Break In Weather Allows Some Planting To Get Underway In Some Areas
Break In Weather Allows Some Planting To Get Underway In Some Areas
May 04, 2022Steve Schwaller
(Lakefield, Mn.)– The recent break in the weather has allowed producers in some parts of the area to get some field work done, and in some cases, even some planting. Jim Nesseth of Extended Ag Services in Lakefield says what he’s been hearing from producers who have been able to do that is promising…
“In fact, in talking to the producers that have planted a fair amount of corn and soybeans, they said the ground really worked up quite nicely where they planted. Obviously there were some fields that weren’t fit, but where it was there was some pretty good progress made and one of the things that one producer told me, he said the corn stalk ground that was corn last year, really worked up pretty mellow and nice, so they went and planted. There was a fair number of beans that were planted. So there has been some progress. I would guess certainly less than 10 percent of corn and beans planted in our area. But you know, once this weather turns for the best, we can make a lot of progress planting. There’s a lot of big planters out there and it’s not uncommon to get 300, 400 acres of corn planted in a day.”
Nesseth recommends producers don’t switch yet to a shorter season hybrid when it comes to corn…
“If we get stuff planted here in the next week to 10 days, I think we’re good. You know, the prediction for above normal temps throughout the growing season, the rest of the summer, I think that bodes well with planting some later corn. And yeah, they say it might be drier than average, so that’s why it’s important that we don’t mud anything in yet this spring, to wait until field conditions and soil conditions are good. But I think we just stay with the course, stay with the plan that you originally had as far as maturity on your corn and soybeans and I think we’ll be okay.”
Even though we haven’t had any growing degree days just yet, Nesseth says we should quickly make those up if predictions for warmer than normal temperatures come true in coming weeks.
