The last week we have seen tremendous progress finishing up corn planting and getting a great start into soybean planting.

I would guess that with three or four more days of weather free of rain and planting will be finished. Corn planting is 99% complete if you don’t count the replant acres, except the Missouri River bottom where it is near 75%. Soybean planting is generally 70% complete, except the Missouri River bottom where it is near 40% complete. As you can tell, heavy rains combined with soils that don’t dry out very quickly has held back planting in the river bottom.

Early planted corn (prior to the first heavy rain) looks good. Mid-planted corn (between heavy rains) is looking sluggish and chlorotic. This can be caused by a couple of factors. First, it is likely planting conditions were no perfect and there was some sidewall compaction. Second, in fields where intensive tillage occurred there was crusting. And third, the nodal roots are still developing. Once the nodal roots become active the plants will be more effective at seeking and taking up nutrients. The key for now is to be patient and look ahead.

Looking ahead… It’s time to start thinking about the need for sidedressing additional nitrogen. This will be important this year with a couple heavy rains that could have potentially caused more nitrogen to leach away. Think about taking a late spring nitrate test to determine how much is there before putting on a blanket application. Weeds, weeds, weeds. That is the name of the game. I have noticed many fields that have a lot of green that is neither corn or soybean. With wet conditions some of the herbicides did not get put on and others lost some of their effectiveness. It will be much easier to control these weeds if we get in as early as possible. And finally, don’t forget about those pesky bean leaf beetles.

SOURCE: ISU Mark Licht

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