Driving through Nebraska towns around Memorial Day, I find the streets lined with flags such a beautiful site. Grateful to live in our Country with our freedoms. I’m also grateful for those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom and for their families left behind.

Flooding/Ponding and Crop Effects: With the rain, some may be experiencing ponding/flooding of crops. Emerged corn prior to 6 leaves can survive from two to four days depending on temperatures and if entire plants are submerged or not. Cooler air temperatures (60’s and cooler) allows for longer survival than temperatures in the mid-70’s and warmer. Little data exists for germinated seeds and seedlings prior to emergence, but they most likely would experience soil oxygen depletion within 48 hours. Once emerged, soybean may handle a fair amount of flooding due to the growing point being above ground (depending on if they’re submerged or not). Four or more days of flooding may result in shorter plants due to shorter internodes and/or perhaps fewer nodes. Stand reductions may be observed after seven days of flooding (depending on size and if completely submerged or not).

Prevent plant may be another topic on some growers’ minds in addition to considerations after the May 25 corn planting date for crop insurance. These are addressed in this week’s CropWatch at http://cropwatch.unl.edu.

Interseeding Cover Crops: In a previous news column, I touched on the topic of interseeding cover crops into corn or soybean. For this week’s CropWatch at http://cropwatch.unl.edu, we provide more information based on the research available. For those considering this as an on-farm research study, please contact me or your local Extension Educator soon to work out details.

Wheat: Michael Sindelar and I looked at wheat in Clay and Nuckolls counties last week. For diseases we’re mostly seeing powdery mildew and septoria leaf blotch. Backlighting revealing yellow specks on upper leaves in some fields will most likely develop into leaf rust. Wheat ranges from nearing flag leaf to beginning flowering. My concern for wheat in the heading to flowering stage is risk of fusarium head blight (scab) with the rain we’ve been receiving at heading/flowering. The scab risk tool (http://www.wheatscab.psu.edu/) is showing a low to medium risk for our part of the State right now. If you do consider a fungicide, your best options include Prosaro, Caramba, or Miravis Ace as these products will help protect against scab in addition to kill any fungal diseases on your wheat leaves. Other products are off-label once flowering begins or are not as effective preventing scab based on research. Best application timing to prevent scab is when 30% of the plants in the field are at 15% flowering (early flowering stages).

Lawn Care: I know some are getting tired of mowing already! Just a reminder to keep mowing heights at 3″. Spring is an important time for deeper root establishment before the summer heat sets in and maintaining a higher lawn height allows the grass to develop that root system. I’m seeing several lawns being scalped in an effort to reduce amount of mowing. Mowing too short stresses the grass impacting its ability to set deeper roots for later. It will also allow for more weeds to germinate in the lawn.