Hey everyone, its Megan and welcome to another version of crop talk! I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July, filled with friends, family, good food, and fireworks, of course!
These past several weeks have brought rain, hail, and strong winds throughout the entire area. On the positive side, we have pollination beginning and pod formation. These strong storms have left problem spots in our fields, however, there has been recovery. Last week and early this week I was in corn and soybean fields throughout the area. Corn is anywhere from V8 to R1 and soybeans range from V3 to R3. With strong winds in the last several weeks, green snap has continued to plague our corn fields. Green snap is caused by the coincidence of rapid growth (between V5 to V8 or V12 corn) and high winds during these growth stages. Rapid growth results in brittle cell walls; brittle cell walls are caused by the lack of lignin being deposited during rapid growth. This makes corn plants susceptible to high winds and green snap damage.
To categorize the damage, it is recommended to take stand counts throughout your field. At each stand count, record the number of plants suffering from green snap. Then from total plants counted, calculate the percentage of plants affected. Take 1 stand count for every 10 or 20 acres within a field. Within corn and soybeans, the emergence of bacterial diseases is also an issue with our wet conditions. Bacterial blight in soybeans and bacterial leaf streak in corn have begun to pop up throughout the county. If you think you may have a bacterial disease, applying fungicide will not help your crops. It is best to contact your local cooperative or agronomist to confirm that the disease within your field is caused by a bacteria.
Alfalfa weevil and potato leaf hopper continue to be issues in our forage crops. If you are concerned about pests within your forage crops, be sure to scout and sweep your fields. Utilizing a sweep net is a great way to check for insects in forage crops. If you are interested in getting your field swept and would like training on how to properly use the sweep net, please let me know. There is a sweep net available for use at the extension office.
For more detailed information visit CropWatch at UNL Extension to read up to date cropping reports from specialist and other educators. For more information feel free to stop in. I am located in the Platte County Extension office. I can be reached via phone at 402-563-4901, email at mtaylor42@unl.edu, or follow me on twitter @CropTalkMegan for up to date information. Join me next time for more Crop Talk!!!
Crop Talk Megan 