Field Crop News
Website Address: http://fcn.agronomy.psu.edu/
August 27, 2004 Vol. 04:10
IN THIS ISSUE:
Mark Your Calendar
- Soybean Production Workshop - Landisville Experiment Station - September 8, 2004, 9am - 12 noon, $5 on-site registration
Weather Outlook
Production
Agents Corner
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Another cool, wet period has dominated the month of August. Temperatures are averaging between 1 and 3 degrees below normal and precipitation has been well above normal. The heaviest rain has fallen in eastern sections of the state with the region from Franklin to Pike counties measuring more than double the typical August rainfall. Only the southwestern plateau section has been drier than average. Considerable clouds and relatively light winds have led to poor drying conditions. A severe thunderstorm outbreak between August 17-19 brought hail to the Laurel Highlands.
The transition into September may bring the warmest weather since the second week of June. The final weekend of August promises showers and thunderstorms that will commence Saturday night and finally depart by Wednesday. A few places may receive more than three inches of rain while most areas will receive between 0.5 and 1.0 inches. Warm weather will return during the first week of September with temperatures likely to exceed 90F in southeastern Pennsylvania at least a couple of times between September 3-8. The very moist summer will help to form thick fog patches during the morning hours as the nights lengthen and the ground cools. A push of very cool air is expected between September 9-15 with scattered frost in the northern tier.
Paul Knight, PGK2@psu.edu
Pennsylvania State Climatologist
PRODUCTION
CORN HARVEST UNDERWAY
Our corn crop in many areas is doing very well and silage harvest is underway already here in late August in some areas. We have already harvested our early hybrids in our silage yield trials in SC Pennsylvania and expect to move into the mid maturity (110-115 day hybrids) by next week. Keys to a successful silage harvest include 1) monitoring crop maturity and moisture prior to harvest, 2) assessing particle size and processing during harvest, and 3) packing well and covering silos effectively following harvest. Based on the bunker silo assessments Paul Craig and other extension agents did with me last year, two areas that need special attention are the edges of the bunker and the top layer. Frequently these are not packed as well as they could be.
This year our large crop may present some challenges in locating adequate storage. This could be one year to consider higher chop strategies to improve silage quality and reduce the amount of grain that needs to be marketed, dried and stored. It is likely that there will be ample supplies of high moisture corn on the market this fall that could lead to lower prices for this commodity. Also, with higher costs of propane, drying costs will likely be higher for shelled corn as well. Some pre-harvest crop yield estimates could help with making these silage and grain harvest and inventory decisions.
Greg Roth, gwr@psu.edu
Grain Crops Management, Crop and Soil Sciences
THE PRICE TO PAY
Snap bean harvest is ongoing as we speak. Due to rigid planting and harvesting schedules, soil moisture conditions for traffic are not respected, resulting in massive compaction in this wet year. I took some pictures of harvested snap bean fields in Centre County last week. The harvest had obviously been performed at soil moisture conditions close to field capacity, far too wet for traffic. The ends of the field had been packed multiple times by harvesting equipment, whereas tracks could be seen on about 50% of the remainder of the field. The effects of this type of soil abuse will be felt in years to come. When all pores are filled with water, pressures are transferred deep into the soil, say 20 inches and more. This compaction is beyond the depth of most tillage implements. Even subsoilers do usually not reach beyond 18 inches. Next year's yields will probably be reduced by 15% in the affected areas. Although these effects decline over time, yield reductions due to subsoil compaction have been shown to last for 10 years and more. In addition, compaction increases runoff and erosion, reduces nitrogen use efficiency because of increased denitrification losses, and limits the uptake of nutrients such as P and K that are relatively immobile in the soil. Soil biological activity in compacted soil will decrease. Studies have shown significant reductions in earthworm populations due to compaction, for example. The sad part of this is that this type of management forces farmers to rely on intensive tillage to prepare next year's seedbed. The tillage will burn organic matter and destroy soil structure. If this is repeated in years to come, a vicious downward spiral of soil degradation will be perpetuated.
What are tillage alternatives for snap beans? The best answer is probably precision traffic. Permanent traffic lanes would allow much of the field to be traffic free. It is understood that harvest needs to be timely or the product will be worthless. The traffic lanes will become firm over time, providing better field access. A potentially promising precision traffic system for snap beans could be ridge tillage. In ridge tillage all crops are grown on the same row spacing (say, 30”). The ridges are formed during the growing season with in-row cultivators. It is probably best to start such a system with corn. The corn would be planted no-till in rows that would be maintained for 10-20 years to come. A cultivator is used for supplemental weed control and building of the ridges. At the first cultivation, soil is actually thrown away from the rows to the row-middles. The ridges are typically built during the second cultivation. Ridges in corn should be 5-8 inches tall. After corn harvest no more tillage is necessary. In the spring of next year, about 1-2 inches of soil is scraped off the tops of the ridges with a scraper mounted on the planter. The beans are planted on the ridges, and the ridges are re-built during the growing season. Ridges should not be built more than about 4-5 inches high in beans. This system is proven on poorly drained, flat soils in a corn-soybean rotation and might work for snap beans as well. The benefits of ridge till over conventional tillage are that mulch is left at the surface and no compaction occurs except in those row-middles where traffic occurs. Planting can be earlier than in a no-till system because the ridge-tops are elevated above the surface and have no residue on them after planting. Disadvantages of this system are that on rolling ground runoff water may follow the ridges and cause gullies to form, or ridges may break with the same effect. This system therefore works best on flat ground. All equipment (tractor, fertilizer cart, sprayer and combine) has to be on uniform wheel spacing in precision traffic systems.
There may be objections to the above suggestions. It is clear, however, that some solution needs to be found for snap bean production to reduce soil compaction in the years to come. The price of complacency is too high.
Sjoerd W. Duiker, swd10@psu.edu
Soil Management, Crop and Soil Sciences
Agents Corner
CAPITAL
With a weather outlook of a rain free period for the next several days quite a bit of hay was mowed early this week. We haven't had such a forecast in a long time. Corn and soybeans generally look good but I see more signs of corn fields "running out of gas". I don't think I have ever seen as much northern corn leaf blight as I have this year. And there is plenty of northern corn leaf spot as well. In the southern area of our region silage harvesting is underway and one of the early birds is even done. Another early bird anticipates beginning to shell some corn next week. Soybeans are very tall. I have observed much more unevenness in soybeans, perhaps as a result of such tall plants lodging in spots across the field. To me, the abundant vegetative growth of the soybeans does not reflect the pod numbers and growth.
John Rowehl, jrowehl@psu.edu
Cumberland County
NORTHWEST
Rain continues to keep ground moisture levels high, with 5 inches over the weekend. Corn and soybeans continue to grow, but producers are concerned about having enough heat units to finish development of both crops. Cutting corn silage will be right around the corner for early planted silage varieties. We'll need to keep checking moisture levels to determine the proper stage to begin to chop.
Most of the wheat and oats have been combined, with just a few fields too wet to get into without rutting up new seedings.
Making hay and haylage continues to be a challenge with the scattered rain showers, but the weather report looks good for several days of sunshine and partly cloudy conditions.
Nelson Smith, nes2@psu.edu
Clarion County
SOUTHEAST
It's a good week for making hay. With a week's window of sunshine, hay producers have already started cutting. Fall tillage has begun for new seedings this fall.
The corn crop is excellent. In spot locations, gray leaf spot and leaf and ear tip feeding from rootworm beetles is evident.
Bean leaf beetle damage to soybeans (above threshold) was reported in Lehigh County.
Weed management in pastures, fence rows and right of way is being accomplished during this window between the growing and the harvest season. Weed growth has been abundant and rapid this year.
The Southeast PA Crops Conference Planter and Drill Clinic will be held September 8 in Kempton, PA. Registration is available through Penn State Cooperative Extension-Schuylkill County, 570-662-4225.
Mena Hautau, mmh10@psu.edu
Berks County
SOUTHWEST
With 3 or more inches of rain on August 20-21, there is ample moisture, too much in some cases, for corn and soybean crop maturation. Farmers who early planted corn are looking to begin silage harvest near Labor Day.
Many corn fields are showing significant premature yellowing of lower stalks and even up to ear height or beyond. Soybean fields have the greatest looking foliage, but limited bean fill to this point. Nights and days have been too cool to push the crops along. Grain crops in the higher elevations are also looking pretty weak.
Hay crop harvest has been at best challenging, at worst impossible. Farmers only have been getting 2-3 days between showers, making hay harvest difficult if not ensiling or making high moisture bales.
Oh well, another interesting year.
Don Fretts, dcf3@psu.edu
Fayette County
Douglas Beegle, editor,
Professor, Agronomy, dbb@psu.edu