With most of Indiana’s corn and soybeans planted, attention now turns to early crop development. April was a month of below average temperatures, while May is shaping up to be one of above normal temps. As a result, our newly planted crops are likely to develop quite quickly. Keith Diedrick, area agronomist with Pioneer, says this may produce some strange looking plants, “The plants are driven by heat and, when they get a little warm, they will really take off. Sometimes you will see plants bend and look really odd. This is just because they are growing quickly; so don’t panic, they will grow out of it and you will be fine.”
Diedrick says a more serious concern this year will be insects. A mild winter and early spring heat will lead to heavy insect pressure, “Especially bean leaf beetles in soybeans and black cutworms in corn.” He said the warm temperature will benefit the insects, “They like a warm spring day just as much as we do.” He urges growers to scout their field carefully and early this year.
Based in Tippecanoe County, Diedrick says this is a year to forget the calendar because everything will be earlier than normal, especially weeds, “Our winter annuals came on quicker, and our summer annual weds got off to a fast start.” He cautioned growers to pay attention to what is going on in their fields and read all labels carefully when applying insecticides and herbicides.
Here the latest Pioneer update on the HAT Agronomy page.
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