Frustrating weather hampers crops
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 07/15/2010 4:06 PM
E-mail article | Print version
KANAWHA, Iowa —It has been frustrating in recent weeks for some north central Iowa farmers, said John Holmes, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist based in Clarion. He talked about crop conditions at last week's field day at ISU's Northern Research Farm at Kanawha.
A severe storm struck the Kanawha area June 17. The following afternoon severe weather hammered crops in the Thor/Hardy/Renwick area and moved east across northern Wright County and southern Hancock County to northern Franklin County and ended just east of Interstate 35.
"The rain and hail in these two storms severely damaged corn, soybeans, and alfalfa," Holmes said. "Soybeans were reduced to only stems remaining in the most severely affected areas. Rain from these storms refilled ponds. Since the soils were already saturated, water ran off from fields in waterways or natural drainage areas. It was easy to see water standing between the rows of corn and soybeans. Even alfalfa was stripped by the hail storms. More than one farmer told me that their alfalfa was harvested by the storm."
Holmes met with Clarion area farmers to talk about recovery options. Most corn was in the V8 to V9 stage. In most cases damage was limited to stripped leaves and a few bruises on stalks. The upper leaves had considerable bruises from hail, but only the leaves were bruised so damage will not affect stalk quality. Soybeans were damaged more severely. The stems were severely bruised. Many farmers will replant soybeans even though some leaves remain and regrowth can be seen. The amount of replanting will depend on when farmers can replant since fields are so wet.
Outside the storm areas the crops look very good, Holmes said. Corn is growing rapidly; much of it is now chest high.
"One of the big frustrations has been that farmers and commercial pesticide applicators are not able to apply their final applications of postemergence herbicides due to rain and wind," Holmes said.
Paul Kassel, an ISU Extension field agronomist based in Spencer, said many locations in his area had 2 to 3 inches of rain on June 22. Then additional rain was received on June 25 and June 26. Many locations had more than 7 inches of rain over that five-day period. The areas that were hardest hit in his area were between Emmetsburg and Ruthven and southern Clay County.
"Much of the rain ran off," Kassel said. "There is widespread erosion and piles of accumulated corn stalks. Water ran across many county gravel roads."
Kassel said much of Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth and Winnebago counites look pretty good.
"There is some water standing here and there but by and large the crop looks very good in these areas," Kassel said.
"Wet, wet, wet," is how Dennis Oleson describes conditions on his farm north of Dows.
Oleson has been keeping track of rainfall, and since June, he has recorded 16.15 inches.
"I've seen water running where it has never run before," Oleson said.
He planted only soybeans this year, and his crop doesn't look too bad, but it is weedy.
"We had 5.7 inches of rain June 22 to 23," he said. "Some beans got covered with mud, but I can't do a thing about that."
David Rueber, superintendent of the Kanawha Research Farm said June rainfall at 10 3/4 inches was off his chart, but it's not a record. Kanawha received 13 inches of rain in June 1954 and 11 3/4 inches in June 1984. In 1993 10 1/4 inches of rain fell in June.
Ken Peckinovsky, superintendent of the ISU Northeast Research Farm at Nashua, said 2010 has been an easy going spring.
"We didn't have any of the heavy rains to delay field work and planting," Pecinovsky said. "We finished planting corn May 9. We started planting beans May 3 and finished May 24."
June has not brought extreme rainfall to Nashua like it has in some parts of the state, Pecinovsky said. Nashua received 8.6 inches of rain in June, about 3.5 inces above the 30-year average.
"We have a lot to be thankful for," Pecinovsky said.