We are having a tile plow demo day in Vandalia at the store on July 7th from 10 to 2. We’d originally planned to actually lay some tile out at Frank Wallace’s but it’s looking like mother nature is not going to cooperate so we are going to meet in town…on the gravel (and with tents just in case!). We will have a Soil-Max tile plow on hand so this will be a great opportunity to see the equipment and visit with the guys from Soil-Max. They will be showing us how the equipment works, how to make a tile plow plan and how to make connections with the different styles of tile. They’re bringing their grill so there will be food and drinks. We also plan to have reps available from the plastic manufacturers and MU.
You can RSVP to me (Scott) at 573-473-0711 or Billy at 573-253-4251…not necessary to attend but that will help us with food. I’m hopeful that the weather turns and everyone is in the field but the forecast still looks pretty tough so if you’re able, come out and spend a few hours with us. If you are coming from outside the Vandalia area just come into town on 54 (from the west) and hang a right on Maple (if you make it to the 4-way you went a few blocks too far)…take Maple across the tracks and you’ll see the Vandalia MFA Agri Service.
Here’s a link to Soil-Max’s website if you want to check them out ahead of time. Thanks for reading.
We spent the better part of this week looking at corn nitrogen issues and determining a course of action to address them.
We really have two main issues that are showing up.
First, actual nitrogen loss. If you look at MU’s Nitrogen Watch page (also link at bottom of this post) you’ll see that problem areas are described as having 16+ inches of rain since the first of April. I ran the numbers on the weather stations that we have at Vandalia and Auxvasse and we’ve had over 16 inches since the first of May…that doesn’t include the past couple days and is probably conservative as several events seem to have measured low when talking to others in the area (especially at Vandalia). How much have we lost? Hard to tell but on ground that has ponded and stayed saturated it could be well over half.
Dr.Peter Scharf who has done much of the recent nitrogen work at MU and oversees the Nitrogen Watch project looked at several fields with Ryan Bailey and me yesterday evening and he thought that while it is difficult to know exactly that loss could be as high as ¾ in some situations.
The second main issue is simply that plants are not getting to the nitrogen that is still available. In some cases this is because ponding/saturated soils have made the plants unable to pull nutrients from the soil even if they are there. In some more severe cases I’ve seen plants that are wilting despite excess moisture.
In others it is just because the roots have not grown into the N…I can still see application patterns in some fields that I’ve been watching…those should be long gone or at least not as distinct by now. So, in these situations there is probably still N available but environmental conditions are making it unavailable.
Bottom line…is it worth trying to add additional N? We took Dr. Scharf to several fields last night that were under severe stress and even standing in water at the time. Even the fields that I would struggle recommending additional N on he was still optimistic about getting a return and pointed out that the more stressed the corn is the higher the return has generally been in their research (link to summary of research below).
This does not mean that you can return the corn to an optimal situation but that you can improve it enough to pay for additional N and get a return. His suggestion was to wait for the water to get off the field and then evaluate the plant health (he was concerned about the wilted plants I described to him) but that if the plants were still alive they would probably benefit from additional N.
I’ll admit that I was a little surprised at his optimism looking at a couple fields but he’s spent the last few years doing late applications on nitrogen stressed corn so he’s seen a lot of this before. The water stress is an additional factor but that is why plant health needs to be evaluated.
Check out the links below and give us a call with questions.
I was rained out while scouting this morning so it seemed like a good time to update the blog…been seeing a lot of colors in our corn crop (besides green) and getting several calls so I thought I’d offer a few comments on the subject…
Yellow Corn. The cool/wet weather that we’ve been having obviously accounts for most of what we are seeing in the country however, there are some other things that are showing up. First, many fields have patches of yellow and green corn that do not correspond to low areas, etc. I’ve received several calls where the difference in color just ended up being whether or not the corn was over the top of the NH3 application track. This is easy to see and comprehend when NH3 is put on at an angle however, when it is put on with the rows you’ll see odd patterns of green and yellow where the planter randomly happens to be over the nitrogen application. I received lots of calls on this last year and most of those patterns disappeared after a week or two. One thing that has just showed up in recent years with the adoption of autosteering are patterns that seem to replicate themselves across fields…rather than a random pattern you’ll see “waves” that appear across the field if both NH3 and planting is done with fairly accurate autosteering…the next pic is an aerial shot I took a couple years ago where this was the case…corn in this picture is about 6-8″ but ground conditions were tough and anywhere the rows passed over the NH3 bar the corn was greener…
Another cause of yellow corn showing up in area fields is known as rapid growth syndrome. These fields generally look normal with the exception of very yellow upper leaves scattered throughout the field…they almost look like yellow flags waving above the crop. This can also follow varieties and is seems to show up during periods of sudden, wide temperature swings…in susceptible varieties the corn will basically grow faster than it can unroll and will “buggy-whip” itself…when the leaves eventually unroll they will be very yellow. I’ve followed plants before through the rest of the season and in most cases they were fine so this is also something not to be alarmed by…I’ve observed this in some very good numbers over the years.
Purple Corn. Several calls on this and a few possibilities of what could be going on. Number one that we see a little bit of every year is a genetic anomaly that expresses itself most dramatically in cool weather. The trait will show up to the row in some varieties (very noticeable when a planter has been split) when conditions are favorable for it…this can be quite striking and has caused many a seed rep, chem rep, etc to get panicked phone calls however, it is a temporary situation that does not seem to affect yield potential. Purple corn can also be caused by phosphorus deficiency or by any condition that inhibits nutrient uptake (poor root growth or insect feeding on roots as seen below…).
Saturated soils can also cause purple corn by an accumulation of sugars in the plant caused by the plant’s photosynthetic activities outpacing it’s growth. There are also some herbicides that can cause purple corn…back in the days of lots of Squadron/Scepter I used to get calls each spring about purple corn in the overlapped areas (which could be substantial in the days before shut-offs and only a couple boom sections). This year I would say that most of the purple corn we are seeing is genetic triggered by the cool weather and in most cases should not be an issue.
Lastly, striped corn. This does not show up in large numbers but you’ll usually see a few in most fields and I’ll get a call every now and then. Here are a few pics I’ve taken over the years (in addition to the opening picture that I took yesterday morning)…
This phenomenon can look very dramatic but is really just a genetic abnormality that shows up from time to time…usually will be just one plant that expresses the traits (as seen in the above pics…corn on either side is “normal”). There are other things that can stripe corn (sulfur and zinc deficiency, herbicide carryover…) but these generally show up in areas in irregular shapes (such as sulfur deficiency in sandy pockets)…if you see just one that looks like the above pics it’s probably just a genetic anomaly and should not create concern. Thanks for reading.
Straight to the point…mixing order/procedure is everything when it comes to the chemicals we are spraying these days…the cost of rushing is poor performance and possible crop injury (and we’ve seen both the last couple years). In particular, FMC’s Mike Harper and Dow’s Ralph Nelson have both observed issues regarding Authority and Sonic (product is not dissolved and hangs up in the tank…best case is that you don’t get the rate you want on your bean ground/worst case is that it breaks loose while posting corn). These are awesome products that are crucial to battling waterhemp but you can’t just toss them in the tank without making sure they are dissolved. Please call your chem guy or me with specific questions but here are the main points you need to watch:
1. Start with ¼ to ½ a tank of water…begin agitation…
2. Add wettable or dry flowables (Authority, Sonic, Valor, etc.)…make sure they are completely dissolved! You can do this in an inductor or even a jug or bucket but do not top-load them directly into the sprayer where you have to rely solely on the sprayer’s agitation (this is what has caused most of the problems we’ve seen)…continue agitation…
3. Add liquids
4. Add emulsifiable concentrates
5. Add surfactants and crop oils
Another good thing to remember (quoting Ralph Nelson now who farms and sprays himself in addition to working for Dow)…”don’t slam” your chemicals…take time in between each step to allow everything to mix-up…let agitation continue and add some water between steps…if you follow the correct order but “slam” everything you can have some of the same issues that you get from mixing in the wrong order. Again, give us a call if you have questions. Thanks for reading.
Few thoughts going into what is sure to be a very busy/compacted spring planting season…lots to do and with each rain less time to do it…
NH3 & N-Serve- We had some anhydrous go on in the fall but not a lot…I won’t bore you with the details but protecting your NH3 with N-Serve is just as important in the spring as in the fall…even if we don’t get saturated at some point after application and planting (and what are the chances of that not happening) you still get a point or so of drier corn in the fall (if you want the boring details or have questions give me a call).
Cab Electronics- While you are servicing your planters and tractors don’t forget to check your cab electronics. For the most part we have few issues out of most of our electronics no matter what the color however, take time to make sure they power up, that they find GPS (and lock onto it!) and that they communicate with the equipment they are connected to. You can even check autosteer systems in the driveway just to make sure everything is talking.
Last thing; the only way to drive cattle fast is slow: even though we are looking at a compacted season try to slow down…one thing about not getting an early start is that we may have only one chance to do things right. Soil conditions, seed treatments/N-Serve/pre-emergent weed control, even safety are things that can take a backseat when the pressure is on. Let us know what we can do to help and if possible, get with us soon to make plans (and maps!) so everything is ready to go. Thanks for reading.
About
A blog by Scott Wilburn, a certified crop advisor for MFA Agri Services of Laddonia, Martingsburg, Mexico, Vandalia and Montgomery City, Missouri.
