DuPont Pioneeer Agronomy Update 4/18/17
Indiana planting got off to a slow start, with 4% of the corn planted as of Monday. The pace, however, is picking up. Yet, for many growers, cleaning up weed covered fields must come first.
The warm and wet spring conditions have allowed both spring weeds and winter annuals to get well-established in many fields. David Cosgray, with DuPont Pioneer, says burndown has been the major activity this week in his area, “There is some very heavy winter annual coverage out there, and a lot of farmers wished they could have gotten to these fields earlier.” He told HAT there was a good deal of burndown spraying done last week trying to get fields ready for planting this week.
Cosgray said planters are rolling this week, but not everywhere, “Every day we see more and more planters rolling, but guys are having to hunt to find fields that are dry enough.” He said some fields may be dry on the surface, but are still too wet down a few inches to plant, “Fields with lighter soils and where fall nitrogen had been applied are the best candidates for planting this week.”
Cosgray urges producers not to plant into a wet seed bed. Rain is back in the forecast beginning on Thursday, which may bring field activity to a halt. Hoosier Ag Today meteorologist Ryan Martin says, “I think there is a fairly decent chance we escape Wednesday with very little moisture – a few hundredths of an inch to perhaps a tenth or so. Northern counties will be best situated to see scattered showers, but a large part of the state just sees clouds through Wednesday. Thursday, we likely will not be so lucky, and a cold front will sweep through the state, bringing about 75-80% coverage of rain. However, rain totals still are not stunning. We think we can see .25”-.75” rains, with most of the state closer to the lower end of the range.”
On Friday, Martin will release his planting forecast for next week. You can sign up to get an e-mail copy here.
Listen to the complete DuPont Pioneer Agronomy Report under the crops tab at this web site.