Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie is urging growers hit by recent storms and torrential rains to move quickly from damage assessment to harvest triage — and to brace for a wave of stalk rots, ear molds and soybean disease that will follow saturated soils.
Ferrie says reports from across parts of the Eastern Corn Belt sound much like what he’s seeing in the Bloomington, Ill., area: 6 to 12 inches of rain paired with high winds left ponds refilled and a lot of corn on the ground.
“The bad news is those ponds that we dealt with from the June rains are now full again,” he says. “Good news, I guess you could say, is most of them didn’t have much crop in them anyway, so maybe not such a big loss.”
The bigger issue, he says, is the extent of downed corn and how that will reshape harvest strategy and final yield.
Corn Won’t Stand Back Up
Ferrie cautions growers impacted by rainfall and wind not to expect storm-flattened corn to recover.
“At this stage, it’s not going to stand back up,” he says. “While the tops may tip up a little, the rest of the plant is not going to right itself.”
That down corn will be far less efficient at filling ears.
“The corn leaves on the bottom side of the plant will not be very efficient in the photosynthesis process of making food, and this is going to lead to poor ear fill,” Ferrie explains.
The impact will vary by crop stage. Later-planted fields still in early milk face more severe kernel loss.
“Later planted fields that were still in early milk stage, they’re most likely going to abort those ear tips,” he says. “In corn that is further along, the loss is going to show up in a lack of kernel depth. This stress will speed up maturity, and of course that comes at the cost of grain fill.”
An Impact Similar To Green Snap In Play
Many fields, Ferrie notes, saw plants tipped at the crown rather than snapped, due to saturated soils and high winds.
“Now this is better than green snap, where we’d lose the ear and all, but it’s going to create some challenges for the harvesters,” he notes.
Those challenges mean farmers should start planning now on how they plan to harvest their crop.
“Now is a time to get some aerial imagery, or drone imagery, or satellite imagery out there to figure out what kind of shape we’re in,” Ferrie says. “Now’s the time to start planning on how your team is going to handle this issue. And of course, that’ll depend on how many acres are affected.”
If a large share of acres is down, Ferrie urges growers to consider lining up the equipment to help gather lodged corn.
“If the acre amount is high, think about getting a pick-up reel or cones for the combine,” he says. “If the acre amount is small and you have a neighbor with a reel or cones, now would be a good time to discuss trading, maybe some harvesting, where you keep his harvest going if he’ll come and pick up your down corn.”
Waiting to see how things look in fall, he warns, is a recipe for a drawn-out harvest.
“Waiting till fall to tackle this problem could make for a very long fall,” Ferrie says. “In some fields, this is the second time the stuff’s blown down. We’re putting a lot of push on it.”
Disease Wave Coming: Ear Molds and Stalk Rots
Following 10 or so inches of rainfall during grain fill, Ferrie says growers should expect disease pressure to climb.
“Expect to see some ear molds, especially diplodia, in your corn-on-corn,” he says. “The bigger concern will be stalk rots.”
The first signs to watch for? Farmers checking fields will see scattered, prematurely dead corn plants.
“As you’re scouting the fields in the coming weeks, you’ll see random plants dying prematurely. These will be victims of stalk rots like the crown rot or diplodia stalk rot,” Ferrie explains. “A little bit later, you’ll start to see anthracnose top kill or dieback, where the tops of the plants are dying off.”
There’s no in-season fix, he adds, but knowing what’s coming is critical to harvest prioritization.
“There’s nothing we can do at this point,” Ferrie says. “It will help to be informed on what’s coming again to help plan the harvest.”
His advice: Don’t let fields fall completely over before you act.
“If a portion of your acres are rolling down, you’ll want to get those harvested first, unless your standing acres are in trouble of going down due to stalk integrity,” he says. “In that case, I would go around the down corn and go get those acres that are at risk of falling down. Harvest is much faster if you can get there before it falls down.”
That could mean farmers will need to front-load harvest and dry wetter grain.
“We’ll have to push this harvest up on the front end to not have it all on the ground on the back end,” Ferrie says. “So, if you own a grain dryer, buy some gas and be ready.”
Soybeans: “August Rain Makes Beans — Not This Much Rain”
Ferrie warns that the same saturated soils driving corn issues will accelerate soybean disease, particularly sudden death syndrome (SDS) and red crown rot.
“You know, we say August rain makes soybeans — not this much rain,” Ferrie says. “I would assume red crown rot will be more aggressive going forward.”
“Last Quarter Of The Game”
Ferrie is also fielding calls about yellow corn and nitrogen (N) deficiencies becoming visible late in the season.
Hybrids that lean heavily on kernel depth and still have a long fill window are most vulnerable at this point in the season.
“The ones that get a lot of yield from depth of kernel, if they have 30 days of kernel fill ahead of them, they’re going to get hit the hardest,” Ferrie says. “The window is past on trying any rescue. But it is a sign that our N program is not weatherproof. We need to revisit this in our winter yield map meetings.”
For now, he notes, insect pressure and leaf diseases remain relatively light in the fields his team is walking, but stalk rots are advancing.
“The stalk rots will be coming from the ground up, moving up through the plant, except for that top kill.”
Ferrie frames the coming weeks as a critical finish to a highly stressful season.
“Guys, Mother Nature is throwing us some curveballs, but we need to stay on top of this, we’re in the last quarter of the game,” he says. “Don’t give up now.”
