Even as more rain fell across Indiana last week, crop condition ratings remained solid for corn at 73% good to excellent in the state.
Purdue Extension Corn Specialist Dan Quinn says, “Overall, I think across the state the corn is still looking pretty good. We’ve just had some areas where we’ve had some flooding, had some standing water. So, we see some uneven corn stands, but overall, it looks pretty good. We’ve had adequate soil moisture, pretty good temperatures. I think we’re at about 60 percent silking for the corn crop across the state. We’ve had pretty good conditions to get us through pollination. So, I think pollination is going to be pretty good. I think we’ll be pretty set up for good conditions moving into grain fill period. It’s just whether or not we can keep that corn crop clean moving forward.
Things are not looking as bright for Indiana soybeans, dropping a percentage point from a week ago to 69% good to excellent.
“The rating went down on the soybeans and I think rightfully so,” says Purdue Extension Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel. “These saturated conditions have just continued to deteriorate the root systems, and that deteriorates our nodules and our nitrogen supply. So, we’ve got these soybeans in a lot of fields that are just highlighter green to yellow to dead. So, they’re having a rough time. We can turn around, but you know that has to count on a week like this where we are starting to dry out and then we maintain drying out, without going drought status, but to have adequate moisture as we go through.”
Casteel says even with dryer conditions, soybeans just simply take longer to recover than corn.
“Even though we’re dry this week, it’s not going to be a turnaround in a day’s time. It’s like 3 to 4 weeks’ time to get that to turn around whereas with corn, that same wet field, as long as there is still nitrogen there from the fertilizer and those roots are growing, they’re probably going to respond and be just fine. They don’t have to regenerate their nitrogen supply, so I think that’s probably the difference we’re really seeing out in the field.”
You can hear more from Quinn and Casteel in the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast coming soon to hoosieragtoday.com.