From the Week of June 5, 2023
The one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about what’s happening this week in your fields.
This week’s featured agronomists are:
Erin Stackhouse – Le Sueur
Gregg Gustine – Pine Island
Chad Wiersma – Morristown
Zach Thompson – Lewiston
Luke Daninger – Ellsworth
Scroll down to hear from your local agronomist, and click for contact info!
WEST
Belle Plaine – Le Center – Le Sueur
Erin Stackhouse
This crop year has been interesting to say the least. Early on we received heavy amounts of rainfall in certain parts of our West territory, but in other parts of our West territory they received very timely rains. Fast forward a few weeks and now everyone is begging for a good rainfall. Some of the area that received heavy rains early on had some emergence issues. We have been monitoring these fields as the crop continues to grow. Sidedress is over half-way complete and we are hoping to wrap that up early next week. Corn post spraying is just about wrapped up and we should be starting Soybean post the middle of next week.
 This field struggled early out of the gate with emergence because of the large amount of rainfall we received. |
 You can see where we decided to replant a portion of it. There were some hard conversations in late May to decide if we should work under corn and replant. |
EAST
Pine Island – Cannon Falls – Goodhue – Lake City
Gregg Gustine
When planting into a live cover crop make sure you can terminate it in a timely manner. This field was planted before a weather event that kept the operator out of the field for fifteen days. The areas that were not planted to rye exhibit normal growth, while areas with rye show nitrogen deficiency and suffered from the competition of the live cover crop.
 The soybean pre’s are starting to let go, make sure you are scouting fields, so the weeds don’t get thick enough to affect the yield of your crop. Big weeds are hard to kill, so make sure the application timing is correct for good results. |
 Alfalfa weevils are still active in our area, make sure and sweep hay with six to eight inches of regrowth and check for feeding on the leaves. If you have any questions about this or any other agronomy topic, contact your AgPartners agronomist. |
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CENTRAL
Morristown – Wanamingo – Kenyon
Chad Wiersma
It’s a good thing we have a calendar this year, because if we didn’t it might be hard to tell what part of the year it is. We have crops at multiple different stages; one field might look like it should be the end of May while the next looks like it should this time of year. The next might have a very poor stand and the next might be one of the nicest fields we have seen in some time. Moisture varies by location drastically. Some areas have received less than a couple tenths over the last 4 weeks. Others have been able to catch over an inch. Hot and dry days feel more like the end of July than the end of May and beginning of June. Big differences in planting date with challenging weather at planting has made crop protection very challenging. Pre emerge chemicals have been very helpful this year to space our applications. Getting weeds before they get over 4 inches, especially with waterhemp is very critical. The hot and dry environment decreases efficacy, so we need to be diligent to get applications done in a timely manner.
We are seeing a lot of issues in both crops. Herbicide carry over from last year, herbicide stress from this year’s applications, rootless corn syndrome, nitrogen/sulfur deficiency from large areas of standing water, uneven stands, delayed emergence from seed laying in dry dirt, and unfortunately the list could go on. Cold and wet to hot and dry typically presents challenges and this year is no exception. All of that said, we can work through a lot of these issues, and we are not giving up on this crop. We have a lot of opportunities yet to have a good yield this fall. I hope this update finds you and your families well. Keep up the good work of feeding the world!
SOUTH
Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville
Zach Thompson
Like most of the area we need rain! The corn is starting to roll up with the afternoon heat. We are approaching the time when corn will stretch out and be taking up massive amounts of nutrients and moisture. Moisture requirements are between .2-.3”/day. With soybean post spraying getting started, it is always a good reminder to make sure you have the correct rates and mixing order. Some products can cause antagonism in the tank. There was a heavy presence of alfalfa weevils and some leaf hoppers after first crop. We are seeing a 6-8” difference in acres that got sprayed and ones that didn’t. Lastly, be sure to check field edges for waterhemp, since one plant can produce 250,000 seeds.
WISCONSIN
Ellsworth
Luke Daninger
Pre-emerge herbicides are working remarkably well yet for the no to little rain that most of the territory has had. Tendovo on the soybeans has been holding fantastic and the Harness products on corn looks good as well. (Corn field in picture is sprayed with Harness Max, Harness Xtra and Stigmatta). With the dry conditions, we have dealt with weevils in the hay and in spots, we are finding a bit of clopyralid carryover into the soybeans on lighter areas. The soybeans should grow through this and there has not been any yield reductions shown in the past when the beans are in the vegetative stage yet like they are currently. (See the picture below as an example of how they look.)
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| On the hay end, Steward has looked to have rather excellent control on the whole in the alfalfa for weevils. The two videos below were taken from treated and untreated one week after being sprayed. The untreated was only swept five times and the treated was swept 10 times. Here is to hoping we can pick up some much needed rain this weekend! | |
TREATED |
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