Black Cutworms are Here

Black cutworms have made their presence know to the Keota area. I found several fields today(5/23/2011) that have some cutting damage. All the cutting was done above the ground. The cutworms were at the third instar growth stage. This puts them at about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. They are just beginning their feeding. The damage isn't severe at this time, but it won't take them long to feed on more plants. The economic thresholds have been lowered this year due to the price of corn and the cost of production. I saw approximately 1% damage today. The fields are still wet and it may be Wednesday before the sprayers can get rolling. If it rains Tuesday, then it could be Friday before spraying.

This could be a long cutworm season. The forecast is for cooler temperatures later this week. This does not promote corn seedling growth and the cutworms like cool damp soils. What a combination. ISU has also said that the trapping of moths in April peaked at two different times which indicates that there could be a longer cutting season.

Things look way too good to take these pests for granted. A 2% damage could reduce your stand by 700 plants per acre. This equates to about 5.5 bushels per acre. At $6 corn, you can do the math and compare to the cost of control. Also, you can do some paper work to recoup some of the cost of control. Sounds like a win, win to me. If you have a claim and it is on Lewis Hybrids seedcorn, give me a call and we can get the process going.

If you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call.

Perri

319-929-7851

Black Cutworm Report

Real quickly, I want to let you know about a report of balck cutworm damage in the Fairfield area. I heard yesterday that a field near Fairfield had to be sprayed for cutworm. Supposedly, the damage was severe. I did not see any signs of damage yesterday when I was scouting. Just another reason to keep an eye out.


Remember to scout no-till fields, fields bordering with natural vegetation, and weedy fields. ISU has lowered the economic threshold to 2% damage. With the cost of production and the market price of corn, it pays to be vigilent.


If you have questions, give me a call.





Perri

Black Cutworm Here Again

Just a quick note to put out. Iowa State University has put out a black cutworm alert for Iowa. Based on peak cutworm moth flights earlier this spring, cutting dates can be established. The flights lasted over an extended period of time this spring during mid April and the end of April. Because of this the cutting period may last longer and you will need to keep a vigilant watch on your corn fileds. The thresholds are lower now because of the market price of corn. 2% damage from cutworms smaller and 3/4 of an inch will justify spraying. This year has been a tremendous start and I would hate to see cutworms put a dent into the top end.

What you should look for are plants that are wilting, damaged, or missing. Dig around those plants and see if you can find the cutworm. Dingy cutworms can also be found, so it is improtant to know the difference. Dingys usually don't present any concerns. It is the black that can do a ton of damage. Fields that are poorly drained, weedy, reduced tilled, or are near natural vegetation should be the first scouted. Count 50 plants in five different locations and then do the math to calculate percent damage.

If you have any questions or concerns, give me a call and I can help. I will spread the word quickly if I find any damaged plants.

Perri

Planting Nears End

Planting in the Keota area is starting to wind down. Most producers are done with their corn and are planting soybeans fast. A few are waiting for some rain, before going back to planting soybeans. These are the producers that fight SDS and aren"t worried about delaying soybean planting.

Talking about rain, it fell heavily west of us today. A customer around Creston told me he had 4" in a little over 30 minutes. Another customer in the same area received 2". The soil erosion was terrible as you would gues it to be. They will be out of the fields for a while. Here in Keota, we received a whole .05" this afternoon. It looked promising on the radar, but as soon as it hit the county line, it dried up.

The corn is really making progress. I have talked about the corn planted on April 6 near Eldon. Well it is up and going gangbusters. It emerged even and spacing is about perfect. I was worried about the corn planted April 12 and 13, but the photo included here tonight was taken Tuesday, May 10. You can see it didn't miss a beat either. The corn planted May 2 is spiking through and even corn planted May 5 is near the surface. The heat has really helped us out. We just need to get some rain at critical times and miss the really hot summer nights this summer.

I try to keep an eye on the ISU black cutworm updates and as of now, we don't have a problem. I will keep everyone posted on this pest.

I had a producer plant forty acres of the new RIB1009SS. It is the new Refuge In the Bag product from Lewis Hybrids. Throw it in the planter, and you are ready to go and don't have to worry about the refuge, because it is in the bag. I will be talking with this producer all summer and giving you updates on what he thinks of the new product.

Have a safe reainder of the spring. I will be talking to each of you this summer.

Perri

Cold Weather in April

Hello everybody,

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I guess, better late than never.

Last week was quite a week. the weather was nice and soil temperatures were in the mid 50's. I was getting quite a few questions about whether or not to start planting. At the time, I was recommending to plant if you were ready. My thinking was that conditions were good and if it did turn cold, it probably wouldn't last long. In the last 6 days we have accumulated 5 GDDs. The last three there have been no units collected. I scouted corn planted April 6 through April 13 and it looked good on Monday. I think that corn will be just fine. We are supposed to get warmer this weekend and next week back into the 60s. Rain is supposed come then also. If somebody didn't want to start until after the cold and rain, I didn't argue with them. You have to do what you think is best and go from there.

Monsanto had great news released last week. Refuse In Bag (RIB) was given approval to be grown. It is the FIRST true RIB. Pioneer says they have the first, BUT a producer is still required to plant a separate 20% refuge for above ground insects. The 10% refuge they talk about is for below ground insects and that 10% is protected by technology for above ground insects. This makes the whole field planted to above ground technology. Is this confusing? I agree. Why not plant Lewis Hybrids RIB product with 5% Refuge In Bag and not worry about refuge ever again?

Talk to you soon.

Perri

If You Are Bored, Wait a Week.........

Boy, if you want change, wait a week in Iowa. Last Monday, I blogged about "what a spring" we are experiencing. It is quite a spring. The crop was progressing nicely and then on Tuesday the phone calls started coming in. I had written about uneven emergence and that is still a problem. The areas in fields that historically hold water are holding back crop progress as well. Soil temperatures seem to be the culprit. I have been recording daily soil temperatures since April 1. There have not been any days 60 degrees or higher, 12 days 57 to 59 degrees, 10 days 55 & 56 degrees, 12 days 50 -54 degrees and 3 days of 49 degrees. These are scattered over the whole period. It has been up and down but the last three days(Friday through Sunday) generated 12 GDUs. You may ask if that is good or not. Last Thursday, 11 GDUs were recorded. It has been cold and it is not benefiting the crop. I am not telling nay of you something you don't know, but if you are noticing problems with the crop, this is probably the reason.

We had some frost here in Keota on Sunday morning. It did nip some corn I saw this morning. I flagged the seedlings and took photos. I will go back next Monday and see what happens to those same seedlings. Some opinions say that they will be just fine. Others say that the dead plant tissue will get in the way of the growing point and not allow it to emerge. I guess we will find out in this situation. I would have more confidence if the weather would warm up and allow the plant to get to work.

I check Missouri Extension web page and ISU web page looking for black cutworm progress. NE Missouri had another intense capture on May 7. This projects cutting for May 28. If GDUs don't increase it may be august before cutting begins.

Tomorrow night is Al Kluis' webinar. I will not be available to watch but starting in June I will get them back on the schedule.

If you have any other questions, be sure to contact me.

Perri

319-929-7851

Great Spring

What a wonderful spring we are experiencing. I walked several corn fields today and I must say the condition of the crop is very good. Sure there is yellow corn and uneven emergence. As compared to recent past springs, the corn is in the ground earlier, and has emerged rather quickly.

I want to talk about some of the situations I observed today. First thing was that I found some skips within the rows of corn. Not many by any means, but more in corn on corn. Scratching in the skip I found the seeding just preparing to poke through the soil surface. Sometimes those seeds were planted shallow. I have talked with many growers who commented that the ground did not freeze out and that made it difficult to place the seed uniformly. Down pressure on planters was a topic discussed all spring. Some said they had maximum down pressure and the rows set to plant two inches deep and still had a tough time getting the seed over 1.5" into the ground. I don't think the unevenness of stand will hurt yields. the seedlings are all small and the slow growing ones will catch up quickly. This week is going to be warm and I think you will see even stands soon. I may be wrong, but we will see soon enough.

Some of the corn seedlings are emerging with a yellow color to them. If we look at the weather from the past two weeks, we will see cooler temps and quite a bit of rain. The emerging seedlings last week were much more yellow than the ones this week. With warm temperatures and sunshine, the corn will green up quickly.

Stand counts have been very good with the emergence issues I have mentioned. I count stands when all the corn is emerged that is going to emerge. I counted six different populations today and they ranged from 33,333 to 35,500. I could write all day about the proper plant stands. They depend on soils, hybrids, environment and many other factors. In my opinion, and this is based on last year's population studies, 35,000 is right where the stands should be. I will count harvestable ears in August and calculate yields. We will see then where the populations are at that time.

I have been fielding many questions about cutworms. Today, the University of Missouri reported an extensive outbreak in Knox County, NE Missouri. The way to monitor Black Cutworms is that 300GDUs after an outbreak, cutting will be noticed in corn fields. Iowa State is saying some hatching is happening in Iowa. I will keep track of the monitoring from the Universities and report when we all should be on alert. I will send a text message by cell phone.

If any other matters arise that should be reported, I will get that information to you.

Stay safe.

Perri

310-929-7851

Rain, Rain, Go Away.......

We asked for it and we got it. On Friday we were looking forward to a rain, and now Monday, we want some dry weather. Here in Keota we received between 2.25" and 3" over the whole weekend. Our ground took it very well and it didn't cause much erosion. If we get this much rain again this weekend though, it may be a different story. I spoke with my mother in Cedar Rapids and she told me she didn't receive much rain at all. Some DSMs in south central Missouri received 6" of rain. Growers had a good run this month, and now there will be a bit of a break.

I was out in a lot of muddy fields today. It was fairly dry by 4:30 pm this afternoon. There is a lot of corn up and just shy of V1 growth stage. There is even more corn just below or right at the soil surface. It has good color and with warmer temperatures for this week, it should just pop and really take off. My greatest fear at this point is frost. If we can get past May 10, then I will feel more comfortable.

USDA Crop Progress report came out today showing nationally that 50% of the corn crop is planted. That compares to 20% planted this time last year. In Iowa, 68% of the corn crop is planted compared to 41% last year. What really stands out to me is that in one week, Iowa growers planted 50% of the cron crop. Amazing!

Starting on April 10, I have recorded 185 GDDs. I have really noticed how closely to 120 GDDs corn emerges. Soil temperatures today were 54 degrees and we have had 3.05" of rain for the whole month of April in Keota. If you are interested in GDDs since you have planted, give me a call or an e-mail and I can calculate that for you.

Good luck with the remaining spring and be safe.

Perri

Wow, what a spring so far. Planting started here in the Keota area on April 10. I am in favor of the planting fever we have experienced in April. The soils temperature have been above 54 degrees most of the spring and evening temps have stayed warm. Even with all the good things, there are still some concerns out there. Emergence in places is uneven. I have bee taking many questions about if the late coming plants will be viable or not. There are many variables in that question. It takes approximately 100-120 GDDs for a corn plant to emerge. If you find a plant spiking through the soil and it's neighbor sitting in dry soil without a radicle emerged from the seed, then it will take that seed about 8-10 days to emerge. Under favorable conditions the emerged plant will be up and going and the slow coming plant will be unviable. If the seed has rooted and has a shorter coleoptile, then it will have a chance to compete.

We had 0.5" of rain here in Keota today. Every seed planted should have had a good soaking, and all that was planted this week should be emerging evenly. We have had very cloddy soil conditions here from Ottumwa through Keota. The rains will also help melt those down. Chemicals should be activated and we will be off to the races. I will be out inthe fields most of the time next week so I will be able to evaluate stands and report back.

Just a reminder, I now have a twitter account and I will report what I am finding on www.twitter.com/pdraisey.

I have been keeping a running total of GDDs for this spring. I started on 4/10 with the first planter running. I know not all the seed went into the ground on that day, so I have broke down the totals on a daily basis. I went back to the field planted on the 10th when the total GDDs first went over 100 units. The corn coleoptile was right at the soil surface. Each hybrid will be different but, you will see spikes when the GDDs are between 100-120 units. How does this help? If we were having problems with crusting, knowing the GDDs can help make the decision of whether to rotary hoe or not. That is a very simple example. You can make that decision by scratching in the soil. If you are ever interested on the total GDDs for your crop, please contact me and ask. I try to keep the running total with me daily.

Enjoy the wet weather. I can't believe I said that after the last two springs. Be safe.

Perri

319-929-7851

www.twitter.com/pdraisey

Spring Hot Topics

This has really been an exciting spring already. I heard of 600 acres of corn planted around Webster. Hopefully each seed has a jacket. Time will tell whether it works or not.

Many questions have been raised this spring. What is the soil temperature? What effects will last year's compaction have on this year's crop? What will seed do in cold, water saturated soils? What herbicides can I use on the corn when I use organophosphate insecticides? I will try to address these questions tonight.

Soil temperatures here in SE Iowa are remarkedly warm. Yesterday's was 56 degrees at 4" depth. They have been hovering around 49 to 56 degrees. I think that is great. Now if we could stop the rain. If you want to keep up on the soil temps, you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/pdraisey. I list rainfall and soil temperatures daily. I try daily anyway. If you are from outside the Keota area, ISU has a webpage you can go to see the temps in your county. That webpage is http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/NPKnowledge/soiltemphistory.html .

I have a couple customers that use an organophosphate insecticide along with VT3 corn seed. They see an addtional yield response that more than pays for the insecticide. There are secondary pests, or nematodes that will effect the young seedling on continuous corn fields. There are cautionary statements on the labels of the insecticides that warn agaisnt using certain herbicides following application of insecticides. If you are in this group of producers, please be sure to read and follow the labels. There is an extension publication from the University of Illinois that explains and covers all the factors that lead to seedling problems that arise from using the wrong herbicide with an insecticide. The main problem is that the plant takes in both the herbicide and insecticide and is unable to metablize both chemicals and injury usually follows. The webpage is http://ipm.illinois.edu/bulletin/print.php?id=1271 .

I hope these pages are of some help. If you have any questions, give me a call.

Thanks

Perri

319-929-7851