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GIRARD —
The recent rain should do a lot of good for farmers in the area. This is especially true for pastures and soybeans. The pastures should begin to green up as the new moisture supply makes itself felt. There is concern that some of the fescue may have died due to the severe drought conditions. That is yet to be seen but the fescue did survive in good shape last year with no observable loss of stand or production this last spring. As it begins to green up, I think it would be a good idea to do some fertilizing this fall so that the fescue has a good start for normal growth going into cooler weather.
An application of 40 pounds of nitrogen would be a good thing to do as the grass begins to green up. If the grass has routinely had phosphorous and potassium applied, there may be no need for additional applications of these two nutrients at this time. However, if there has been none of these two nutrients applied in recent years, then an application of may be overdue. This is particularly true if it is a hay meadow. If your fescue pasture or meadow has not been soil tested in recent years, it would be a good idea to do so.
The soybeans have been hurt very significantly by the dry summer and will certainly not produce a bumper crop this fall. However, the rains will undoubtedly make the beans better than they would have been without it. I have seen similar situations in the past and sometimes the beans can be surprisingly good but this drought was more severe than in most other years.
One of the main problems associated with late bean development is the threat of an early freeze. This has happened quite a few times over the years and the potential is always there. If freezing weather holds off until November, then there is a good chance that the beans will develop and mature. However, freezes during the first half of October could have a devastating affect.
Some fields have had significant levels of corn earworms and quite a few fields have been sprayed for this persistent pest. I suspect there are fields out there that need to be sprayed so farmers should take a close look at their fields to see if there is a problem. In the past the threshold has been determined to be one small worm per foot of row in thirty inch rows. However, with the much higher value of the beans this figure needs to be reduced significantly in order to compensate for this increased crop value. The level probably should be one worm per every two to three feet of row in thirty inch rows.
There are a lot of products out there that should do a pretty good job of controlling these worms. Give me a call at 724-8233 if you have questions about this.
The recent rain should do a lot of good for farmers in the area. This is especially true for pastures and soybeans. The pastures should begin to green up as the new moisture supply makes itself felt. There is concern that some of the fescue may have died due to the severe drought conditions. That is yet to be seen but the fescue did survive in good shape last year with no observable loss of stand or production this last spring. As it begins to green up, I think it would be a good idea to do some fertilizing this fall so that the fescue has a good start for normal growth going into cooler weather.
An application of 40 pounds of nitrogen would be a good thing to do as the grass begins to green up. If the grass has routinely had phosphorous and potassium applied, there may be no need for additional applications of these two nutrients at this time. However, if there has been none of these two nutrients applied in recent years, then an application of may be overdue. This is particularly true if it is a hay meadow. If your fescue pasture or meadow has not been soil tested in recent years, it would be a good idea to do so.
The soybeans have been hurt very significantly by the dry summer and will certainly not produce a bumper crop this fall. However, the rains will undoubtedly make the beans better than they would have been without it. I have seen similar situations in the past and sometimes the beans can be surprisingly good but this drought was more severe than in most other years.
One of the main problems associated with late bean development is the threat of an early freeze. This has happened quite a few times over the years and the potential is always there. If freezing weather holds off until November, then there is a good chance that the beans will develop and mature. However, freezes during the first half of October could have a devastating affect.
Some fields have had significant levels of corn earworms and quite a few fields have been sprayed for this persistent pest. I suspect there are fields out there that need to be sprayed so farmers should take a close look at their fields to see if there is a problem. In the past the threshold has been determined to be one small worm per foot of row in thirty inch rows. However, with the much higher value of the beans this figure needs to be reduced significantly in order to compensate for this increased crop value. The level probably should be one worm per every two to three feet of row in thirty inch rows.
There are a lot of products out there that should do a pretty good job of controlling these worms. Give me a call at 724-8233 if you have questions about this.
