AIR June 17, 1998

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. We’ve got good news and bad news this morning. The good news is that all across the area there have been very few chinch bug reports. The bad news is that a lot of the milo isn’t even getting out of the ground so it may be a moot point! Just a quick reminder as we start rolling into wheat harvest and this is more to the non-ag listeners this morning. You’re going to be encountering a lot of farm equipment and grain trucks over the next couple of weeks. Just remember that those vehicles are not nearly as maneuverable as the vehicle you are probably driving. Loaded trucks are cumbersome, slow to accelerate and slow to stop. Tractors and combines are slower yet and need plenty of space. Don’t get impatient and don’t put you and them in a no win situation. Take your time, be patient and make sure that everyone gets through wheat harvest safely!

Back to dry weather. I am seeing a lot of uneven emergence. Truth of the matter is that I’m seeing a lot of fields of soybeans and milo that have areas that are up and growing and areas that are still bare! Not at all surprisingly I’m starting to get the questions now about whether or not to replant. Unfortunately there are no blanket answers! Each field may well have to be handled differently. First of all is the seed still viable? Dig down and see if the seed is still intact or has it sprouted and died? With the rain over the last 10 days I would think that some of those bare spots should be starting to fill in IF the seed was still good. How bad is the thin stand. If you have an occasional skip in a row I wouldn’t worry too much about it. A 20 to 30% reduction in stand may look bad, but in reality it probably won’t affect yield enough to justify replanting. If you have large areas that didn’t come up, and by large areas I mean at least 1/3 or more of the field area then you need to decide if the seed is still viable. If the seed is still looking like it did when you planted it you may want to take a few seeds back to the house and try to get them to germinate in wet paper towels. If they do then the seed is still viable and there is no need to replant, just pray for rain. If they don’t germinate or you can tell that they sprouted and then died then you will probably be justified in replanting. In either case without more rain it probably won’t matter.

This is Chuck Otte, County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook ‘98.

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