Air March 20, 2002

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. We’re past that magical halfway point of March. In fact, at 1:16 this afternoon we officially transition into spring. Now we can see how long it is until Mother Nature decides to drop the wintery weather act! For the next several months, plant growth and field work will increase at a dizzying rate! And let’s start off with a brief update of the army cutworm situation that you may have been hearing about from central and south central Kansas. The good news is that by mid-March, army cutworm problems are usually on the decline. Even better news is that I have had no reports from our area and I have seen no evidence of damage either. What concerns me more right now is getting regular rainfall for the next six weeks to keep this wheat going. Only time will tell on that one!

As we move into spring I invariably have to field numerous questions on how early can corn or soybeans or milo be planted. We always seem to have some folks that want to push the envelope earlier and earlier. This is one area where I think tradition can often serve as a good guide. You can push those planting dates up a little bit, but you go shoving them very far, and the facts of Kansas weather will catch up to you eventually. Obviously corn is the earliest of those three to be planted, that is with the exception of sweet corn. I try not to pay any attention to the calendar, but try to base decisions on soil temperatures. Corn has to have a minimum soil temperature of 50 and I prefer to see it at 55. We’re just barely up to 40 as of Monday. Soybeans need more heat. I’d like to see the temperature up to 65, but we can get by with 60 to 62. And grain sorghum is a tropical grass. It likes it warm. I’d prefer soil temps of 70, but let’s try to get it up to 65. Now, if you are pushing the cool end of the envelope you need to take a few steps to make sure the potential train wreck doesn’t get worse. Make sure you are using a fungicidal seed treatment to keep the seedling blights down. There may be a temptation to plant shallow to keep the seed up in warm soil, but this can really backfire on you with plants that don’t develop proper root systems. Plant the seed at the proper depth. I know that some producers are going to be getting antsy before long, but just pull back on the reins and let’s do this planting thing right, so we don’t have to do it again later!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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