Planting is nearing completion across the state, and some replanting has even taken place. However, the effects of several weeks of cold and wet weather are impacting early crop development. Most growers would have liked to get their crop planted early in May, but 3 weeks of cold wet weather made that difficult. Rod King, agronomist with Brodbeck Seeds, says the weather effects continue to linger, “We had a lot of seeding blight impacting the crop in Northern Indiana. It was especially prevalent in fields with soils that held water the longest.”
King says the warmer temperatures as we enter June should help the late planted crop catch up, “Usually these later planted crops germinate faster in 5-7 days and get off to a healthy start with a minimum of disease pressure.” He added he is seeing even emergence and is optimistic the crop will get off to a good start even through it was planted late in May.
Yields, however, may have already been compromised. The old rule of thumb says 1 bpa loss for every day planted after May 15. “A lot of this crop got planted May 22 – 25, so we may have lost 7 to 10 bpa down from what we had expected the crop to yield,” said King.
One good thing may have come out of the late planting: Armyworm and cutworm pressure may have passed. “I have not seen any heavy pressure on either of those insects yet, much of the feeding activity may have already taken place before the crops emerged,” stated King. “So we may have really dodged a bullet with this later planting.”