Spring Tips
Spring is upon us, with warmer temperatures heading our way, I thought this would be a good time for a spring update on happenings in the neighborhood and go through some thoughts I have had.
We have had a few short windows in the past month to apply dry fertilizers to hay and row crops, but (un)timely rains have prevented us from finishing that up. Once the fields are fit and you have fields ready to be spread and/or sprayed (pre-plant nitrogen, pre-emerge corn chemicals, and pre-emerge bean chemicals, etc.), please let me know. We have also been busy delivering fertilizer, seed, and chemicals. Please contact me for delivery if you have not done so already are in need.
Please be on the lookout for early germinating weeds in fields that are not planning to have a spring tillage pass or a spring chemical burndown. Giant Ragweed needs only 150 heat units and 50 degree soil temps to emerge, and we have surpassed both of those marks. Many pre-emerge chemistries do NOT have burndown activity therefore will not clean up any fields with growing weeds that will not get a tillage pass in the coming weeks. Products like Roundup, 2,4-D, Dicamba, Incinerate, and Authority First (when used with oil) will have activity on large-seeded broadleaves or other pesky no-till weeds.
To plant, or not to plant?
We are looking at a few days (April 21-April 22) forecasted for 80+ degree highs, which according to ISU soil temp forecast will push soil temps to the high 50’s/low 60’s for a few days. This may be tempting to plant corn once fields are fit and my response to that is…check the 7-10 day forecast. Corn is at greatest risk for seedling injury in the first 48 hours after planting, please check this Winfield United article on corn planting/cold soils.
If you feel your fields are ‘almost’ ready for corn planting, plant beans in the meantime (there has been consistent data from Iowa State on the ROI benefits of early plant soybeans)!
It is critical that our corn plants emerge evenly (within 24-36 hours of each other) to achieve maximum yield potential. It is rare that the best yielding corn fields are those that have corn in the ground for 2+ weeks before emergence. It is also important to note that some of the best corn yields in the area in 2025 were in fields planted form May 5th-May 15th and 2024 some of the best corn yields were in fields planted in the last two weeks of May! This was mostly due to favorable field conditions and consistently warm soil temperatures in that time frame, resulting in great corn emergence. At the end of the day, pay close attention to soil conditions, soil temperatures, and the forecast on whether or not it is the right decision to plant.
IEM :: ISU Soil Moisture County Temperature Estimates
Have a safe spring and feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.
Heath
402.779.5353
