Ag Partners Agronomic Insights
 Jake HeitschusenLe Sueur |
 Justin SchaeferWanamingo |
 Hailey HausladenElgin & Stewartville |
 Kirsten BauerEllsworth |
WEST
Here in Le Sueur, it has been wet! The weather is finally working on drying out and everybody is getting antsy to spray. Whenever it does get dry enough to spray it is important to make sure that the herbicides we decided on, sometime months ago, are still on label to be sprayed. If the crop gets too tall, we will need to change gears and switch to a different herbicide program. The most likely candidate to switch would be Harness Max as it is only labeled to 11” tall corn (roughly V4-V5). Luckily, we have a variety of options to switch to. Acuron GT would be a good choice to switch to as it is labeled up to 30” tall corn and provides excellent knockdown, and residual for the rest of the season. Roundup, Diflexx and Callisto are all available options as well. If it’s getting close, check with your local agronomist for an expert opinion! – Jake
It is such an opportunity to be a part of all your operations. Over the course of time, there are some common sayings I have heard many growers say. One of them being…”you never turn down a good rain”. Another being…”we will be happy we got this rain down the road”. I think it is fair to say this spring is pushing those common sayings to the limit!
We are in the thick of spraying season and will soon be busy top dressing as well. With that being said, let’s be mindful of areas of fields that have had washouts created by these recent heavy rains. Once things dry out a bit and while crops are still relatively short, please make a point of checking certain areas where you think washing has occurred and please let your agronomist know, so we can mark maps accordingly. We will certainly be out checking fields too, but always best to be on the same page. Catching and marking these spots early in the season will make for a safe harvesting season for you and save money on your equipment. It will also save money on your investment that you may not always think about, and that’s the equipment we drive here at the coop. The safety of you and our applicators at the coop is of top concern. We will work through this challenging spring together and we look forward to another great season! – Justin
Every year is different, and with how challenging last year was it seemed that this year would be a walk in the park. However, the weather has been putting challenges on us and our growers for trying to get things done.
In corn we are trying to roll heavily into post spray (that we can get over without getting stuck), and thankfully fields with pre-emerge have held through very nicely and are cleaner than those without. Side-dress is also upon us – and some of our nitrate samples coming back from the southeast have shown to be lower than expected. With high amounts of moisture for a good portion of the geography, side-dressing looks like it will have a good return this year.
Soybeans are always a little touch-and-go at this time of the year. Coming out of the ground was a little bit of a struggle for some fields initially, but timely rains helped get them out of the ground. Pre-emerges are holding well on the earlier planted beans so far, and before we know it we will be rocking and rolling on post spray soon enough!
Alfalfa has been quite challenging this spring. From diseases to insect pressure, to not perfect weather, it feels like we have been talking about first crop for two months. Some growers finally have gotten a window to get all the hay chopped this past week. For the fields that got taken earlier, we have sprayed for weevils and most have gotten a pass of fungicide. If the cool and wet continue, we are anticipating good response to fungicide applications in alfalfa this year especially!
Hope you all have a safe and fun rest of the summer! Reach out to your Ag Partners agronomist with any questions! – Hailey
We’ve seen our fair share of challenges this spring, but as we all know if farming was easy everyone would do it. From the weather to the pests, this spring has been no walk in the park.
During my time out in the field, I have seen plenty of emergence issues across Western Wisconsin. Some excess moisture on tilled ground and cooler soil temps were unavoidable at planting time. Often because of these conditions, we will see the corn plant leaf out underground prematurely. This can be caused by a number of issues, from problems with the closing wheels creating air pockets in wetter soil, or more intense tillage and rain creating an unbreakable hard pan of soil that the coleoptile (or hypocotyl on our soybeans) can’t manage to get through.
As we continue into the season it’s important to remember even the worst looking stands early on can out-yield the best out of the gate. Trust your genetics and don’t stray from your full program. Not all varieties and hybrids are created equal when it comes to emergence and seedling vigor. Despite challenges, what matters in the end is yield, and promoting the highest yield potential during these early stages through our practices is critical.
(Pictured below is a hard pan of soil and leafed out corn plant)
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Weevils have also been a pressing issue in most if not all our alfalfa stands as we wrap up 1st cutting and look to treatment for these acres. In some areas the high pressure has inhibited regrowth which can reduce the chance of a good kill with certain insecticides whose modes of action require ingestion. Because of this, multiple products and spray passes may be required in some cases for the best control. We should also consider including a growth regulator such as Ascend SL when spraying for weevils to increase overall plant health and promote leaf and stem development through the immense stress. – Kirsten
(Pictured below are weevils and the damage from larvae feeding)
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