Here is this week’s AgFax: Southern Grain.

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- Owen Taylor, Editor owen@agfax.com (888-327-6329)

OVERVIEW

Too wet, too dry.

It’s rained more than once in the last week across much of the Midsouth. Areas that already were behind with corn and soybean planting are off schedule even more now. Parts of the upper Southeast also could use a break in the weather. In the lower Southeast, some counties have not had appreciable rainfall in 6 weeks, and dryland corn is suffering.

Stinkbugs in corn.

Some Mississippi corn has been treated in the last 2 weeks for a combination of green and brown stink bugs, according to Chris Daves, Mississippi Extension Corn Entomologist. Daves said several consultants reported finding more damage than the initial counts might have indicated. The threshold specifies one or more stink bugs on 10% of the plants when corn is 2 feet tall or less.

“Sometimes we would see them perched right on the whorl and feeding,” says Daves. “We found, though, that a lot of the browns were hiding at the plant base in debris. Once everyone started checking there, the counts went up.” Treatments have been made in the Delta. Daves said that, at least so far, thresholds haven’t been hit in hill areas. “Pay special attention to corn near wheat, since they could be moving out as wheat matures,” he added.

CROP REPORTS:

Lance Honeycutt, Craighead Farmers Co-op, Jonesboro, Ark.

“Very few soybeans have been planted yet. A couple of my growers are planting right now (Monday afternoon). It’s too wet to plant rice on the very heaviest ground or behind last year’s rice, so some guys are doing field work on the higher, better drained soybean ground. All the corn has been planted, and we’re pretty well finished with milo. Wheat is in the milk stage.”

Howard Small Jr., Ind. Consultant, Colquitt, Ga.

“We don’t have any corn tasseling yet, but the oldest is chest high. We will pull some sweet corn this weekend or by Monday. Fortunately, we have irrigation. This part of Georgia has missed significant rain for the whole month of April and this far into May. All we’ve gotten have been a few tenths here and there. All the rain has pretty much gone north of us. Columbus got 4.5 inches over the weekend, and we got nothing. We’re 5 inches behind on rainfall for the year. We need 2 to 3 inches of rain immediately, and some more following that. Our local monitoring well is just above 40 feet now, which is significantly low for this time of the year.

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“If we don’t get the rain predicted for Thursday and Friday, a lot of dryland corn will be gone. We have corn planted in February and March that has nitrogen on it, and it’s only 12 inches high outside the pivot. Inside the pivot, it’s chest high.”

Scott Gifford, Gifford Crop Consulting, Manila, Ark.

“Of the soybeans I check, less than 20% have been planted. We absolutely can’t get a break from the rain. Growers have tried to air out some rice and soybean fields three to four times. That’s a lot of diesel. Our wheat looks good, considering all the rain and standing water. I would rate it average or a little above. Drainage really mattered, and some fields just drain better than others.”

Joe Townsend, Ind. Consultant, Coahoma, Miss.

“We’re still planting soybeans. We seem to be averaging about 6 inches of rain a week. Corn is all planted, and a whole lot has been replanted. We’re spraying a percentage of our corn for stinkbugs, especially where it’s close to wheat. We’ve got serious issues controlling ryegrass with Roundup in corn, soybeans and cotton.

“We have some absolutely excellent wheat, based on the head and seed counts. But cercospora leaf spot will be a factor. Where we sprayed it twice with a fungicide, we’ll only take a minor hit. Where we treated once, the hit will be bigger. Where it wasn’t sprayed at all, it’s really bad. We have cercospora in wheat every year, but it goes away when the weather turns hot and dry. That didn’t happen. Spores are carried on wind and rain, and we’ve had plenty of both. Most of this crop still ranges between good and excellent, with some of it pretty amazing.”

Reynold Minsky, Ind. Consultant, Lake Providence, La.

“It looks like we’ll end up with some June beans. Due to seep water from the rivers being up, we’ve got a lot of land that can’t be planted yet. I don’t know of any official estimates, but it might be as much as 40,000 acres from the Arkansas line south. Some of it is drying up, just a little at a time, and folks have been planting soybeans and some cotton in those places. Thrips are heavy in soybeans but really aren’t hurting them. The corn has finally started growing. Some is 5 feet tall now.”

Pawel Wiatrak, South Carolina Corn and Soybean Specialist, Blackville, S.C.

“Mostly MG V and MG VI soybeans are being planted now. Some growers are finished with that portion of the crop. We’ve planted maybe 16% to 17% of the intended crop, but the biggest part will be after wheat. We’ve gotten good rains in places, up to 2 inches in spots, and that is really helping corn and soybeans.

“We’re getting calls about slow emergence of soybeans. A combination of things has happened. I think in some cases people planted too deep, from 1.5 to 2 inches, which delays emergence and increases potential disease problems. Also, we probably have cases of seed with lower-than-expected germ and/or vigor. None of this is widespread, just some calls. I don’t know of any stand failures, but some people are concerned that they don’t have complete stands yet. Stand counts may be lower in places. But we’re getting rain now, and that should help.”

Scott Holder, Helena Chemical Co., Cleveland, Miss.

“About 60% of our soybeans have been planted. It wouldn’t take long to finish, but we can’t seem to get enough days in a row to get everything lined up. We had a big planting day yesterday (Monday), then got another shower today. If we had 5 to 6 uninterrupted days, that would help a good deal. All of our corn is up. We had to replant some. Our first fertilizer has gone out, and we’re coming back with the second shot.”

Edward Twidwell, Louisiana Extension Wheat Specialist

“We harvested quite a bit of wheat over the weekend. Some people pushed to get as much out as they could before the next rain. Growers covered a lot of acres in the New Roads and Marksville areas. Yields have been pretty good, considering how wet it was early in the winter. I’m hearing a lot of yields in the 50s (bu/acre), with some reports in the 60s. Unfortunately, forecasts call for a couple of days of widespread rain, which will delay wheat harvest and doublecrop soybean planting.”

Al Wood, Extension Agent, Pasquotank County, N.C.

“We’re at least 2 weeks behind on corn planting. We should be done by now, but a few people are still trying to finish, and maybe 10% is left to be planted. A lot of replanting was necessary, too. Some growers replanted as much as 45% of their corn. We’ve had rain pretty much for the last 2 months, and we needed it, but the delays have kept us from staying on anything like a normal schedule. The wheat crop looked beautiful 6 weeks ago, and it still will be okay, but it’s definitely been blemished. We’ve found more disease than anyone would want to see. Takeoff is turning up in a lot of places where wheat was planted behind wheat.”

Rob Ferguson, Louisiana Interim Coordinator, Soybeans-Feed Grains

“It’s raining a lot in places. We just got word (Wednesday afternoon) that the research station in Shreveport was closed due to flooding, and schools were let out early in that part of the state. We’re getting hit here now in the Alexandria area. We planned to deliver seed to Crowley today for plots, but they said it was raining there, too. Corn has really taken off. Soybeans are looking good. They’ve been a little slow due to cool weather but haven’t been affected as much as cotton. The main thing with soybeans right now is to watch for early-season insects.”

Erick Larson, Mississippi Extension Grain Specialist

“We’ve had a number of early stunting issues with corn, primarily due to wet conditions and limited root growth. We’re seeing nutrient deficiencies, plus rootless corn syndrome in some cases. Muddy conditions continue to delay herbicide work and split nitrogen applications. The crop report estimates that we’re 99% planted. But there still seems to be a considerable amount of corn that, in fact, has not been planted yet due to wet fields and flood water. A few more instances of freeze damage are turning up in wheat. A lot of wheat in the south Delta is starting to turn and ripen.”