|
Del Hemsath, Extension Educator in Dakota, Dixon and Thurston counties: Heat and lack of rain are the critical crop production factors affecting crops here. There hasn’t been any rain in the area for a couple of weeks. Corn is pollinating. It looks good and is using subsoil moisture, but is likely to start showing signs of stress soon unless we get some rain. Soybeans are in the beginning pod stage on some fields and getting moisture will be critical. Without rain soon, it’s unlikely that the third-cutting of alfalfa will be significant.
Paul Hay, Extension Educator in Gage County: Crops look good; we got enough rain to carry us through this week. We continuing to receive reports of wheat with stinking smut across southern Nebraska in Gage, Jefferson, Thayer, and Nuckolls counties. The key to control is planting clean treated wheat seed.
Dave Stenberg, Exension Educator in Dawson County: Despite the high temperatures and extended drought, irrigated crops look good in most cases. There have been some reports of western bean cutworms in corn as well as corn rootworm beetles. Some spraying has been necessary, particularly on food grade corn where thresholds are lower. The high temperatures have caused some scorch in corn with possible impact on pollination; however, the cooler temperatures later in the week should minimize the impact. Soybeans look good.
Pastures are moving toward dormancy again after a brief reprieve from rains two to three weeks ago. Yearling cattle are moving off pastures to feedlots and some cow/calves are being fed supplemental feeds; calves are being weaned early or possibly moved to salebarns. Populations of grasshoppers of various stages are increasing but not at control levels in most instances. A little less than normal second cutting of alfalfa is about finished with prospects of a small third cutting unless some rainfall comes this way. Moderating temperatures and added rainfall are on most peoples wish list.
Ralph Kulm, Extension Educator in Holt and Boyd counties: Temperatures of well over 100 degrees during the past week added even more stress to a situation which was already very serious. Farmers are making plans to salvage what they can from dryland row crops. Livestock producers are making plans to early wean or supplement cattle with most pastures no longer able to sustain cow calf pairs. Moving cattle to fields of summer annuals brings problems related to high nitrates and possibly also prussic acid poisoning if the summer annuals are sudan or sorghum sudan. Irrigators have been running systems non-stop. Producers with irrigated corn fields with marginal wells are looking at salvaging the crop as silage.
Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator in Nemaha County: Rains received last week prior to the heat wave helped crops weather the extreme conditions. The humidity and not so windy condtions, while hard on livestock and people, were beneficial to the corn crop. Most of the corn has gone through pollination and is at least in the R2 stage. Most soybeans are at least in the R1-R2 stages of growth and development. Parts of the county and surrounding areas that have missed most of the rains have corn that is severely drought stressed. Overall the crops look pretty good in the area considering the soil conditions going into the growing season. It is hard to determine how much the hot, dry weather will affect corn yields overall in the region. On Friday moring we were greeted with much cooler temperatures, an inch of rain and it is still raining. Most of the field work is completed. There are some soybean fields being sprayed for weeds and a lot of grass hay is being harvested. Pastures are extremely short, although there is a little regrowth after the rains. I have seen some bean leaf beetle feeding on soybean plants which may warrant scouting later in the growing season as populations may be high in southeast Nebraska. Disease incidence has been low in soybean fields.
Dewey Lienemann, Extension Educator in Clay and Webster counties, reporting on conditions in south central Nebraska: We got anywhere from .15 to 1.75 inches of rain from Thursday night into Friday morning. Red Cloud and Blue Hill got about 1.5 inches. There was lots of wind with it — reports of gust over 60 mph and some wind damage — but still we got moisture. The corn is leaning pretty good to the south in fields that were corn on corn. This is probably from root worm damage. Corn on soybean seems to be standing well. Timing for the heat wave couldn't have been worse for dryland farmers and irrigated farmers who put in longer season varieties.
We're seeing western bean cutworms with hot spots in southern Adams County northeast of Bladen and near Ayr. Some fields have had up to five worms per ear. They are finding worms both in the tassels and in the silk in varying degrees of maturity. Some farmers had good luck spraying with an esfenvalerate (Asana) when small worms were in the tassels, but they have shifted to using Parathion (8-12 oz per acre) for worms in the silks and have gotten about 75% control. This has been a surprise for our area producers as they have not been a real problem in the past.
During the last couple of months we were living shower to shower for our wheat and pastures. Just when you thought the wheat was done for, there came a series of good rains that turned a "potentially very poor wheat crop" into an average or below average wheat crop. After final tallies wheat yields were better than expected. There were some 6-10 bushel yields on old dryland alfalfa ground and some pivot corners, some 15-20 bushel yields on dryland soybean stubble and some corn stubble, but we had some 30-50 bushel yields and one report of almost 75 bushels on no-till ground and on some summer fallow ground. Irrigated wheat was excellent with up to 110 bushel yields.
Prior to Friday's rain we were again living shower to shower for our dryland hay, milo, soybeans and corn crops and especially our pastures. Even the irrigated crops were starting to show the effect of this drought. Of course some of that is due to water restrictions and higher fuel prices. We were holding on pretty good until this past week and then Wednesday (July 19) really hurt us. It was a dry, unrelenting heat (109° F) that seemed to really have a devastating effect on all living things. I am noticing a lot of burned corn (brown color) and scorched beans. The alfalfa was really withering and the pastures took on the look of September. We have varying degrees of pollination in corn fields and I am afraid that a lot of our dryland corn may have been right at the critical point of reproduction during this past hot, dry spell. Of course if we don’t get some significant rain in the very near future, that probably won’t matter much anyway.
Grasshoppers are out in droves in some crop fields, along road ditches and in wheat stubble and especially in hay and pasture areas. I have heard reports of western bean cutworm and corn rootworm beetle feeding in the tassels. Bean leaf beetle feeding has also been reported in soybeans.
Pastures are in critical condition. Cool season grasses matured very early this year and we are finding damaged crowns in some warm season grasses. Several ranchers have taken their cattle off pastures and moved them. Some are supplementing their pastures with hay and some grain and corn co-products and still others are dry-lotting their cattle, hoping to see some improvement for pastures later on. I have seen a lot of pressure in overgrazed, drought stricken pastures with downy brome early on and now with broadleaf weeds. Still others have deep-culled their cattle and hauled a good percentage to the sale barn. One of our biggest problems is the lack of water in ponds and dams. The other problem is the lack of hay for winter feeding, especially those that are feeding their reserves and hoping to get to stalks.
|
 | ||
| Published by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperating with the counties and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. | ||
| The University of Nebraska-Lincoln does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran's status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. | ||
