Spring 2019 Planting Season

It has been a challenging spring for farmers to say the least. Following a fall with little to no anhydrous applied, spring brought significant logistical hurdles for Iowa retailers. Many producers had to wait for NH3 tanks which extended the already delayed N applications. Some producers switched to urea while others will sidedress most of their nitrogen later in the season so they could get planters going sooner. Corn planting started in Tama and Benton Counties the third week in April abruptly halting on Friday, April 26 ahead of the cold and wet snap we are currently under. Many were weighing the risks and work loads of to plant or not to plant leading up to Friday with a week of rain and cool temperatures in the forecast.

According to ISU’s Environmental Mesonet East Central Iowa has accumulated only 20 GDD’s since Friday and 80-90 GDD’s since the previous Friday, April 19. There is a lot of corn that has been sitting in wet, cool soil conditions since the 20th. Time will tell the extent to which imbibitional chilling will effect germination and stand establishment. (https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/blog/mark-licht/imbibitional-chilling-or-cold-injury Click on this link to learn more about imbibitional chilling.) The 4” soil temperatures across Iowa on April 30th were in the 40’s.

The foreseeable forecast has a chance of rain 6 out of the next 10 days with highs in the 50’s and 60’s. If you have emergence concerns give North Iowa Agronomy a call and we can help you make the best decision on what next steps to take.

The producers that opted to plant soybeans before corn may have less worries as soybeans can recover better from stand loss, but again, time will tell.  Another possible benefit of switching to bean planting is that it reduces possible anhydrous burn on corn seedlings if it hasn’t had enough time to mineralize.

By:

-Jeremy Sills, CCA, TSP