than I had expected.  A selected grouping of soil temperatures at a 4 inch depth is provided:

     Date                       Time (am)                     F°                   Rainfall

28 April 2013                  9:00                           52                    0.00

29 April 2013                  8:00                           54                    0.00

30 April 2013                  7:30                           59                    0.00

1 May 2013                    7:00                            61                    0.00

2 May 2013                    8:45                            57                    0.00

3 May 2013                    8:30                            44                    0.55

4 May 2013                    —-                               —                     1.50

5 May 2013                    —-                               —                     0.20

6 May 2013                   7:50                             54                    0.00

At the Agronology 10 Research Center, corn was planted on 29 and 30 April, and soybeans were planted on 1 May 2013.  These plantings were done on a stale seed bed.

                                   

 

Think about your corn production on your personal farming operation as the most important factor for you to consider.  Yes, price per bushel at selling time is significant, but total bushels to be sold are something you can influence.  Those management practices that can enhance your potential yields need to be done correctly.  Yes, continue to sell or at least evaluate the prices as marketing opportunity develops in this 2013 crop year.

A review of the national and IL data for 2007 thru 2011 is provided in Table 1.  The expected national trend line yield for 2013 corn is 163.6 Bu/A and soybeans is 44.5 Bu/A.

                                                             Corn Yield Data for 2007 thru 2011____________________________

Year                                                National Yield                                                              IL Yield

                                                               ——————————Bu/A————————————

2007                                                       151.5                                                                     175.0

2008                                                       153.9                                                                     179.0

2009                                                       164.7                                                                     174.0

2010                                                       152.8                                                                     157.0
2011                                                       147.2                                                                     157.0______________

                                                        

April Fools has come and gone and it’s time to begin thinking about “spring”.  Your lawn needs your attention now!  It is ready for its spring application of nitrogen, potassium and sulfur.  Generally, a nitrogen application of .75 lbs. N/1000 sq. ft. (33.7 lbs. N/A) will get your lawn off to a good start.  Additionally, raising the mowing height to next to the highest setting on the mower will greatly help your lawn.

                                                       

Last year in 2012, I had two bits of information on the seed tags which caused me some concern.  The first bit of information dealt with the weight of the 80,000 kernel count bags.  My weights varied from 37.5 lbs/80,000 k to 60 lbs/80,000 k.  I questioned whether this difference in kernel weight would affect early stand counts and the answer was no.  The other bit of information that caused me concern was 92% germination vs. the standard of 95% germination on the remainder of my seed corn.  I found that the 92% germination seed corn had approximately 1000 to 1200 less plants per acre than the 95% germination corn.  A 1000 plant shortage per acre in a normal year is equal to 6 to 10 Bu/A yield difference. 

Drs. Fred Below and Jason Haegele at the University of Illinois have reported on their “six secrets for soybean success” in 2012:

1. 
   Weather:   The most critical factor because it controls the outcome of all other components
2. 
   Soil Fertility:  Balanced fertility applications are a must – the crop’s nutritional needs must be met.  By fertilizing the soybean crop, yields were enhanced by 4.3 Bu/A.
3. 
   Variety Selection:  Factors that are important in selecting your varieties are:

• 
  Maturity grouping
• 
  Disease package
• 
  Traits
• 
  Genetics

With the correct variety selections, yields were increased by 3.2 Bu/A.

4. 
   Foliar Protection:  Fungicide and insecticide are important in protecting the plant’s leaf canopy from damage.  Proper employment raised yields by 3.6 Bu/A.
5. 
   Seed Treatments:  Treated seed which offers protection to fungal pathogen, insects, and nematodes are producing a yield increase of 2.6 Bu/A.
6. 
   Row Spacing:  Row spacing less than 30 inches were necessary for maximum yields.  On average, row spacing less than 30 inches increased yields by 2.1 Bu/A in Illinois.

Their high yield efforts were 9.9 Bu/A better or $118.80/A ($12.00/Bu) gross profits better than their standard practices.

                                                           

Planting corn in Texas is 15% complete compared to 9% normally.  This is a general indicator of how mild conditions have been this winter in the south.

Dr. Clayton Hollier, LSU plant pathologist, is concerned with the amount of locations, eight parishes along the Louisiana coast, with rust found on kudzu and also on a 6 inch tall volunteer soybean plant.  The farm needs to be more aware of the year’s soybean rust reporting as the season progresses.  The reason for this increased interest is the amount and location of overwintering fungus and the possibility of more spores than normal, this early in the growing season.

                                            

In my soybean research at the Agronology 10 Research Center, we are producing two more bushels of soybeans per acre with a 1.3 lbs./ Mn (manganese) application.  This manganese is applied in our fall, dribble band fertilizer application.  We are netting approximately 19.50/A with $12.00 soybeans over the last four years with this treatment. 

Additionally, I have found an interesting happening in the “Critical Considerations” group,  which is the top yielding 24 corn plots each year.  In 2012, half of the 24 plots had a manganese application (1.3 lbs. Mn/A) applied in the previous year’s soybean fertility program.

 

Planning for a drought should include management inputs that generally maximize your corn yield.  You should plant early, when soils are fit; plant your normal seeding rate; fertilize for a good to excellent crop yield; plant your most productive fields to corn; utilize crop rotation on the remaining acres; hope for timely rains; and pray.

Dr. Joe Laur, Corn Agronomist at University of Wisconsin, gave this most comprehensive review of water use and potential crop losses for corn at the 2013 Wisconsin Management Conference.  The data in Table 1 is from work by Rhoads and Bennett (1990) and Shaw (1988).

Table 1                Estimated Corn Evapotranspiration and Yield Loss per Stress Day_________________

   Corn Growth                       Evapotranspiration                     Percent Yield Loss Per Stress Day
       Stage____                             (Inches/Day)___                        Min.             Avg.             Max.

1 to 4 leaf                                            0.06                                                              —-        

4 to 8 leaf                                            0.10                                                               —-

8 to 12 leaf                                          0.18                                                               —-

12 to 16 leaf                                        0.21                                           2.1             3.0               3.7

16 leaf to VT                                       0.33                                            2.5             3.2               4.0

Silking (R1)                                          0.33                                          3.0             6.8               8.0

Blister (R2)                                          0.33                                           3.0             4.2               6.0

Milk (R3)                                              0.26                                            3.0            4.2               5.8

Dough (R4)                                         0.26                                           3.0             4.0               5.0

Dent (R5)                                             0.26                                           2.5             3.0               4.0
Maturity (R6)                                        0.23                                                              0.0          _________________

Stress days for corn are when the corn plant fails to unroll its leaves overnight or quite early in the morning to begin rolling its leaves again.                     

                                                                

Bill Halfman and et al. reported at the 2013 Wisconsin Crop Mgt. Conference that fungicides and insecticides are making a difference in alfalfa.

 

1. 
   Headline® @ 9 fl. oz/A reduced defoliation and infected leaf area in 12 of 14 observations when compared to the untreated check in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  The greatest benefit of this fungicide treatment was found in the 1^st harvest forage.
2. 
   Headline® @ 9 fl. oz/A and Warrior II® @ 1.2 fl. oz/A reduced leaf diseases in 10 of 14 observations when compared to the untreated check.