Air May 7, 2003

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. Here we are into May now and everything is moving rapidly along. Wheat is heading out and looking really good, corn is coming out of the ground and pastures are greening up and looking really good..... As long as we keep getting rain. But don’t think that because it’s looking so good you can start loading the cattle in. Let’s keep those stocking rates down!

Corn planting is pretty well wrapping up and with minimum soil temperatures now moving past that 60 degree mark we’re moving into prime soybean planting time. We’re probably still a week or two away from minimum soil temps that sorghum is going to prefer, but it won’t be long now. We need to keep an eye on that emerging corn crop. Wireworms and cutworms are certainly a possibility and spraying for flea beetles has occurred around the area and throughout northeast Kansas. With the influx of rain and thunderstorms we are also going to see disease risk in wheat skyrocket. Powdery mildew as well as leaf and stripe rust are all very real possibilities. I’ve seen a surprising amount of powdery mildew already but rust is probably just getting ready to start. It is doubtful that a fungicide application could be justified on anything but the highest value seed wheat, especially at this stage of the game. Mid May to mid June is the best time to treat brush in pastures. With many pastures not being burned this year that makes this year a good one to treat those brush patches. We know that we get much better control with herbicide applications if we spray in a year that we don’t burn. There’s a reason for that, I just don’t have enough time to explain it this program. But if you have some buckbrush, sumac, or dogwood patches you want to get under control, get ready to be spraying.

With the severe weather cycle that we are in right now, it would be a good time to go over severe storm preparedness with the family. Working outdoors, the farm family is much more at risk to lightning strikes and other fury that thunderstorms can hurl at us. Don’t risk your health and well being on foolish chances. When the dark clouds roll in, take cover in a vehicle or building!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2003.

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