13
Oct
2016
The time spent in the combine is perfect for scouting winter annual weeds while monitoring your harvest operations. A winter annual weed is just like it sounds… an annual weed with a life cycle that begins in the fall and may go dormant during the winter before maturing and dying in the spring. With this type of life cycle, winter annual weeds were less of a concern in past years because they weren’t considered to be competitive with a growing summer crop, and conventional tillage practices took care of them before planting.
Categories: Agronomy, Missouri
Tags: Beck's Blog, AgTalk, Agronomy Update, Marestail, Missouri Agronomy, Beck's Agronomist, David Hughes, tillage, Winter Weeds, Winter Annual Weeds, chickweed, henbit, Carolina foxtail, Virginia pepperweed, purselane, sheperdspurse, field pennycress, fall herbicide program, weed resistance management, winter annual crop, cover crop
4
Cover crops offer a variety of benefits from reducing erosion to adding nutrients to your soil. When I start a conversation with a farmer about cover crops, my first question is always, “what are your goals for the cover crop?” Cover crops are used for many different reasons so it’s important to know why you need them before you plant. A pre-determined goal will help you decide which cover crop or cover crop mixture you should plant on your farm.
Categories: Agronomy, Kentucky, Tennessee
Tags: Practical Farm Research, Agronomy, Beck's, Cover Crops, PFR, Austin Scott, Kentucky Agronomy, Tennessee Agronomy, Ag Chat, Cover Crop Solutions, Fall Cover Crop, yield benefits, fall harvest, herbicide carryover on cover crops, cover crop mix
28
Sep
“Harvest time is here but my soybeans won’t get fit to harvest!” A very common, yet intriguing question many farmers have had this fall. I’ve heard numerous remarks such as “my 3.5 maturity soybeans will be ready before my 2.9 soybeans and I planted them at the same time!” So why are soybeans maturing inconsistently?
Categories: Agronomy, Ohio
Tags: harvest, soybeans, Agronomy, soybean harvest, Ohio Agronomy, Ag Chat, Ag Talk, harvest 2016, LUKE SCHULTE, SOYBEAN FIELD, SOYBEAN MATURITY, SOYBEAN MATURITY STAGES, SOYBEAN STRESS. SOYBEAN POD ABORTION
26
Categories: Agronomy, NE Illinois, NW Indiana, S. Wisconsin
Tags: Beck's Blog, AgTalk, Chad Kalaher, Agronomy Update, Beck's Agronomist, indiana agronomy, Illinois Agronomy, Winter Wheat, winter kill in wheat, Wisconsin Agronomy, MIDWEST WHEAT, Hessian fly-free date
23
Summer rains have been few and far between in Ohio. While some fields have luckily received more than others, we’ll find out soon which fields received enough to maintain yields when the combines roll.
Categories: Agronomy Talk
Tags:
Some of our most southern areas have already begun harvesting corn and the rest should be starting this month. Something to keep in mind when harvesting is how you will manage the corn residue.
Decision making in farming can be tough. There are so many management strategies and products that have the potential to increase net revenue. One way to make it easier is to establish a baseline for yield in every field.
Early fall is mostly pre-harvest time in my area. We can evaluate the past growing season and consider possible changes to our operations. One of the most commonly discussed programs this summer has been the LibertyLink® system for 2017.
Take one last chance to scout before harvest begins. As you walk fields, look at disease levels. Which hybrids handled disease better? Are you happy with your fungicide applications? Look at grain fill and pollination. Take a final assessment of weed control and make note of what weeds are present and if they need to be targeted next year. In soybeans, be on the lookout for Palmer amaranth, as it has been identified in southern Indiana.
As the growing season comes to an end, it’s always a good idea to review weather records and the various practices that you experimented with on your farms. Once again, weather events created challenges throughout the 2016 growing season that were beyond our control.
The 2016 crop continues to mature, though it may not be quite as fast or large as many predicted just a few weeks earlier.
As harvest progresses, it’s important to take time to look at what the corn crop has to tell us. Walk your fields and evaluate hybrids for disease, stalk quality, and nutrient deficiencies. Not only will a last minute scouting session help us evaluate the farming and management practices implemented this past year, but it will also help us plan for harvest work. Now is also the time to explore options for residue management and fertilizer decisions.
The end is near for the 2016 crop! As we prepare equipment for harvest, take time to review your plans for fall. Will you be sowing wheat, collecting soil samples, establishing cover crops, or even improving your fields’ drainage? There’s still time to review these plans to make sure these fall projects go smoothly.
I get excited when farmers innovate and develop simple solutions to production challenges that provide immediate return on investment. John Miller from Catlin, IL has done just that with his Nitrogen Sealing Systems.
As we near harvest, I wanted to review stalk rots. We commonly see a few of them in Iowa that cause a lot of headaches during harvest.
As corn begins to dry down for harvest, we need to be on the lookout for corn ear rots. Numerous fungi exist that can cause ear rots, all of which are influenced by specific weather and environmental conditions. Cool, wet conditions at silking would tend to favor the development of Gibberella ear rot, while Aspergilus will tend to be an issue when conditions are hot and dry.
As we approach harvest, three critical observations come to mind. First, be sure to note any fields that are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies. Often times, fields are only soil sampled every two or four years. In the case of newly acquired farms, the previous fertility levels may not be well known, so if deficiencies are present, taking soil samples after harvest and fertilizing accordingly can prevent the same deficiencies the next year.
22
Conditions throughout many parts of Wisconsin and northern Illinois have been favorable for the development of corn ear molds. Ear molds are of particular concern because of the adverse effects they can have on grain storage. They also result in the development of mycotoxins, which can have detrimental effects on feed value and animal health.
Categories: Agronomy, N Illinois, S. Wisconsin
Tags: harvest, corn harvest, Agronomy, Ear Rot, Illinois Agronomy, Wisconsin Agronomy, vomitoxin, Ag Chat, Ag Talk, Jon Skinner, corn ear molds, mycotoxins, evaluating ear molds, corn ear rot, Diplodia Ear Rot, kernel mold, Fusarium Ear Rot, fumonisins, Gibberella Ear Rot, zearalenone, pink mold on corn, Aspergillus Ear Rot, aflatoxin, kernel moisture, harvest 2016
20
Harvest time is finally here and for most of us in the South, this will be the year to forget! Parts of Tennessee encountered the worst drought we’ve seen since 2012. On the other end of the spectrum, parts of Kentucky, southern Indiana, and southern Illinois caught more rain than they could handle for most of the year. The Missouri Bootheel couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted to be too dry or too wet! All of these crazy environmental conditions have led to some serious standability issues in our corn. Just about every corn field I’ve been in recently has shown signs of premature death and stalk rot. This is something we see every year, but some years are worse than others and may require a little more planning before harvest.
Tags: harvest, corn harvest, Agronomy, Beck's, stalk rot, stalk lodging, Austin Scott, Kentucky Agronomy, Tennessee Agronomy, Ag Chat, standability issues in corn, stalk lodge, corn pinch test, corn push test, Anthracnose stalk rot in corn, Fusarium stalk rot in corn
31
Aug
While August starts the downhill slope of the growing season, a lot is still happening out in the fields. Kernels and pods are filling out and we watch the sky for those ever-important August rains. We may often feel that there is little that we can do to impact the crop at this point in the season. However, there is much we can learn now by walking fields and asking ourselves which fields look the best and the worst.