Week of May 8, 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:
Ben Wagner – Le Sueur
Joe Dee – Morristown
Tyrell Treptow – Goodhue
Gary Suess – Elgin
Luke Daninger – Ellsworth
Scroll down to hear from your local agronomist.
WEST
Belle Plaine – Le Center – Le Sueur
Ben Wagner
Happy Planting Season! Most people are nearing the end of corn planting and switching over to beans. We received 2 real big runs at field work, being interrupted by rain once, which really helped growers start to see the end of corn planting. Some of the early planted corn should be starting to crest the surface and show its self-off here real soon. Us at Ag Partners are busy with spreading, spraying, and grid sampling. Be sure to be in contact with your Ag Partners agronomist or AYS Specialist to start scouting the 2023 crop. I wish the best to everyone and to stay safe during this hectic time of year!
PS ~ Be sure to wish your mothers a happy Mother’s Day on Sunday!
CENTRAL
Morristown – Wanamingo – Kenyon
Joe Dee
We had a great five-day stretch beginning last week on the 1st of May, but things have slowed in our area due to some heavier isolated rainfall events. Soil temperatures have finally risen and what is planted is really beginning to take stride. Corn planted the week of April 10-14 is starting to emerge after almost one month in the ground. We are seeing a little uneven emergence and stand loss so it’s important to get out this week and next to start evaluating and conducting stand counts. Corn and soybeans planted the week of May 1-5 have germinated and will be cracking the ground before we know it with these 80-degree temperatures we’re experiencing. With that in mind and more rain on the way, it’s important to watch pre-emerge herbicide applications to see if the crop is out of the ground or not. Depending on some products, especially soybeans, we may need to change our applications to an alternative herbicide plan. Be on the lookout for giant ragweed beginning to emerge as well. Before we know it, they will be well past what we consider manageable. Monitor your corn and soybean fields in the coming days and keep your agronomist up to speed if plants start to emerge. Have a safe spring!
 |
 |
 |
EAST
Pine Island – Cannon Falls – Goodhue – Lake City
Tyrell Treptow
Click for a soybean treating video from Tyrell!
SOUTH
Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville
Gary Suess
In the past week, there has been some good opportunities to get both corn & soybeans planted. With the warmer temperatures we’re having now, plus the rainfall we’ve received, the recently planted crops should start germinating and emerging fairly quickly.
I looked at some of the early planted crops to see how they are progressing. Here are some pictures of corn planted on April 11, 2023. It was planted 2.25” deep. The plants look good and healthy and have about ½” to go before they emerge. With the current temperatures and moisture, they should be spiking within a couple days.
| On the soybean side, these soybeans were planted on April 13, 2023 and are just starting to crack the surface. With current temperatures, these will also be emerged in the next day or so. A lot of soybeans went in the ground this past week and their emergence won’t be delayed much. It’s great to see these soybeans getting ready to emerge, but it also puts pressure to get the pre-emerge chemistry on quickly. |  |
 |
| After crop emergence is complete, plant stand counts can be done on both corn & soybeans and we can use that information to make management decisions for the crops throughout the growing season. |  |
 |
Wisconsin
Ellsworth
Luke Daninger
Planting progress has not changed much over the past week with continued rains. Depending on geography, we saw anywhere between .5” to 7” of cumulative rainfall. We are sitting at about 30% for both corn and soybeans but that should change fast with a few nice days on the horizon. I would stick with current hybrid plans to around the 20th of May. Reducing maturity sacrifices a lot of yield potential in the process. I have not seen any crop up yet in the geography but there are some soybeans close to poking through.
