A lot of crop is already in the ground and some has been since March. Locally, a good weather window right after Easter allowed farmers to get into the fields. As for top soil moisture, Dekalb Asgrow Technical Agronomist Lance Tarchione reports there is adequate moisture and for this time of the year seeing dryer fields is good. Although one challenge being faced this spring is applying herbicide correctly and timely says Tarchione:
“With the amount of soybeans that are getting planted earlier, from a logistical perspective, with customers that have never planted beans early before are doing more early beans than ever, some are planting beans before corn, some are planting corn and beans at the same time, and some are staying with the tradition approach where you start with corn first. So basically we have corn programs, soybean programs, and all very different programs within each of those two crops all needing to be done simultaneously. Then you throw into that days when it is too windy, days when it is too wet, or days when it is too cold for herbicides to work properly. It gets to be a real logistical challenge for our applicators. For all the farmers, my coaching to them would be to make sure you are in constant communication with whoever is doing your spraying.”
As for this year’s disease pressure, Tarchione states at this stage of the game, it is too early to predict what the summer disease picture will look like, as the diseases are weather dependent.
