May 15, 2009

Paul Hay, Extension Educator in Gage County: Most farmers in southeast Nebraska are finished with spring planting or just finishing the odds and ends. Corn stands look good. Our alfalfa is a few days later than usual due to cooler weather. There have been several reports of dead areas in brome fields. The two I check appear to be white grub damage from last fall. Reseeding was recommended for these areaa.

C. Dean Yonts, Extension Irrigation Engineer, Panhandle REC, Scottsbluff: Sugarbeet planting is nearly 100% complete. About 200 acres had to be replanted due to strong winds and moving soil earlier this spring.

Keith Jarvi, Extension Educator in Dakota, Dixon, and Thurston counties: Corn planting in these three counties is virtually complete with most producers well into soybean planting. About 30% of the soybeans are in, depending on how the scattered rainfall affected local areas. Some areas are above 50% planted. Corn emergence has been slow due to cool soil temperatures but emerged stands appear to be fine.

Brandy VanDeWalle, Extension Educator in Fillmore County: Corn planting is near completion, if not completed by most producers. Soybean planting is also getting close to completion for most producers. Several producers have reported that they may try early planted soybeans and others said they dropped their seeding rate for soybeans by an average 20,000-40,000 seeds. Corn is emerging quite well. More producers are either joining the Nebraska Ag Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN) in Fillmore County or increasing the number of fields managed by the watermark sensors. NAQMDN information is at http://water.unl.edu/agwater/nawmdn/proj

Table 1. Corn planting progress in the Corn Belt. (Source: USDA NationalAgricultural Statistics Service)
State	Percent Planted		5-Year Average
	May 10	May 3
Iowa	81	60	76
Minnesota	81	59	61
Nebraska	78	52	70
Kansas	48	32	76
Missouri	39	31	75
Wisconsin	73	17	54
Ohio	22	13	68
South Dakota	29	11	50
Illinois	10	5	84
Indiana	11	5	70
Michigan	18	5	62
North Dakota	7	0	57

Al Dutcher, State Climatologist: Corn planting in the Corn Belt generally is behind normal, except for three states that are above the five-year average — Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. Generally, we're seeing a repeat of last year across the eastern Corn Belt. The Dakotas have received more moisture than usual, but have had cool conditions. The eastern Corn Belt has had cool, wet conditions. We are seeing greater weather fluctuations locally this year. We may get a period of very warm temperatures that shifts to very cold temperatures for 7-10 days.

Forecast: We're seeing a good chance of precipitation in eastern Nebraska for Friday (today), which could include some severe weather. On Tuesday a good percentage of the state could see some precipitation and a drop in temperature of as much as 15-20 degrees. None of these storms are likely to produce broad precipitation.

Bill Booker, Extension Educator in Box Butte County: We've had the best spring conditions we've had in several years. Planters are rolling when they can. Sugarbeet planting is about done and corn planting is still in progress. Wheat condition varies. Wheat in some areas lost a lot of tillers in the really dry winter. It looks good from the road, but not as good close-up in areas where we're short of moisture. Some here have started their pivots to wet the soil and reduce erosion from blowing winds.

Robert Klein, Extension Crops Specialist for Western Nebraska, West Central REC: They're planting corn here. There have been some delays due to precipitation, but we're glad to have the rain. Soybean planting has started and the little sorghum we have is going in. Most wheat looks really good, especially with the recent precipitation. Some wheat was planted extremely late, hasn't tillered too much, and looks a little thin.

Jennifer Rees, Extension Educator in Clay County: Wheat's growing fast and we're not seeing much disease. Some producers put on the first 3 oz of a split fungicide application. With almost perfect conditions, the corn went in fast and nearly all has been planted. Half or more has emerged. Probably more than half of the beans have been planted.

Thomas Dorn, Extension Educator in Lancaster County: Ninety percent of the corn has been planted and two-third's of the soybeans are in. Wheat is starting to tiller. There's a lot of mustard in the wheat and alfalfa.

Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator in Nemaha County: The area received some pretty heavy rain two to three weeks ago, but most of the corn had been planted. Farmers were able to get back into the field mid last week and are pretty much done with corn. They got a lot planted in a short time and have been planting soybeans since then. About half the soybeans are in. Wheat looks good, but we don't have much of it. Alfalfa looks good, but has some mustard, pennycress, and wild oats. Pastures are starting to green up.

Aaron Nygren, Extension Educator in Colfax County: Corn planting is 90-95% complete and at the two- to three-leaf stage. I've seen some cutworms, but not enough to be a problem. Beans are about half to two-thirds done. Growers have applied fertilizer and herbicide but need a good rain for activation.

Charles Shapiro, Extension Soils Specialist: Several pivots were running in this area to get the crop up and started. A little corn is up.

Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer: In southeast Nebraska the first round of planted corn is coming up and the second round is just poking through. Timely herbicide application wasn't possible for a lot of field due to high winds and may be a problem. Pennycress and mustard should be completing their life cycle. We could use a good rain for herbicide incorporation.