While areas of the Corn Belt are dry as a bone, some fields in central Illinois and northeast Iowa received significant rains this past week – up to 4” in parts of Iowa. Ferrie: Triple Weather Punch Hits Corn Belt, Crop Still has Time to Recover
While the moisture provided corn and soybeans with some relief from dry soils and high temperatures, they also gave weeds a boost, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, Heyworth, Ill.
“I walked a lot of corn and soybean fields this past week, and I believe you could call this the ‘Year Of The Waterhemp,’ from what I saw out there,” notes Ferrie.
He says in fields where flushes of waterhemp are underway, growers will likely need to make a second herbicide application to gain any leverage over the weed.
Between A Rock And A Hard Place
Ferrie is particularly concerned this season about those fields with early-planted, non-GMO soybeans that are at the R2 to R3 growth stages. He explains that those beans are growing slowly, which has allowed more waterhemp flushes to occur.
“There are few herbicide options, and we’ll have to ‘burn’ these beans to get this waterhemp,” Ferrie says.
“Growers have been asking me, ‘What will happen to my pre-solstice flowers and the small pods that I already have?’ From our test plots, I can tell you that most of these will abort within 48 hours after the application, which will erase some of your early-plant premiums.”
Option Two Is Worse
Not addressing waterhemp in the field is a much worse option, because the weed pressure will still affect early-plant premiums. Plus, you’ll be left with a fully armed seed bank ready to produce more waterhemp next season.
“We have to get that waterhemp,” Ferrie says. “Your other options are to use a row crop cultivator, or you can also hire a crew to walk fields. Don’t let that weed go to seed.”
Here are additional take-aways Ferrie offers in this week’s Boots In The Field podcast:
Disease concerns – Heavy rains in combination with heat can create higher levels of humidity in fields and allow disease problems to build. “We’ve been disease-free for the most part until now, but that could change in a hurry,” Ferrie says.
Of all the disease concerns out there, tar spot is at the top of the list.
If you’re in an area that saw heavy pressure last year and in 2018, be looking low on corn plants to identify the disease early.
This strategy is different from most disease scouting scenarios. Usually, Ferrie says to scout for disease by looking at a corn plant from the ear leaf up.
“Tar spot needs seven hours of wetness for development, and the bottom of the corn plant is the last to dry off,” Ferrie explains.
Pest problems – Japanese beetles are a significant threat in corn currently. “They will go after your late-pollinated corn,” he says. “Don’t forget to monitor replanted fields, because they’ll pollinate a couple of weeks or so after the rest of your crop.” A Major Misconception About the Field Corn You See Right Now
Ferrie’s complete recommendations are available on his podcast, available here:
