Emergence and Rainfall
Wow, a lot can get planted in just a couple of weeks, it looks like most of the fields will be planted by the end of this weekend. A good amount of the early planted crops are starting to emerge or are close.
Emergence Watch
I have not heard of any significant emergence issues yet. I have had a customer or two mention a small crust from some mid-late April plantings that got around 1/2-inch rain and cool temps afterwards, but it appears like the corn and beans are pushing through. I’ve noticed in our plot the soil is little chunky above the seed, but again emergence is happening good.
This is a great time for us to evaluate the emergence of our corn and soybean varieties. It just so happens that the check hybrid in our corn plot has awesome emergence. It is a 104-day Croplan variety and is on the right side of the picture below. I believe it was the first to start emerging almost a week ago.
Post Plant Application?
The question of the week has been
“should I spray my herbicide and/or nitrogen on the surface after planting if there’s very little rain in the forecast?”
I have at least 3 different weather models I look at almost daily and unfortunately, they all seem to be reducing the totals for chances of rain, and total amounts of rain for next week. We have been continuing most of the pre-emerge spraying in hopes that a rain will materialize. Last year we also had concerns about this as we had a very dry stretch from May 5th through the 20th, but then we got plenty of rain afterwards.
I would love to see the corn and beans emerge before getting any heavy rains, to reduce crusting and seedling diseases, but I understand that weeds can also emerge during this time as well. Whether the herbicide gets rained in a day after application or a week after application, weeds can germinate and get ahead of the herbicide, depending on how shallow they germinate from, or what species it is.
Multiple Modes of Action Herbicides
In pretty much all my pre (and post) emerge herbicide recommendations, I do not recommend just one single mode of action. Most of the mixtures have 3 and sometimes 4 different MOAs in the spray tank or premix. One thing this does help with is that each herbicide has a different water solubility, or ability to be activated with different amounts of rainfall, and different lengths of residual control. Take my main soybean pre-emerge mixture of Authority First/ Anthem/ generic Sencor. The Sencor is very soluble and will activate with just a small amount of rainfall, Authority is moderate, and Anthem is the least water soluble. If someone was strictly using a product like Anthem, I would be more worried during this drier time about getting around ¾ inch or more for good activation. But with using a mixture, if we get a couple tenths, it should activate the Sencor and move it down into the weed germination zone to at least get started on weed control. Similar thing with a corn mixture like Harness Xtra or Keystone, with generic Callisto. The Atrazine in the Harness Xtra or Keystone is very soluble, while the Harness and Callisto are moderately soluble. This again gives us a chance to get something going with just a little amount of rain, while the others offer more residual into the season.
Nitrogen Incorporation
The other concern with spraying after planting over the top is needing a rain for incorporation of the nitrogen. I don’t know of many farmers who are not using a stabilizer when applying 32% over the top, or for that matter anytime 32% is sprayed. Nitrogen stabilizers are to the point now where they need to be part of the overall nutrient program. Our StayPoint N-Trap is a dual-purpose stabilizer, meaning it slows down volatility, and leaching of the applied N. It contains NBPT, a proven Urease Inhibitor, which slows down the volatility of surface applied nitrogen. Notice I said slows down, not eliminates. Eventually we will need rain to incorporate the 32%, but this chemical does slow down the process of conversion to gas. Also, the cooler the soils are, the longer the Nitrogen is stable.
We will ultimately see what next week’s weather brings us. I do see some rain chances for Monday night, and again later in the week.
Seed Returns
For any of our seed customers, please be ready to return any unused seed, pallets, or pro boxes sooner this year. We are needing everything back by June 10th, as we have to return everything to the seed companies by June 15th. I know it seems like a ways off yet, but everyone will get busy in the next steps of this cropping year.
RainFall Totals
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Month | Total | 30 Year Average | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:12 PM | emilybailey | 05/01/2026 01:20 PM | April (since the 21st) | 0.5" | 4.2" | |
| 2 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:12 PM | emilybailey | 05/09/2026 07:22 AM | May | 0 | 4.8" | |
| 3 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:12 PM | emilybailey | 04/03/2026 07:30 AM | June | 6.3" | ||
| 4 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:13 PM | emilybailey | 04/03/2026 07:30 AM | July | 4.7" | ||
| 5 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:13 PM | emilybailey | 04/03/2026 07:30 AM | August | 4.5" | ||
Heat Units Accumulated
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Plant Date | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emilybailey | 04/02/2026 02:20 PM | emilybailey | 05/09/2026 07:23 AM | April 21st | 142 (120 needed for Corn Emergence) |
| 3 | emilybailey | 05/09/2026 07:23 AM | emilybailey | 05/09/2026 07:23 AM | May 1st | 50 |
Thank you and please let me know of any questions or concerns you have.
Bob Sobolik
641.330.1815
