Fulton County Crop Scouting Update 6/23/08

During the past week I have done a crop scouting transect across Fulton County using County Road L and County Road B from the Lucas to the Williams County line. At each stop within a mile I noted crop growth stage, row width and plant population. Plus noted any weed, disease or insect presence. This is a summary of those observation.

The Corn crop has really taken off. The average growth stage would be V6 with a range of V3 to V9. Not surprisingly the crop is all planted in 30 inch rows the average plant population was 29,750 plants per acre. The range was 24,000 to 36,000. I did observe 1st generation corn borers at low levels in 3 fields of 37 fields scouted.

The Soybean crop is starting to work through the yellow stage from V1 to V2 where the seed nitrogen has run out and the nodules are fully fixing nitrogen. The average growth stage is V3 with a range of V1 to V6. Population and row widths are noted in the table below. The biggest pest problem is weeds which if they have not been taken care of should be a top priority. Lambsquarter, ragweeds and others are growing well in addition to the soybeans. Some Bean Leaf Beetle activity was noted but a very low levels. From a disease standpoint typical brown spot is seen but nothing that would be economical to treat.

Wheat continues to mature. A big change in color can be seen in the last week. Armyworm was being found in low numbers 1-3 per linear foot of row. Most wheat is at the point where all we need is a couple more weeks and we will be in harvest. Typically we start around July 10 and this seems to be our time frame at this point. Any high temps from this date on will hasten drydown. Harvest of wheat can begin as moisture reaches 18-22%. If you plan to double crop soybeans harvesting at higher moisture and running air on the wheat in the bin to finish drying to 13% can provide a couple day earlier planting date for double crop beans. Planting double crop beans after July 10 becomes increasingly less profitable and is why it is not a common practice here in NW Ohio. But has been successful if we have moisture about 1 out of 5 years. With soybean prices trading above $14.50 some will consider it. The current longterm weather forecast is somewhat favorable with the one month forecast of below average temperatures and above normal rainfall and the three month forecast of normal rainfall and temperatures .

More information on double cropping soybeans can be found at the link highlighted in the previous text.

What to Do with Thin Soybean Stands

Most corn and soybean fields in the local area have gotten off to a good start. There are some soybean fields that are the exception and a decision on what to do with these fields will need to be made soon.

The thought process on replanting is sometime straight forward where large areas have not emerged. Several of the field I have seen are not quite as straight forward. The stands are thin or rows are missing but there are some beans there. Likely we are seeing the effects of some of the germination problems that were associated with some lots of seeds and difference in some cases of planting depth from row to row.

The first question to answer is, Is this a fairly even stand. If the stand is even then it is worth doing a stand count and if the population is 75,000-90,000 plants per then the potential of 90% is doable. This stand may require an extra herbicide pass to keep weeds under control, but this type of stand may at this point be best left alone.

If the stand is fairly uneven then a closer evaluation is required. A publication on soybean replanting from Iowa State does a good job of summarizing the stand evaluation process and I would highly recommend taking at look at it. Soybean Replant Decisions.