UNL Extension Educator,
Webster County
May 18, 2012 Edition
May I ask – where has Spring gone? It seemed so promising, but I have to tell you that this year is becoming rather frustrating instead. It seems like we started out with everything about 3 weeks ahead and that hasn’t changed, but do we really need to deal with July weather now? The lack of significant moisture is really started to show on our crops, pastures and even lawns. I think we need to spend our time this week looking at what I fear may be the beginning of a drought.
Let’s first start in with the wheat. Unless you have been hiding in the basement I would imagine that you have a pretty good idea that the wheat is all headed out, most of it has pollinated and making kernels, and we will most likely see a very early harvest. You may also have noticed that in some wheat fields, especially it seems those planted in last year’s soybean fields have really struggled. We see stunted and even bluish colored wheat. I think most know that is stress, mostly due to not having much moisture last fall, this winter and now at the time it needs it most. Those fields are not the only ones immune, I have noticed it in fields planted in conventional tilled, and no-tilled into corn and even last year’s wheat fields.
I have seen several farmers swathing their wheat and trying to at least get some wheat hay out of it. I think those fields were probably not going to have much promise of much of a yield, so I think that is a good plan. It should be early enough for soft awns and still some green to make good bales of useable hay. Wheat hay may be a good alternative if you are suspicious of yield potential and especially if you think your reserve hay supply may be challenged.
The good news is that the various fungal diseases in the wheat has stopped or at least slowed down significantly. It is basically too late to spray at this time in most fields, but it would not hurt to walk through your wheat fields to look for fusarium head blight, scab or other head diseases/disorders such as loose smut and stem maggot injury. This is especially important if you are looking at keeping back seed wheat for next year. If you find incidences of head disease, you may want to look at other fields or other producers for next year’s seed.
I looked at several fields over the weeks and did find several instances of barley yellow dwarf virus problems. Some fields are more severely affected than others. Yellowing and/or purpling of top leaves starting from the tip and margins are typical symptoms of barley yellow dwarf. Nothing can be done to control virus diseases during the growing season. There is no silver bullet for that problem. This yellowing is different from the sulfur deficiency fields that we talked about earlier. This virus is carried by insects and particularly the bird cherry oat aphid that would have been in the fields early on before most people even thought about their wheat. I know that some farmers sprayed headline fungicide plus and insecticide before jointing and in those fields we did not find this disease and they were relatively clean up to flag leaf.
How many of you have seen farmers re-planting soybeans? I know I have and in asking around I find that most of that is due to crusting and soybean seeds not having the “oomph” to push through this year. Others have told me it is more “dust” than “crust”. Either way we are seeing some problems with soybeans. I don’t know if that is due to the vigor in particular numbers of soybeans, planting depth, planting perhaps a little early, or simply because of the condition of the soil. I know that I counted over 30 pivots running early this week just in my travels, some on soybean fields and some on corn. That is a little troubling seeing we are just past the middle of May. All I can say is Oh-Oh. There has been some conjecture that the cold water from the sprinklers on the soybean fields could have had a negative effect on the bean seedlings. I have also heard several reports of cotyledons falling off of the seedlings right after emerging also prompting decisions to replant. I don’t know if that is from pushing through the hard soil, disease or that lack of “oomph”.
I am really concerned about our pastures. They looked so good early on with the early growth of grass, but now they seem to be just sitting there. There is a definite blue cast to a lot of the pastures that I have looked at, as well as some spots turning brown or at least perhaps not coming out of dormancy. That is not to say that some of the pastures may still come on, especially if we should get some moisture. We may have to watch grazing rates very closely and work at making sure cattle utilize the whole pasture by moving mineral, salt and perhaps utilizing cross-fencing in order to get through this season should Mother Nature not cooperate. Don’t just put the cattle out in the pasture and forget about them or the pasture, this may be something you may want to monitor and then take some of the steps we had to during the drought conditions of 2000-2007. If we get to that point, we will explore some avenues that may be available to us. I know it is still early and there is always a chance for rain, but this just has that feel!
We are really starting to miss some of those missed moisture opportunities – starting with last fall, going through winter and now deep into spring. I know that some areas had some good moisture over the last 6 weeks; however, there may be an argument on how good it was from how it came. If you look at the total region - we are living in a water deficit area. I doubt too many people would argue that point. I have even been asked by some of my farmer friends to go out and do my “Indian Rain Dance”. I may have done that 30-40 years ago, but I am now more likely to get a lightning bolt coming out of the sky – rather than rain. Plus, I think those skills have waned in accordance to other attributes. I wouldn’t blame Mother Nature as I can imagine the image that would be!
The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: www.webster.unl.edu/home
No comments:
Post a Comment