Category Archives: hail
July 2024 Crop Update
The past 10 days, my top questions have been around fungicide recommendations, control of Japanese beetles, and hail damage. I feel there’s an increasing segment of agronomy that is focused on preventing pests based on fear. I’m grateful for those agronomists who only recommend products when warranted by scouting.
Some thoughts, although not popular, for consideration. Fungicide for white mold in soybean is pricey. If the field didn’t have a history of white mold, I wouldn’t recommend applying a fungicide for white mold. For seed corn fields without a history of white mold, I’d wait to see if white mold develops. If too fearful, would only apply one application at R2. Only fields with a history of white mold would I be considering preventive fungicide applications. And in those fields, if the beans had been planted green into a small grain and/or if a biological product with activity against white mold was used, would suggest scouting and applying only if white mold was present. Fungicide efficacy ratings: https://cropprotectionnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/soybean-foliar-efficacy-2024.pdf.
Hail: Looked at quite a bit of hail damage in Clay/Fillmore counties last week. Always so hard to see beautiful crops impacted or destroyed. Some hail resources for you: late vegetative/tasseling in corn: https://go.unl.edu/y3of, Soybean decisions: https://go.unl.edu/z7ad; and hail damage info. on my blog at https://jenreesources.com.
Corn Diseases: There’s very little I’ve seen in fields. Bacterial leaf spot (BLS) is common on hybrids and can be confused with gray leaf spot. BLS has longer, thinner lesions with wavy lines when looking at the lesions closely. I’ve seen quite a bit of Goss’ wilt, as early as V8. There’s nothing we can do for either BLS or Goss’s as bacterial diseases, but it’s good to be aware they’re occurring.
Tar spot has been found in Richardson, Nemaha, Saunders, Dodge, Colfax counties but not in our area. Southern rust has been found in northeast Kansas. I still recommend waiting on fungicide applications until we need them. Research found that products applied between tasseling and milk when tar spot was present in low amounts (5%) was effective in controlling tar spot most years. So, waiting could be wise with tight economics, particularly if tar spot, gray leaf spot, and southern rust come in later.
Japanese Beetles in crop fields: Usually the beetles congregate in areas in the field and not whole fields. So even at a 20% defoliation in soybeans during reproductive stages, it’s been hard to pull triggers for spraying because it’s not field-wide defoliation (and we’ve seen soybeans recover in the past). For corn, the threshold is 3 beetles per ear with silks clipped less than ½” and 50% or less of the field is pollinated. A challenge with Japanese beetles is that we have another potentially 4-6 weeks of emergence from grassy areas. So, one can spray an insecticide, but it’s not uncommon to see the beetles damaging fields again once the residual wears off. Spidermites can also be flared upon insecticide applications. Some consider a border app since they begin feeding in the borders. So, those are all things to consider.
Sevin and Japanese Beetles: For homeowners, PLEASE read the pesticide labels before applying products (even if you’ve used that same product in the past). I do mention Sevin as a product that can be applied in different situations in this guide: https://go.unl.edu/xgd6, but not all Sevin formulations are the same; thus, not all the same plants are labeled! We’ve unfortunately seen some plants injured to the point of death in the past. So please, double check that the plant is labeled before applying an insecticide product to control the beetles.
For soybean damage, the situations with pictures shown here (other than the top right) will recover. These fields are already showing new growth in axillary buds including new leaves and flowers. While some canopy was lost, they will look a lot better in 7-10 days. Look for areas of the field (lower right picture) that were protected such as by trees and/or pivot tires, to determine the original development stage when the soybeans were damaged. In the case of the upper right photo, those beans were planted the week of April 10th and were already at a strong R4 to beginning R5. By R5, soybeans will not recover because all new node, leaf, and pod development ceases. If considering to replant any beans, there’s risk of using later than a 2.5 maturity variety with a July 15th planting date in reaching maturity before a frost. By July 20th, aiming for closer to a 2.0 maturity is wise. Also, if you’re replanting into soybeans, we’ve found a fungicide seed treatment is wise as phytophthora root rot tends to be a problem in replant.
For corn, much of the corn I looked at has mostly leaf stripping and will be ok. There’s also bent/broken plants. Fields vary in the amount of stem bruising. When taking stand counts, I push a little hard on plants to see if they break off when I’m taking counts. A rule of thumb we’ve used in the past: every plant in 1/1000th of an acre we give 10 bu/ac to. So, a count of 12 plants has a potential of 120 bu/ac. That may seem crazy; it depends on how things pollinate, how damaged the ears are, final stand, etc. but it has been in the ballpark in enough cases for me to still use it as a guideline for making hail damage decisions.
In these photos, the fields were far more severely damaged. There’s fields like we saw in 2023 where 1/3 of the field or less still has tassels (top left and middle photos). We saw crop insurance delay that decision in the past to see how the ears would pollinate. I’m not sure what they will decide this year. I was seeing a few brown silks in some of these field situations, but it’s super early too. There’s also a large number of dead tassels in these fields (bottom right photo) that won’t provide any pollen. Tassels remaining tend to be wrapped in the newer leaves but as you see in bottom, middle photo, the tassel is trying to shed pollen inside the trapped leaves. Ears may be misshapen and damaged due to hailstones and/or being damaged and unable to emerge from sheaths (bottom left photo).
What we learned in the past is that palmer comes in quickly once the canopy opens. One can consider warrant with drops as a layby depending on how much Group 15 had been used in the field. Most chose not to go that option. Some seeded covers like brassicas/small grain into fields not totaled (flew on or haggie). Most let the palmer grow.
In the top right photo when fields were totaled, some allowed the weeds to grow and grazed with cattle or sheep. Some seeded a summer annual cover like sorghum sudan/sudangrass/pearl millet. In 2023, several crop producers chose pearl millet so they didn’t have to worry about prussic acid poisoning for those bringing in livestock or wanting to hay. Others just waited till later in the year, shredded down the stalks and planted in a small grain like oats or rye. The “blessing” with a decision in July is it can allow for more time to make a decision compared to if we were in June and the primary option was to replant. That perhaps was the biggest lesson I learned last year in working with producers. If you have specific questions or want to talk through decisions, please give me a call.
Also, it’s important to recognize that these disaster events create loss…in this case, loss of crops, pivots, bins, not only in irrigated acres but in a lot of non-irrigated acres that had more potential than most have seen in years, much less their lifetime. It’s ok to have a range of emotions surrounding this. And, it’s common to feel stressed, numb, and not want to make a quick decision. If I’ve learned one thing in my career, it’s the fact that as people, we all just need to talk about the stress and emotions we all face at times with someone we trust. My biggest piece of advice is to talk to someone just to get outside of one’s own head. There’s so much stress in life, not to mention in ag. The most common comment I’ve heard from people the past several years was they just appreciated being able to share with someone about the stress and what they were feeling. There’s also a number of mental wellness resources on the front page of CropWatch at https://cropwatch.unl.edu.
Resources:
- Summer annual forage grasses: https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g2183/2013/pdf/view/g2183-2013.pdf
- Making soybean replant decisions-what we learned: https://go.unl.edu/z7ad
- Corn damage to late vegetative/tasseling corn: https://go.unl.edu/y3of
More information and registration at: https://www.grazemastergroup.com/events.
JenREES 7/30/23
150th York County Fair: Hoping you can attend the 150th York County Fair this week! Full Schedule of
events at: http://www.yorkcountyfair.com. Raffle tickets are being sold for the York County Fair Foundation with proceeds used for projects at the fairgrounds. Only 400 tickets will be sold at $50.00 each. A total of 56 drawing winners will receive $150.00 each and the winning tickets get put back in the drawing for additional chances to win. Drawings will occur weekly from the first week of October 2023 through the last week of September 2024 (and daily winners during the 2024 York County Fair). Tickets can be purchased from Ag Society or Fair Foundation members, at a Fair booth in the Mercantile building during the County Fair, or at the York Co. Extension Office till Sept. 30 (or until all tickets are sold).
Weather Impacts: I keep saying we’re a long way from harvest and it seems like we continue to face difficulties. For me, it keeps reminding me that I’m not in control but I can look to and trust the One who is. Many worked so hard to keep livestock safe. Feel for those who unfortunately lost livestock to the heat and humidity. Farm Service Agency (FSA) asked that we remind producers of the Livestock Indemnity Program and to report livestock losses within 30 days of the losses occurring. Please call your local FSA office to provide an official notice of loss. The local office will share with you what is needed for appropriate documentation of losses.
It was a blessing to receive a widespread 2” of rain on Saturday morning! Also good to see something planted into some hail damaged fields. As storms continue to occur in different areas, what I’ve shared earlier in regards to forages still applies. Summer annuals can still be planted through Aug. 15 (unsure on haying depending on weather, but definitely can graze).
Flying/spreading oats, rye or other small grains with or without brassicas continues to be an option as well. Palmer is emerging. 2,4-D amine and 2,4-D ester are both labeled as “anytime” for applying before seeding any small grain. Read the specific label for any restrictions. Oats give the most fall forage. Earliest greenup in the spring is rye followed by wheat followed by triticale. Triticale will provide the most spring biomass but it comes on late (think June time-frame for haying).
Drought: By Friday afternoon, non-irrigated fields rapidly turned, were firing, and using fields for forage was the question, particularly from Nuckolls Co. I think most were just thinking ahead to having plans in place should they be needed. Reminder again, the field needs to be released by crop insurance. I called Dr. Mary Drewnoski to talk through grazing corn in brown silk to milk stages. We’re treating this as immature corn. So the considerations we gave before were the fact that nitrates would exist but that cattle would self-adapt as they graze the tops first. Any ears present will be mostly water. Mary’s main concern at this point was how much could be knocked down and under-utilized by allowing the full field vs. larger strip grazed areas. One can supplement with a few pounds of grain or with hay. She mentioned to not feed a non-protein nitrogen source (ex. lick tubs) when feeding high nitrate forages. Don’t turn out empty and allow access to plenty of fresh water. If plants end up completely brown before they’re released by crop insurance, it won’t change the nitrate concentration of those plants. Options at that point are still grazing or ensiling. For those who’ve shared they really want to hay the corn, know that your nitrate concentration will be highest with that option. Cut at least 8-12” above the ground. I would recommend sampling for nitrates after baling and also only consider this option if you have the ability to grind those bales and mix in a ration. Do NOT harvest or graze for at least three days following rain that “breaks” drought conditions. The rain causes an uptake of nitrogen from the soil, which is translocated into the plant. After three days, the nitrogen will have been converted to plant protein and is no longer in dangerous form.
Whether for drought or hail damage, for those trying silage, reposting Dr. Bruce Anderson’s silage info. “Fermentation usually (but not always) reduces nitrate levels and risk. Yield is about one ton per acre of silage for each harvested foot of earless corn plant (not counting the tassel). Feeding value is about 70% to 80% of well-eared corn silage. Corn with some grain (less than 50 bushels) tends to produce about one ton of silage for every five bushels of grain with a feed value about 80 to 90% of regular corn silage. Harvest timing is critical with silage to ensure the correct moisture for proper fermentation. Desired moisture level for silage is about 65%. Plants with any green leaves usually are too wet to chop for silage. For proper moisture, most leaves may need to be dead before chopping. The stalk and ear hold amazingly high water concentrations. For corn with no grain, even if all leaves are dead, the whole plant (and silage) moisture can be 70% if the stalk is still green and alive.
Once plants actually die they can rapidly dry down. There are several ways to reduce moisture content. If corn has pollinated, delay silage harvest until all chances of increased biomass tonnage have passed or plants naturally dry down to appropriate moisture levels. Corn can be windrowed and allowed to partially dry before chopping. Excessively wet material can be blended with drier feeds such as ground hay, cracked grain, or dried distillers grains. However, this can take a lot of material — about 500 lb of grain or hay to reduce each ton of chopped corn with 85% moisture down to 70% moisture. Silage inoculants may improve fermentation and preservation of drought-damaged silage.”
JenREES 7/23/23
Grateful for the rains we had earlier in July for green-up of plants and allowing some to take a little break from irrigating and for beautiful cooler weather during pollination!
Crop Update: There’s no southern rust yet. Minimal common rust, minimal GLS lowest leaves, minor northern corn leaf blight in some canopies. Mostly bacterial leaf streak from wind/hail and also physoderma brown spot which is common once pollination occurs.
Hail Damage Follow-Up: I would describe this week as a roller coaster for all dealing with hail damage again. Each passing day makes decisions more difficult because we’re running out of growing season. First, the fact that you’re going back and forth on decisions is normal-none of us knows the best decisions right now or how this season will end. I’m also grateful to hear how many are seeking input from others! The fact that all our farmers are weary from the stress of drought, irrigating since planting, and now some having to replant is real. The fact that some of you are at the point of being ‘done with trying to do something with damaged fields’ is also a common theme. Conversations I’ve had if it helps:
Beans: I can’t guarantee the beans you planted or are planting this week will make it, but a Group 2.0 or less will be close at this point. They are an easier option for some to get something covering the ground. You may feel better seeing something growing in a week.
Annual Forages: Lot’s of back/forth here. You should get enough growth for haying something like pearl millet or sorghum-sudangrass yet, but in the event you don’t, there’s always the option of grazing. I’ve mostly recommended this option for people who have livestock, have someone who wants to graze, or are more familiar with annual forage from an equipment, etc. perspective. I don’t foresee a problem with ‘getting rid’ of forage. If this seems too risky as we approach August or you’re too exhausted to consider this, go with the next options instead.
Ready to be Done but Want Ground Cover: I’m more concerned about palmer control than yields on these fields. We know how sickening harvest was last year. The ‘easier button’ at this point is to have someone fly or spread on something for you. There may be opportunities to use ground rigs from seed corn fields. You wouldn’t have to do anything with stalks right now.
- No livestock: If you want something to winterkill, options are a small grain like oats, brassicas like turnips/radishes, or if you don’t want the ‘divots’ from the bulbs, consider forage collards (more expensive). Rape is also an option. If you want something to survive winter, use rye or wheat.
- Livestock: The above are also options for those with livestock or those who may have someone to graze stalks. The stalks, regardless of height, can still be grazed at some point.
Hail Damage Recovery: Seeing new leaves on soybean plants. The problem is how many of these plants were close to R5 (beginning seed) at the time of hail. Fields that were R3 have more flowers coming, but fields that were in R4 or later are mostly just showing leaves with very few flowers. So, the pods that are currently out there are mostly it for what can be produced. For corn, in these fields with 25% or less tassels, pollination is spotty and poor. Some fields, there’s quite a bit of hailstone damage with mold already developing…I’m not trying to be a downer, just honest on what can be observed. Please take care of yourselves! Rural Response Hotline: 1-800-464-0258.
Field Days: July 31st at 7 p.m. is the Precision Fertigation Sunset Seminar at Jason Richter’s field on Road 8 between the York/Seward County line road and Road W in York County. This is an on-farm research study using the Sentinel Fertigation technology I’ve shared about…to apply fertilizer based on when the plant says it needs it using satellite imagery. Thank you to Jason for hosting! More info. and RSVP here: https://www.sentinelfertigation.com/sunset-seminars.
August 1 is the South Central Ag Lab Field Day near Clay Center from 8:45 a.m.-3:05 p.m. (Reg. at 8:30 a.m.). You choose the tours you attend from topics such as nutrient, disease, weed, irrigation, insect management. Noon speaker is Jackson Stansell with Sentinel Fertigation on “Reducing Nitrogen Use With Sentinel Fertigation.” RSVP at: go.unl.edu/scalfieldday.
August 3 is the Drones in Ag field day at the ENREC near Mead from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Reg. at 7 a.m.). This conference serves as a platform to exchange knowledge and experiences among participants. Topics include how to fly drones legally in the national airspace, including requirements to fly sprayer drones, practical uses of drones in agriculture, and tips and tricks to successfully use drones in a business. CCA credits pending. Details and RSVP at https://neata.org/.
Anyone else seeing this? Hard to tell in the pic but tried to draw lines. I’m seeing the old check strips left from last year showing up as greener than the rest of the fields in these fields hailed again this year. Unsure why…more N perhaps there? Also showing soybeans with pods that survived the hail in different fields where I’m not seeing new flowers.
Can see pollination had occurred on some kernels showing blister development and a lot of ugly looking ears between lack of pollination and from hailstone bruising. The top ear already shows mold growth from Fusarium towards the ear base.
So far nothing to be concerned about regarding corn diseases in fields I’ve looked at. Bacterial leaf streak (above) fairly common in fields right now from wind/hail damage. When backlit, you will see yellow halos around lesions and it looks worse from the back-side of leaves-nothing to do or worry about. Below: Upper left is northern corn leaf blight (cigar-shaped lesions in mid-canopy of some fields); Gray leaf spot (typical rectangular lesion that I found 3 leaves above the soil and not above that); Below that is damage from corn blotch leaf miner adults when the female is making ovipositioning sites; larger lower picture is physoderma brown spot lesions (dark purple/brown spots along midribs, leaf axils and leaf sheaths and also orangish colored ‘bands’ of circular lesions on leaves since this pathogen moves with water. Notice on the top part of this leaf is a white streak that appears transparent; that is from corn blotch leaf miner larvae feeding.
JenRees 7-17-23
(July 4th Left photo and July 10th Right photo of hail damage in Nebraska via Interactive Hail maps).
This week sharing on hail damage discussions I had with people depending on their individual field situations, previous herbicide, need for forage, all dependent upon crop insurance decisions. The July 4 and 10th hailstorms impacted an area from north of Thayer into Polk county down through Waco to east of McCool Junction and east through pockets of Utica area and Beaver Crossing/Goehner areas. As I’ve talked with people, there’s another level of mental difficulty in having to see it each day at one’s place vs. driving to fields to see it. Feel for everyone impacted, particularly those of you who were hit the past two years. Perhaps one opportunity now is growing much-needed forage as pastures are gone and many need feed for livestock.
Soybean assessments for yield are difficult when they were at R3-R4 (podding stages) prior to hail. There were new leaves/flowers the day after the storms which will continue to R5 (beginning seed). Tops were very broken on these stems so pods will most likely be low towards the ground from branching.
Soybean replant for federal crop was July 5th. Leaving fields alone is one option. For soybeans that lost most of leaves and upper stems, depending on crop insurance decisions and producer goals, have talked about splitting the rows to plant or else drilling beans (due to concerns of open canopy for weeds). Considerations include costs such as seed and seeding, fungicide seed treatment, herbicides. Increase seeding rate to at least 150,000 seeds/ac, use a fungicide seed treatment, and aim for a Group 2.0 maturity or less to reduce frost risk. A table at jenreesources.com shows yield ranges and when physiological maturity could occur via running historical York weather station data in a model with a July 20th planting date. The clock is ticking for replant soybeans to make seed prior to frost. Beans that freeze prior to maturity are often ‘lima-shaped’ beans at harvest or have an off-green color. That color will lesson some over time.
Others felt bean fields provided an opportunity for seeding forage. In that case, the field needs to be released by crop insurance. Check soybean herbicides used for any replant restrictions; you assume the risk of the cover crop seed germinating if you seed before a restriction ends.
Corn decisions are fairly clear to me. Hail also finished off some of the drought-damaged corn. Seed corn is each company’s decision by field-greensnap and bacterial top rot in fields I’ve seen. For corn that’s mostly stripped but was nearing tasseling or had ear development, watch for bruising. Past observations showed bruising from hailstones to ears during silking stage results in ear mold development. There’s nothing you can do about it but be aware of it for harvest and storage. Bruising to stalks allows for stalk rot to set in. Fungicides at some point can help with stalk strength. For fields with some tassels amidst mostly mowed off plants above the ears, watch pollination if they’re not released. Fields with tall stalks mowed just above or below the ears can be forage opportunities. Some considered grazing first and then planting a forage crop. Have also talked about flying brassicas like turnips/radishes into these taller stalk fields to allow for grazing of the stalks with the brassicas at some point. Check for any corn herbicide grazing restrictions. Also know it’s your risk to seed cover crops prior to any replant restrictions from corn herbicides used. Don’t turn cattle in empty, provide fresh water, no strip grazing, avoid grazing lowest 8″ of stalk, and consider supplementing hay/energy for any nitrate concerns.
Some planned to shred the stalks and replant with beans instead. Some planned to shred the stalks and drill in something like sorghum sudan, pearl millet, or sudangrass now. Some planned to plant a small grain like rye/oats/wheat or a combination of them in August/September time-frame depending on if they wanted the cover to winterkill (oats), wanted less growth next spring (wheat), or more growth next spring (rye). I know rye especially got a bad rap this year in the midst of drought, but again, we’re in a drought. For any of these options, you’ll need to check replant restrictions and know the risk is on you if you plant prior to it.
The following contains more info. for planting annual forages in July or August: https://go.unl.edu/ypgc. Additional considerations are cost/availability of seed, seeding, equipment, will forage be hayed/grazed/both, will you use it or do you have someone to use it, or can you grow something to sell. Some with hay have considered using these forages for their livestock and selling their hay at some point for the higher price. Haven’t heard anyone from the July 10 hailstorm talking about short season corn for silage but did talk to others from earlier hailstorms in the State regarding that. There was also greensnap to varying degrees and bent but not broken plants (where ear abnormalities can occur). Willing to listen if you want to bounce off ideas. Ultimately, please take care of yourselves! Rural Response Hotline: 1-800-464-0258.
Silage: This really depends on plant height and ability to harvest for silage. Dr. Bruce Anderson shared in a 2012 CropWatch article Using Weather Damaged Corn as Forage that, “Fermentation usually (but not always) reduces nitrate levels and risk. Yield is about one ton per acre of silage for each harvested foot of earless corn plant (not counting the tassel). Feeding value is about 70% to 80% of well-eared corn silage. Corn with some grain (less than 50 bushels) tends to produce about one ton of silage for every five bushels of grain with a feed value about 80 to 90% of regular corn silage. Harvest timing is critical with silage to ensure the correct moisture for proper fermentation. Desired moisture level for silage is about 65%. Plants with any green leaves usually are too wet to chop for silage. For proper moisture, most leaves may need to be dead before chopping. The stalk and ear hold amazingly high water concentrations. For corn with no grain, even if all leaves are dead, the whole plant (and silage) moisture can be 70% if the stalk is still green and alive.
Once plants actually die they can rapidly dry down. There are several ways to reduce moisture content. If corn has pollinated, delay silage harvest until all chances of increased biomass tonnage have passed or plants naturally dry down to appropriate moisture levels. Corn can be windrowed and allowed to partially dry before chopping. Excessively wet material can be blended with drier feeds such as ground hay, cracked grain, or dried distillers grains. However, this can take a lot of material — about 500 lb of grain or hay to reduce each ton of chopped corn with 85% moisture down to 70% moisture. Silage inoculants may improve fermentation and preservation of drought-damaged silage.”
150th York County Fair: We’re asking for copies (no originals) of fair photos through the years for a display in Ag Hall. Feel free to share a brief memory/who is in the photo on the back. Please bring your copies to the York Extension Office by July 21st if possible. Thanks!
Table 1. Yield Potential of Maturity Groups Planted on July 15 or 20, 2023 in the York, NE area via the SoySim model (thanks to Dr. Jim Specht for running this for me). One week makes a big difference between July 15 and July 20th for yields and reaching physiological maturity. Note average 30 year frost date for York at 31F is October 14th and at 28F is October 21st. I bolded the July 20th planting dates as that’s what’s realistic now.
| Maturity Group | Planting Date | Low Yield (bu/ac) | High Yield (bu/ac) | Average Yield (bu/ac) | Physiological Maturity Date |
| 1.0 | July 15 | 21 | 33 | 26 | September 24 |
| 1.5 | July 15 | 27 | 39 | 34 | October 4 |
| 2.0 | July 15 | 33 | 44 | 39 | October 13 |
| 2.5 | July 15 | 35 | 46 | 43 | October 20 |
| 3.0 | July 15 | 28 | 47 | 43 | October 27 |
| 3.5 | July 15 | 23 | 38 | 35 | October 28 |
| 1.0 | July 20 | 18 | 29 | 24 | October 2 |
| 1.5 | July 20 | 25 | 34 | 30 | October 13 |
| 2.0 | July 20 | 25 | 37 | 32 | October 21 |
| 2.5 | July 20 | 20 | 40 | 32 | October 28 |
| 3.0 | July 20 | 15 | 42 | 31 | October 29 |
| 3.5 | July 20 | 10 | 36 | 24 | November 2 |
Pictures from various soybean fields showing soybean damage to tops of plants, tiny pods that survived in some axillary buds, and new regrowth. Lowest pods were at beginning seed (R5) in lowest nodes of some fields I checked which means upper parts of the plant were most likely between R3-R4 (podding stages). New growth (new leaves and flowers) was seen in axillary buds the day after hail damage. Will be tough to get much top growth with shredded stems and as many nodes have been cut off. Most new growth will most likely branch and be lower on plants that were more severely affected.
Corn plants mowed off around the ear or below in various fields. These provide opportunities for forage should one be interested in that. There are some who have talked about shredding stalks and planting beans as well as an option.
Photos from later-planted seed corn with greensnap and bacterial top rot setting in. Fields like this are hard to tell the extent of damage from the road.
These are all fields with some amount of tassels remaining. The first picture represents all those fields with less than 25% tassels and the rest of the stalks cut off around ear height. Will need to watch pollination in those fields. Fields with damage to ears that were silking may have hailstone bruising. Ear mold is something to watch in those situations but nothing one can do about it.
JenREES 7/10/22
Grateful for some rain last week! Hail damaged trees (particularly evergreen trees) need water now to help them heal all the open wounds on the branches, stems, trunks.
Western Bean Cutworm Moths should be around 25% flight for corn nearing or tasseling in much of the area. It was predicted for Guide Rock on July 5, York on July 10, and Clay Center on July 11. This CropWatch article shares dates to watch for around the State: https://go.unl.edu/nmye.
Japanese Beetle Control: I posted a second blog post last week on organic and conventional control products that are sold in this area at local farm stores, lawn/garden centers, Wal-Mart, and Ace. You can print it out from the font page of the York Co. Extension website: https://go.unl.edu/bvqf.
Even after applying pesticides, beetles will continue to emerge and fly in from grassy areas (ditches, lawns, pastures) for a good 4-8 weeks. Plants that are being chewed on elicit responses signifying they’re in trouble. It’s those responses that signal other beetles to come. Even though linden, fruit, and other trees and plants are rapidly defoliated, they should not die. On younger trees that were hail damaged, I’m unsure if the hail + the beetle defoliation is too much stress for survival; we will have to see. I’m also unsure if we will see new leaves in general after beetle defoliation this year or not; trees are super stressed already from all the hail damage. I’m observing new leaves are very slow coming back on broadleaf trees post-hail and that was before we also had the beetle defoliation.
I probably should’ve realized this, but another thing I learned this week is there’s two formulations of ‘Sevin’ being sold. I don’t mention that on the print-out mentioned above. One is the traditional carbaryl that lasts 5-7 days. The other is zeta-cypermethrin which has a residual of 14 days (farmers would recognize this ingredient in Hero and Mustang Maxx). I’m not sure why the company branded both products the same name. The Sevin carbaryl product says it will ‘cause damage to boston ivy and virginia creeper’…both of which are favorites of Japanese beetles. So, that was something new I learned by reading the labels and being called out to an unfortunate incident with boston ivy. I didn’t see that same warning on the Sevin zeta-cypermethrin product, but please check it for yourself if you use it.
Japanese beetles are in corn and bean fields as well. Watch silk clipping in corn and pod clipping in beans (seeing both occurring). Tasseled corn threshold: three or more Japanese beetles per ear, silks have been clipped to less than ½ inch, and pollination is less than 50% complete. Soybean has 20% defoliation once flowering occurs. It’s been interesting seeing beetles defoliating palmer, waterhemp, smartweed, etc. Too bad we couldn’t train them to just eat the weeds!
Hail Damage and Corn Pollination: This one is just hard and I’m genuinely hoping this isn’t as big of an issue as what it looks like. For corn that was V9-V11 during the June 14th storm, check the tassels and the ears. What I’m seeing in fields that were severely stem bruised but not totaled, are ears that are hip high on me with silks that are up to 5” long right now. Tassels are mostly 1-2 leaves from tasseling. Opening up the leaves shows severely damaged tassels with minimal to no anthers. Some anthers are trying to pollinate within the leaves (pics on my blog). It’s normal for silks to emerge before tassels as that’s what breeders have bred corn to do. It’s not normal for the tassels to emerge this much later than the silks and to be so severely damaged. It will be something to watch in all the hail damaged fields that were kept from June 14 storm to see if the pollination timing is impacted in them as well. What I’m recommending is for now, check your fields and take pictures of the tassels and ears for documentation of any problems if crop insurance can’t come out. I’m hoping I’m wrong and that we can still get some decent pollination in these fields.
This is one of a few fields looked at that was between V9-V11 during the June 14th hailstorms. It had severe stalk bruising at the time and around 22-24K for population. Long silks with very few tassels out. Top left tassel was a decent tassel found that was out. Most tassels are within 1-2 leaves of emerging, are severely damaged from the hail, and some were shedding what pollen they were producing while inside the leaves (bottom left photo).
JenREES 6/26/22
It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I write this from my deck! Looking in my backyard I see one new rose blossom, leaves appearing on my vegetables, perennials, and bare areas of trees again, and beauty from a couple annuals I planted yesterday from plants that didn’t recover. As I worked with farmers the past few weeks, similar words kept surfacing in conversations: exhausted, sadness, numb, discouraged, so much loss, at least I wasn’t the only one, frustrated, angry, anxious, stressed, was thinking it’d be a good year, he/she had it worse, thankful for insurance, hopeful. And, I share that because you’re not alone in these thoughts and feelings. There’s been a tremendous amount of loss; sharing with others can help with healing. There’s been a range of emotions experienced in destroying what remains of old crops and driving to non-affected areas. Also, hope as beans, corn, and sorghum have emerged from the ground in 3 to 6 days. Praying we can finish the season well.
For those with gardens, there’s new life from buds developing on tomato, pepper, potatoes, eggplant, beans! Onions shot new leaves. My rhubarb went from a mushed mess to new leaves coming now. I had just left everything alone and yesterday removed the mushed, rotted rhubarb and replanted beans and carrots. Some have tried to help their hostas by cutting out dead once it dried. Many perennials reduced to sticks are trying to shoot new leaves. We will have to watch trees.
For those with good crops, I received a report of a first tassel in southern counties. Also, northern corn leaf blight from a consultant, so perhaps watch for that. Japanese beetles have arrived; I’m not talking about problems this week!
Have received two areas of cover crop questions: weed control in existing low corn populations and annual forages after a totaled out crop. If grazing/haying, please check the herbicide label. For example, the Resicore label specifies to ‘not graze or harvest rotational cover crops for food or animal feed for 18 months following the last application of Resicore.’
1—Weed control: For simplicity, low growth, low cost, quick shading I’d recommend brassica species such as forage collards, turnips, etc. They can be seeded now, or you can wait 3 weeks from when residual herbicide product was applied to the field. If you’d like a grass, annual ryegrass could be added; should survive the winter. Clovers could be added to provide N next year; should survive the winter. Ultimately just depends on your goals. I prefer drilling between the corn rows, but there are broadcast options that can cover acres faster. Our interseeding team will drill blocks of 5 to 10 acres of our small seed mix (brassicas, clovers, flax, ryegrass) for those interested in trying it (let me know asap if interested). Another project: several NRD’s including UBBNRD in partnership with UNL plan to apply covers via a high clearance machine around beginning dent in corn (targeted around eastern Beaver and Lincoln Creeks; contact UBBNRD if interested).
2-For those considering summer annual forages, if your fields got totaled or in the event your seed corn acres aren’t kept, here’s some ideas and tradeoffs. Sorghum sudangrass (4.2-5.3 T/ac), forage sorghum (4.4-5.3 T/ac), and sudangrass (4.1-4.8 T/ac) are some annual forage options. Sudangrass is an option for grazing due to its low prussic acid potential. Sorghum-sudangrass plants get tall and are suited well for greenchop. Forage sorghums are also known as ‘cane’ due to their sweet stems and are suited well for silage. They have higher prussic acid potential, so we don’t recommend grazing them. For those looking at haying followed by grazing, I’d recommend pearl millet (3.8-4.5 T/ac). It doesn’t get the tonnage of the sorghum species, but the stems are thinner for haying and you don’t have to worry about prussic acid poisoning in the regrowth when you graze it. It worked well for my uncle and dad on their prevent plant farm in 2019 and the cattle loved it. This publication goes into more detail regarding all these species, seeding rates, how to graze and hay each, etc: https://go.unl.edu/7ivw. If you’re interested in haying, I don’t recommend adding any other species to these as we’ve found it causes issues with drydown and with bales heating up. Rye (or wheat) could then be planted this fall/winter if desired.
Weed Management Field Day at UNL’s South Central Ag Lab is this week on June 29th near Clay Center (9 a.m.-1 p.m.). Great information including a second year research project of the same herbicide programs for corn and soybean when rye is terminated 2 weeks prior to planting vs. 2 weeks after planting. It’s interesting to see in the field, so hope you can join us! No cost, free lunch, please RSVP: https://agronomy.unl.edu/weed-management-field-day-registration.
New soybeans alongside old sticks. Emerged in as little as 3 days. New corn in the old corn grower plot.
Part of my garden on June 15, 2022 the day after the hail events. I left it alone.
June 25th, 2022: New growth on most everything. Very few beans and none of my carrots survived. Rhubarb looks like a new plant again after removing the mushy, rotted growth and with the new leaves. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant came back from stems. Can see the hail damage on the stems. Onions shot new leaves out the top. Also had a new crop of asparagus come on. Need to re-stake remaining peas and will see what happens with them. Potatoes are all leaned over now instead of growing upright.
“…to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3 KJV
This is one of my favorite Bible verses and promises from God in the midst of hard things and I like this translation of it since it specifically says ‘beauty from ashes’. May we all look for the beauty in the midst of the ashes around us this week. And, I believe God is also desirous of creating beauty from ashes in all of our lives!
Hail Damage Update
Well, the June 14th hailstorm was something we hope to never again experience. The National Weather Service in Hastings shared a video of satellite imagery showing lack of vegetation that is incredibly insightful: https://twitter.com/NWSHastings/status/1538243511396360192. Feel for all who had damage to homes, animals, crops, buildings, bins, pivots, trees, gardens. For landscape info, check out the following from Backyard Farmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIeA731LQg8&t=1s. Last week’s crop hailstorm webinar recording is at: https://go.unl.edu/pe9q.
I had hoped to get a blog post out much sooner. Thank you to all who called and I truly hope something from these field visits and calls has helped. I realize a lot of replant is currently occurring and grateful for the weather for that. While replanting stinks, perhaps it’s providing a small bit of healing for the eternal optimists that so many of us in ag are? Several asked how people are destroying the old corn crop. Depending on tillage system, they have used shredding, root slicers, tillage all followed by residue removers during planting (because I’m seeing tillers growing from old stumps). Others plan to plant between the rows and then cultivate the old row out. Can chemically terminate with gramoxone. Some are using clethodim if going to soybean.
Time right now is critical with replant decision making. Some thoughts for those who need to wait for crop insurance adjusters and fields to dry:
- Start upright pivots, check control boxes, sprinklers, plastic lines to endguns, etc. Availability of parts may influence corn seeding rates. Document all damages for insurance.
- For potential replant situations where you don’t wish to plant corn due to loss of bins or inability to dry corn, depending on what you’re interested in, consider hand planting some soybean, milo, or cover crop seed into your corn fields at different depths. This will provide an idea of survival depending on corn herbicide used. Ultimately, make a plan A and B for your situation.
Corn: Hail damage recovery has varied. From June 7th storm, there was unevenness in plants that recovered. Saw bacterial top rot setting into plants even in several V3-V4 damaged fields. Plants may look better from the road but inside the field tells the story. June 14th storms: plants are severely bruised. Seeing hail stones causing deep bruising and rot both above and below the growing point. Often plants snap when barely touched. Fields less impacted are gaining new growth and will look better next week. Keep watching the fields with small plants that were pummeled into the ground and seed fields. My blog at jenreesources.com has recovery photos and a chart to help with replant decisions and potential yield due to reduced stands. Area Pioneer agronomists also made a video suggesting for every 1000 ‘healthier’ plants, can consider 10 bu/ac …so 15,000 plants could result in around 150 bu/ac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viOwFqi3FDU.
Soybean: Normally, soybean is so resilient with all the growing points. The xylem and phloem in beans are on the outside of the stem, so the hail pummeling the stems and tops impacted that transport and many plants just turned white/gray and died. For replanting beans, would recommend using a fungicide seed treatment; have seen phytophthora root rot in replant beans in the past. You don’t need other seed treatments. Seeding rates: If have surviving plants, can slot some in at a reduced rate between rows or angle depending on row spacing. If you don’t, go with original rate or increase 10%. Regarding maturity, we at several universities say to use Group 2’s at this date. Indeterminate beans continue to produce nodes, leaves, flowers till R5 regardless of maturity group and beans are daylength sensitive.
I truly wish everyone the best with decisions. This amount of loss takes a huge toll whether or not we are honest in admitting that to ourselves. I hear and sense the stress with each conversation. Each situation is unique in damages received, crop insurance taken, amount of grain forward contracted, and other life things occurring. Some are walking outside to devastation each day. Some had multiple events occur this year. You may be in crisis mode right now just trying to patch things up and get new crops planted. I don’t know what is helpful for you. What I know for me is that my faith in God, my belief that He is in control, and His continued faithfulness to me is what has sustained me. Tears can be healing. Just would encourage you to also find a healthy way to take care of yourself such as talking to a trusted friend, prayer, journaling, exercise, or participating in a hobby. This is a great resource on taking time to listen and talk: https://go.unl.edu/3daw.
*End of column for newspapers.
This chart shows the relative corn yield potential compared to the original stand if the stand is reduced based on planting date. It provides an idea anyway assuming no additional storms or other issues.
Different soybean fields. I keep failing to take pictures of soybeans. Mostly the fields look like the first pic and are clear-cut that they had too much stem damage and are dead. Or, they are obtaining new growth and look much better. Some are just super slow to get much growth, though, and for those fields, some growers are slotting some in from the standpoint of weed control. Those with lighter damage are seeing rapid new growth where petioles meet the stems (taller pic).
Showing these charts below again if helpful. We’d recommend 100 day or less maturities at this point.
| York Ne Data Avg. 28F frost Oct. 21 | Relative Maturity | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 100 | 105 | 110 |
| Planting Date | GDD to R6 | 1917 | 2038 | 2159 | 2280 | 2401 | 2521 | 2642 |
| June 15 | Sept. 5 | Sept. 11 | Sept. 19 | Sept. 28 | Oct. 8 | Oct. 23*** | *** | |
| June 20 | Sept. 11 | Sept. 18 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 22*** | *** | *** | |
| June 25 | Sept. 18 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 21 | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 30 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 21 | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| ***Date is beyond average 28F frost event of Oct. 21 |
***indicates the date is beyond the average 28F average first frost of October 21.
| Clay Center, Ne Data Avg. 28F frost Oct. 18 | Relative Maturity | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 100 | 105 | 110 |
| Planting Date | GDD to R6 | 1917 | 2038 | 2159 | 2280 | 2401 | 2521 | 2642 |
| June 15 | Sept. 9 | Sept. 16 | Sept. 25 | Oct. 5 | Oct. 20*** | *** | *** | |
| June 20 | Sept. 15 | Sept. 24 | Oct. 4 | Oct. 17 | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 25 | Sept. 23 | Oct. 3 | Oct. 16 | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 30 | Oct. 2 | Oct. 15 | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| ***Date is beyond average 28F frost event of Oct. 18 |
***indicates the date is beyond the average 28F average first frost of October 18.
Hail Damage Assessment
There’s been a lot of hail damage this past week in Nebraska. It’s always so hard to see the damage, regardless of when the storms come. I’m sorry for those impacted and am grateful for safety as many lost windows in homes too. Various tools are available to show hail storm paths. I grabbed these from ‘Interactive Hail Maps’ to get a better feel for how much of Nebraska has been impacted this week (June 5, 6, 7, 9 2022 shown below).
We are at a critical time right now for making replant decisions with the federal crop replant date next Tuesday. Have looked at a lot of fields the past few days with a range of damages. The following is what I’m doing in assessments right now that I’ve found to be practical for me in the event it can help you. Will also share some tools, what to watch for, and some thoughts based on questions received.
Helpful Resources
- HailKnow Website (has 6 sections including assessing damage): https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hailknow
- Webpage: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hail-know/assess-my-damage
- Infographic: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/Hail/Images/HailKnow-Damage-Assessment.png
- Assessment Video: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hail-know/video-hail-damage-assessment
- 2014 Storm Recovery Information: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2014-storm-recovery-information
- Corn Hybrid Maturities & Late Planting: https://go.unl.edu/gnas
- Strategies with Late Soy Planting: https://go.unl.edu/20ry
- Corn GDD Tool: https://hprcc.unl.edu/agroclimate/gdd.php
- Bean Cam Replant App: https://ipcm.wisc.edu/apps/beancam/
What to Do Now
- Look at fields to see damage extent. Know what growth stage the field was in at time of the storm.
- Call crop insurance.
- Call an agronomist or review resources to anticipate what to look for in plant recovery.
- Flag plants in the field to assess recovery. This greatly aids in learning and has helped me tremendously! Taking a picture now and a week later of the same plants also helps.
- Wait 5-7 days to assess recovery. I realize the waiting is perhaps the hardest when we’re up against deadlines, but we need time to see what will happen with plant recovery.
- Consider options on what to do if the crop is totaled or not including herbicides applied, crop rotation restrictions, marketing and crop insurance, weed control going forward, etc.
Growth Staging Corn
It’s important to know the growth stage at the time of the storm. You may have an idea on the growth stage from crop scouting reports. You can also do this yourself by finding the tallest plant standing in an area and dig it up. What I describe here is the agronomic method of counting collars and nodes which is different from the leaf method that crop insurance will use. Slice open the plant to view the growing point. Every leaf on a corn plant is attached to a node. There’s 4 nodes where the first 4 leaves attach in a triangle at the base of the plant. Then there’s a small gap and you will see a line that marks node 5 followed by a larger gap and a line that marks node 6. Because of the cooler soil temps this year, I’m finding smaller gaps between nodes 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 (nodes are closer together). Pulling collard leaves back, they will snap off at whichever nodes they are attached to (which can help you in determining the more advanced growth stages from 6 to 8 leaves). We had plants that ranged from emergence to V8 from what I’ve seen thus far. We say the growing point doesn’t come above ground till typically V5-V6. For corn that was less than V6 and cut off to stumps or at ground level, there’s potential for it to come back. I actually was seeing new growth today (2 days post-hail) on plants that were cut off at ground level. However, I will also say that’s not a guarantee as it all depends on how bacterial rots set in.
Stand Assessments for Corn
Next I take stand assessments by counting 1/1000th of an acre. I actually feel corn plants at the base as I count to see if they feel firm (likely to survive) or mushy (not likely) and only count plants which appear most likely to survive. I also keep track of which ones are questionable. In the previous paragraph I mentioned slicing a plant open to find the growing point. For these assessments, I use my finger to measure on that plant where the growing point is. Then for the stumps that are in a row, I use my finger to measure each stump of a plant to get a feel if the growing point may be above or below what’s left of the stump. If questionable, I don’t count it. It’s not perfect since slicing open the plant is always best, but it provides an idea for right now anyway. Some plants have quite a bit of hail damage to stems and we will have to see how far the damage penetrates for stalk rot. There’s some fields from the road that I didn’t think looked that bad until I got in them and realized how many were wrapped or where they were cut off. I’ve gotten between 15-26K for stands thus far with usually 3-6 questionable plants that weren’t counted. There are some fields that were near completely cut off below the growing point.
What to expect for corn
I know we’re tired of wind, but wind and sun are helpful right now. Today was so much better assessing plants as the wind has helped senesce dead parts of plants and started the process of tearing off bent whorls so the new growth can push through. For bent whorls that remain bent and don’t slough off, the new growth stays wrapped and those plants won’t survive. Watch stumps for new growth (depending on where the growing point may have been). Also watch stumps in particular to see if bacterial rot sets in. Even though the growing point is below ground, I’m unsure about some of the V2-V4 corn that was snapped off by washing rain and debris as to whether or not those plants will come back due to rot setting in. I just don’t know and that’s why we wait.
You can flag plants and also open up a few plants with hail damaged stems to see how deeply the stones penetrated the stalk tissue. I was seeing bacterial stalk rot already setting in today (2 days post-hail), which isn’t good, but something to be aware of. I’m also seeing discolored crowns at base of plants in some fields when they’re split open. Unsure why that is but ultimately, what’s more critical is that the growing point of the plant is healthy (white/cream color and firm, not brown and mushy).
What to expect for soybean
I haven’t taken any stand counts for soybean. I’ve only seen maybe two fields that may need replant at this point (from my perspective). Soybeans are so incredible at compensating! Today was seeing 3-5 growing points emerging on some of these sticks. They key to survival is if the plant was cut above or below the cotyledons. What I’m seeing for farmers who planted soybeans April 19-25, the cotyledons are close to the ground because of the cooler soil temps, which is good because there’s growing points lower on the sticks of stems that are left. In a week, these beans will look a lot different. I know people want to write them off now, but it’s incredible what they will do with some sunshine and 7-10 days. However, in saying that, each field is a field by field assessment. UNL and University of Wisconsin recommend leaving stands of 50,000 plants/ac. The bigger issue I realize at this point is weed control since early beans were V4-V5 and bushing nicely prior to this storm. Check out this cool app from University of Wisconsin on replanting bean decisions: Bean Cam Soybean Replant App.
Replanting Corn
Regarding herbicide applied and crop replant, ultimately, view the label for any replant and/or rotation restrictions (or 2022 Weed Guide starting on page 198). And, it’s good to have conversations with area chemical reps for specific questions on what may or may not be safe to try.
The corn replant decision is hard. It’s obviously an economical one, but there’s various slants to consider on it, especially in regards to crop insurance and how much a crop has been marketed. Each field will need to be assessed. I know some are hoping for crop insurance to total fields, but I really don’t know if they will total stands of 15-20K plants or not. Again, these are field by field decisions. If the field is totaled, depending on herbicides, replanting to corn, milo, and soybean may be options. A few have been interested in forages and that is really a conversation about your goals and how the forage will be harvested.
For those wanting to plant corn, we can’t predict when a fall frost will occur each year. What we can do is look at historical trends to get an idea on maturities to plant for different dates that hopefully will mature prior to frost. The following is based on data at: https://hprcc.unl.edu/agroclimate/gdd.php. For those located in a different part of the State, select your location on the map at the above web link. Then input the planting date and relative maturity you’re considering and see where it aligns with the 28F historical frost date. Below are charts I created for York and Clay Counties. Additional information on corn hybrid maturities and late planting can be found here: https://go.unl.edu/gnas.
| York Ne Data Avg. 28F frost Oct. 21 | Relative Maturity | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 100 | 105 | 110 |
| Planting Date | GDD to R6 | 1917 | 2038 | 2159 | 2280 | 2401 | 2521 | 2642 |
| June 15 | Sept. 5 | Sept. 11 | Sept. 19 | Sept. 28 | Oct. 8 | Oct. 23*** | *** | |
| June 20 | Sept. 11 | Sept. 18 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 22*** | *** | *** | |
| June 25 | Sept. 18 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 21 | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 30 | Sept. 27 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 21 | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| ***Date is beyond average 28F frost event of Oct. 21 |
***indicates the date is beyond the average 28F average first frost of October 21.
| Clay Center, Ne Data Avg. 28F frost Oct. 18 | Relative Maturity | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 100 | 105 | 110 |
| Planting Date | GDD to R6 | 1917 | 2038 | 2159 | 2280 | 2401 | 2521 | 2642 |
| June 15 | Sept. 9 | Sept. 16 | Sept. 25 | Oct. 5 | Oct. 20*** | *** | *** | |
| June 20 | Sept. 15 | Sept. 24 | Oct. 4 | Oct. 17 | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 25 | Sept. 23 | Oct. 3 | Oct. 16 | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| June 30 | Oct. 2 | Oct. 15 | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| ***Date is beyond average 28F frost event of Oct. 18 |
***indicates the date is beyond the average 28F average first frost of October 18.
Replanting Soybean
If changing from corn to soybean in the replant decision, maybe it’d be wise to poke some soybeans in the ground now just to see how they fare with the herbicide that’s been applied? And maybe you try poking them in at different depths? I know I normally recommend planting deeper, but right now I’m suggesting shallower…like 1″…to hopefully be above any herbicide band that moved into the soil (if planting into a corn field) and to hopefully get the beans out of the ground quicker. The following article shares considerations for soybean when planting mid-June: https://go.unl.edu/20ry. In summary of it, for maturities, UNL recommends to stick with as similar maturity as possible till around June 15 and then consider switching to 0.5-1.0 maturity group less. I’m hearing from many seed dealers that beans are in short supply, so talk with your seed rep if you’re thinking about seeding beans at this point. Different thoughts on row spacing. Drilling or 15″ can close canopy sooner but we saw problems with white mold last year in the area and 30″ also allows for cultivation as a weed control option with application date restrictions on herbicide-tolerant bean traits. Wider rows should hopefully close canopy unless the beans get hit with off-target herbicide. Seeding rates are also debated. Many sources recommend to increase them by 10% after early June. I can appreciate the thought behind that and honestly don’t have a preference either way. In my experience with seeding rates, I didn’t see a difference in canopy closure timing with 90K to 180K, but my experiences have been with early April-May plantings.
Products
There’s also a number of thoughts regarding products. We don’t have research on the nutrient side for those asking about applying various products. I do feel sulfur has some healing properties but have no research to share.
Regarding fungicides, we don’t recommend them from the standpoint that hail doesn’t create fungal diseases. At some point, they could be helpful to aid in stalk strength. However, if you’re considering this in the next few weeks, consider proving it to yourselves with on-farm research this year so we do have data for the future. All you do is spray fungicide in enough width so two 2 combine passes can be obtained. Then skip an area for at least 2 combine passes. Then treat again and repeat across the field. Fungicide Protocol for Hailed Corn and Soybean. Please let me know if you’re interested in this!
Timing of fungicide app: ISU did a study to simulate hail damaged corn at tassel stage within an average of 3 or 8 days post-hail. They didn’t find the timing to provide any yield effects. They also didn’t find a statistical yield increase (90% confidence level) in fungicide application to hail damaged plants vs those which weren’t hailed although they also reported a numerical increase in 12 of the 20 fields. They also interestingly found that hail damaged crops had less foliar disease than non-hail damaged crops in their 3 year simulated hail-damage study.
For herbicide application, some labels recommend waiting 2-3 days after a crop damage event. Ultimately, to be on the safe side, it would be wise to wait for new regrowth on both the crop and the weeds.
Hopefully some of this helps as you assess your hail damage situation. It can be emotionally draining to look at all the damage, but would encourage you to look for all the small positives you can find. Getting away to enjoy a hobby, talking to another person, relying on one’s faith, and keeping a greater perspective helps. We do have resources at our Rural Wellness website at: https://ruralwellness.unl.edu/. Hang in there and wishing you the best with your decisions! Please reach out with any questions or additional information.
JenREES 6/27/21
Crop Update: Overall, corn is looking really good with many fields around the 12 leaf stage. Soybeans were able to start growing again after some irrigation and rain. Also a note, the ET gage website is running again, so you can add ET info and view it again at: https://nawmn.unl.edu/. Grateful last Tuesday night’s storm didn’t do more widespread damage in the area than what it did! It looked pretty bad on radar, and in spite of the hail and wind, overall, many crops will recover and look a lot better in the next week. As the stripped leaves turn brown, there may be a brief point where the corn looks a little worse before more new growth shows up out of the whorl. Eventually it’ll look greener with more canopy again. Leaned plants are also righting themselves again.
It’s really hard to give a general summary as rain, hail, and wind has been so variable for the several county area. For this part of the State, crops north of Stromsburg and in the Hordville area got hit the hardest from what I’ve seen thus far. The key things to watch for in corn are stem bruising from the hail, stalk rot setting in, and rotted growing points. Some corn in the Hordville area that I looked at had deep stem bruising to the point the plants were broken off/breaking off near the ground in fields. Soybeans at the R1 stage in both areas were reduced to sticks in some fields. For fields that still have some leaves and some green to them, there are several criteria to look at when assessing hail damage to soybeans. These include determining plant stand, percent leaf defoliation, percent nodes cut off or broken over, and amount of stem damage. Determining percent leaf defoliation and subsequent yield reduction based on growth stage in indeterminate soybeans can be seen in the chart below. Hail damage charts show for R1 beans at 100% leaf loss, a 23% yield loss estimation (not including bruised stems, etc). I realize that’s really hard to accept with the way some fields look. The remaining charts can be found here. What has helped with all the hail and wind damage is the fact that we’ve had warmer temperatures to allow regrowth to immediately begin. There were new buds on soybean plants on Wednesday already and they were starting to flower again this weekend. However, that kind of loss to the canopy is difficult to recover from at R1 as weed control is also of concern. For alfalfa, watch for regrowth and so far, I’ve been seeing new growth. And, for wheat, it’s always tough to get hail so close to harvest as the grain shells out and heads break off.
| % Leaf Defoliation | |||||
| Growth Stage | 20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
| % Yield Reduction | |||||
| V2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| V6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| R1 – R2 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 23 |
| R3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 33 |
| R4 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 30 | 56 |
| R5 | 7 | 13 | 23 | 43 | 75 |
| R6 | 16 | 11 | 18 | 31 | 53 |
| R7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
It will be important to work with your crop insurance adjusters as each field situation may vary. They will take stand counts and rate damage based on growth stage and percent of green leaf tissue (thus why they need to wait at least 7-10 days to determine new regrowth). Some have asked about the potential for replant options and/or forage crop options if the crop is totaled. First, you need to consider what herbicides were used. Second, for a corn situation, you need to consider if you want to go back in with corn, sorghum, or a forage crop (depending on what herbicides were used). We have such minimal data on short-season hybrids in the case of corn replant and yield. The UNL data that exists is from 1992 and it essentially says there’s yield potential for 100 bu/ac, depending on frost timing. Even though that’s old data, that’s consistent with information a Clay County farmer kindly shared with me regarding replanting corn in mid-July using 78 and 75 day relative maturity corn hybrids in 2018 and 2020. If you end up in a replant corn situation, I can share more specifics of his observations with you if you’d like to contact me.
If you find yourself in a soybean replant situation, make sure to add a seed treatment to replant soybeans as they have a high risk of seedling disease. Also, don’t plant a longer-season bean this late. I don’t know why that’s often recommended, but we would recommend going with a 2.0-2.5 maturity bean at this point in the season for our area of the State. If you drill the replant, be sure to increase seeding rate 10% (can go up to 20% for older drills) to account for the variability of seed spacing with the drill units. We often recommend increasing seeding rate by 10% for planted beans as well this late to aid in faster canopy closure. We share these tips in more detail with the research at: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2019/strategies-delayed-soybean-planting.
Trees and Landscape Plants: Trees impacted by hail will often shoot new leaves for the leaves that were lost. It’s best to properly prune broken limbs back to the branch collar if at all possible to avoid disease setting into those limbs. You may also observe new buds occurring on shrubs, landscape plants, and garden plants, depending on how severely they were impacted.
Plants in this V10-11 field were shredded back to the growing point. In this case, the hail damage to stems was mostly on the outside surface of the plants.
Same area of soybean field Wednesday afternoon (after previous night’s storm) and Sunday afternoon. Soybean reduced to sticks with new growth occurring Wednesday afternoon (first two pictures). New flowers occurring on soybean sticks and more growth observed Sunday afternoon (last two pictures).
JenREES 6-7-20
*The York and Seward County Extension offices are now open to the public. We ask that visitors please wear a mask when entering the buildings.*
This past week was interesting to say the least! For those who experienced hail and/or wind damage, the following site provides guidance via information and videos for early-season hail damage: https://go.unl.edu/u5ns. We do say to be patient and wait 4-7 days to determine recovery and warm temps can help. For home owners, there was also a great deal of tree and plant damage. Make clean pruning cuts and don’t treat/paint over cuts, don’t add fertilizer, and leave as much leaf area as possible.
Most of this week’s questions centered around soybeans. The past two weeks, the
Sensitive soybean variety to PPO-inhibitor herbicide. Notice stunting, chlorotic appearance, leaf abnormalities.
majority of my soybean questions have been around emergence problems. Two common things I’m finding: many were planted around May 18-19 and they have a great deal of PPO-inhibitor injury to hypocotyls. In touching base regarding what we were seeing, John Mick with Pioneer shared that some soybean varieties are more sensitive to PPO-inhibitor injury. ‘Sensitive varieties’ means later on plants appear stunted and chlorotic in appearance. These plants also tend to have wavy leaves with some leaf cupping, which may have been mis-diagnosed as off-target growth regulator injury in the past. I’ve seen those symptoms for several years but just told people the plant was working to metabolize the pre-emergence herbicide and it was most likely taking longer due to the environmental conditions at the time. So, in a way, it was correct, but now we can all be more aware there are sensitive varieties to PPO-inhibitors. Thus, it’s important to talk with your seed dealer/agronomist about their variety ratings (if they exist). If planting a sensitive variety, it’s better to apply your pre-emergence application a week or so before planting to reduce the herbicide load on that germinating seedling. I’ve put a lot more explanation and pictures in this CropWatch article and the pics also on my blog.
The pre-emergence products did a great job for the most part. Thus, a common
Source: UNL Guide for Weed, Insect, and Disease Management.
question/discussion this week was around spraying essentially ‘contact’ herbicides in the absence of weeds. Could appreciate those thoughts. Regardless if the farmer wanted to apply glyphosate, liberty, or dicamba, we did talk about the importance of spraying earlier than one thinks is necessary and the need for residual products. I was going to share more about that here, but Amit Jhala wrote a very good article in this week’s CropWatch at: https://go.unl.edu/y3r8. He explains which products are options to consider at this point depending on if you have emerged weeds or not, what growth stage they can be applied, and some label restrictions. There’s a picture on my blog for soybean development stages. The cotyledons are not counted. The unifoliolates are counted as V1 only when the trifoliolate leaf edges above them are no longer touching. This continues up the plant. New nodes with leaves will be produced every 3.75 days. Note that early planted soybean may flower soon; they don’t have to wait till June 21 (longest day of year) to do so.
Because of that, for those near the 45 day window for post-dicamba application to soybean, be sure to check fields as the label states 45 days after planting or R1 (at least 1 flower on any node), whichever occurs first. Follow label instructions and I’m also recommending documenting development stage via picture/video on all post- applications to crops this year. Regarding use of soybean dicamba, Nebraska Dept. of Ag Director Steve Wellman stated, “The Nebraska Department of Agriculture has not issued a stop sale order and will enforce the sales and applications of these products as they are currently registered in Nebraska.”
Thistle caterpillars are being observed in some early planted soybean fields. Threshold for pre-flowering is 30% defoliation.
Corn post-herbicide applications: Said I’d share on this, but ran out of room; I
Leaf collar correlating to split stalk method. Courtesy L. Abendroth, Iowa State University.
wrote a CropWatch article here: https://go.unl.edu/jz9v. Recommendations for any applications this year: Go into the field (beyond the endrows) and document growth stage of the plant via picture/video using the leaf collar method and/or split stalks (once reach V6 due to leaves sloughing off). Do this before any applications are made to the field. If the growth stage isn’t correct for the application, don’t spray. How I explain the split-stalk method of development staging: The growing point emerges above ground around V6. Dig a plant without breaking the stalk. Carefully split the stalk down the middle through the root ball. At the base of the stalk is an inverted triangle that contains Nodes 1-4 (but they can’t be differentiated). Next look for the white area above that (about ½-3/4”) followed by the next visible band. The white area is the internode with the band being the 5th node (V5). There’s about an inch of internode between V5 and V6. After that, internode length is more dependent upon air temperature instead of soil temperature. Every leaf is attached to a node. Pull off the fully collared leaves and follow them back to where they break off at a specific node. Count the nodes on the stalk to the highest collared leaf that breaks off at a node to determine the growth stage.
My concern with some of these plants is them becoming brittle and potentially breaking off at some point in the season.
There’s been mis-diagnosis/confusion about PPO-inhibitor injury vs. ILeVo ‘halo’ effect which shows the seed treatment is working. ILeVo causes no burning to the hypocotyls and the effect isn’t seen on leaves other than cotyledons.
Also been confusion between PPO-inhibitor injury and Phytophthora. Phytophthora will have discolored root and lesion from soil line upward. PPO-inhibitor won’t cause discoloration/rotting of the root. We have seen burning of stem near soil line due to rain/irrigation splash from PPO-inhibitor, so dig up seedling to check the roots for root rot.
JenResources 