Flooded field in Adams County.  (Photo by Ron Seymour)

Flood water in a field east of Rising City on Hwy 30. Localized heavy rains May 30 caused
flooding in the area. (Photo by Wayne Ohnesorg)

May 31, 2013

Ron Seymour, Extension Educator in Adams County: Field corn is in the 3-4 leaf stage and looks good. As a result of recent rains, numerous fields have water standing at the lower ends. Most of the soybeans have been planted and most planted fields are in the cotyledon leaf stage. Most of the wheat fields are headed out and many are starting to bloom. Plants
look good. Dryland fields have moisture available 18-24 inches deep. Alfalfa plants are starting to bloom and fields look good. Soil moisture is available to a depth of 12–18 inches. Cool and warm season grass pastures look good. Cool season grasses are starting to pollinate. Good soil moisture was found to a depth of 18-24 inches. (May 30, 2013)

Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator in Nemaha County: We received 5-7 inches of rain in the past few days. On May 19 the eastern part of Nemaha County was hit by high winds, heavy rains, and hail. Several center pivots were turned over and a grain bin was destroyed, with other bins severely damaged. Corn planting is winding up except for possible replanting due to flooding and erosion. It appears most corn fields have had good emergence. Soybean planting is 60-70% done. I have seen some good emergence of soybeans although with all the rain we will need to watch for seedling disease issues. Flooding and erosion may require replanting of soybeans also. There is some lowland flooding along the Little Nemaha River and, if rain continues, may occur along the Missouri River. What wheat we have in the area is headed. No alfalfa has been harvested. Some wheat planted last fall has been harvested for forage. Pastures look much better with the warmer temperatures and rain. If it stops raining today, it will still be several days until fields can be planted. (May 30, 2013)

Soil erosion in Saunders County following recent rainstorms. (Photo by Keith Glewen)

Keith Glewen, Extension Educator in Saunders County: Many areas of eastern Nebraska were inundated with heavy rains of 4-6+ inches in recent days. The above photo shows excessive runoff of a conventionally tilled field of corn in Saunders County. Sediment was deposited on the highway, closing it for a time until road crews could remove the sediment. (May 30, 2013)

Jennifer Rees, Extension Educator in Clay County: Memorial Day storms are getting to be the norm for Clay County. According to NeRAIN, http://nerain.dnr.ne.gov/nerain/ Clay County received 5.9-9.7 inches of rain, almost 75% of which came in the last six days of May. We’re estimating 100-125 irrigation pivots are down, power lines are done, and some roads were blocked. In the Fairfield area, pivots that were parked east-west were fine, but north-south pivots had damage, even if just the corner unit was north-south. We lost several grain bins and there was major damage to the elevator in Edgar.

Corn planting here is done and soybean planting is nearly done. Nearly all the corn has emerged and 65% of the beans are up. Wheat had taken a turn for the worse and had been showing drought stress along field edges and compacted areas after the high heat a few weeks ago. Wheat is headed and disease was kept in check after the high heat. See more about crop conditions and crop response to recent weather on Rees’ blog. (May 30, 2013)

Brandy VanDeWalle, Extension Educator in Fillmore County: I’m assessing storm damage this week. Lots of pivots turned over and some grain bins damaged. We received over 3.5 inches of rain early in the week. (May 28, 2013)

Tyler Williams, Extension Educator in Phelps and Gosper Counties: We are pretty much done planting in this area and most pivots have already made a circle or two on corn. The rains have been sporadic and spotty. Many parts of the area did not get any rain over the last few days. (May 28, 2013)