The NW corner of Iowa has a lot of corn above ground right now, and a high percentage of the beans have been planted.

This week, for me, has been an on-going opportunity to measure, count, evaluate and think – about corn stands. Slow emergence, rain intense enough to cause some crusting, and reduced plant vigor due to extended cool temperatures have created a lot of questions about corn stands in NW Iowa.

So far I have observed only one cut corn plant from Black Cutworms, but then again, we are just now reaching the predicted cutting date (May 23 for NW Iowa). I don’t care what type of preventative treatment you chose for cutworms this year, I still encourage you to scout all fields for this pest – none of the prevention methods are perfect, and we don’t want to allow significant stand reduction from this pest.

Some replanting has occurred – a lot of rotary hoes have been running in the past week trying to improve stands. Roger Elmore, in a previous blog, listed several good web pages that supply information for making replant decisions. His Replant Checklist offers a great step-by-step process for this decision. I think that the April planted corn seems to be mostly OK. The calls I have received this week seem to be about corn planted in early May.

Changing gears – NW Iowa has the most intensive livestock production in Iowa. Manure management is a big part of agronomy here. Recently there seems to be a lot of statewide discussion about manure management issues, particularly about winter manure application. A personal fear is that a lot of opinions about this particular application are being formed without really understanding much of the chemistry or science involved with these types of applications. I would encourage everyone involved with these issues to take some time and review a few documents about this topic that can be found right now on the Iowa Manure Management Action Group (IMMAG) main web page.

I found them quite enlightening about the differences of ammonia and ammonium in water – how one can be toxic and one is not. It also discusses when the balance between the two changes, and therefore changes the potential risk. I believe these are very good informational pieces that should be reviewed before developing an opinion on the issue, so please read them if this is a topic of interest to you.

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