(Lakefield, Mn.)– Corn and soybean crops across the area continue to make good progress in spite of recent hot, dry, weather conditions. Jim Nesseth of Extended Ag Services of Lakefield says corn development is now running slightly ahead of average…
“You know we’re kind of in that pre-blister to blister stage just kind of depending on the maturity of the hybrid, but I think it looks really good and if we just get, you know, some more rain here this month I think we can have an outstanding corn crop.”
Nesseth says most of the corn crop, based on the current development, should be out of any danger of an early frost should one occur…
“I go with book value, you know, they usually say 55 days after pollination and we’re in that pre-blister to blister stage, so we’re looking at mid-September or maybe third week of September for black layer and then, you know, you’re kind of out of that frost risk there and so I mean that’s really good and, you know, all we need is a little rain or two and, you know, we would get some good grain fill and we just, I mean, it looks really good right now and hopefully that will follow up and we’ll be able to capture a rain event and have some good yields.”
Nesseth says the condition of the soybean crop, which had been lagging, is improving…
“We had some phytophtora issues and we had some really low populations to begin with. You know it was just a struggle to get a good stand so there was some inner seeding done and in some cases we tore up and started over again. But the beans are coming along nicely and you know, like you say, we just need some moisture there, that will really help. But yeah, they’ve been a struggle but I think they’re improving and I don’t know if we’ll see those top soybean yields that we saw like last year, but, you know, I think they could be pretty good.”
Nesseth says there have been reports of soybean aphids in fields primarily near the West Fork of the Des Moines River, but he says so far they are nowhere near the recommended threshold for treatment.
