Links to these articles are strongly encouraged. Articles may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If articles are used in any other manner, permission from the author is required.
Spring rains come with unexpected quantities and force, causing significant amounts of soil erosion to unprotected cropland. Spring is the most critical time for soil erosion because of degraded crop residue, tillage in preparation for planting and lack of crop canopy.
Predictions of cutting dates (the date when black cutworm larvae are likely to be damaging corn) are based on recorded peak flights which took place near the end of March and approximately two weeks later in Iowa.
Crop residue removal-what effect does it have on corn yield and soil quality? That's a question quite often asked these days.
Planting corn into cool soils increases variability not only of emergence, but also of plant to plant sizes and development stages. Variability in plant size - whether from cool soil temperatures or from frost - will affect plant-to-plant competition and reduce yield.
Recent rain brings another challenge for farmers, especially in fields conventionally tilled last fall or early this spring. In addition to potential soil erosion and damages to soil structure rainfall can cause, there is potential for soil crust.
A sterile hybrid, Giant Miscanthus is most commonly planted from rhizome pieces when the soil temperatures have reached 50 F. Here are some things to consider if you are propagating and/or planting rhizomes this spring.
By Steve Barnhart, Department of Agronomy
Alfalfa fields are growing well across most of Iowa. The next few nights have frost or freeze warnings, with predictions of night low temperatures as low as low 20s. Low temperatures, whether visible frost is present or not, may affect the growth of both established forage plants, as well as newly emerged seedlings.
The exceptionally warm spring has alfalfa growth well ahead of normal, with some farmers expecting to harvest first crop in April. Harvest should be much sooner this spring, but when?
Bees are susceptible to many broad spectrum insecticides, but how are they getting exposed to a chemistry largely used for seed treatments? Christian Krupke, a field crops entomologist at Purdue University, and several others took a closer look at how honey bees might be interacting with neonicotinoids. Common examples of neonicotinoids include: clothianidin (Poncho r), thiamethoxam (Cruiser r), and imidacloprid (Gaucho r).
By William Edwards, Department of Economics
