(Lakefield, Mn.)– Area crops continue to progress nicely toward maturity. Jim Nesseth of Extended Ag Services of Lakefield says weather conditions have been ideal, with growing degree days actually running ahead of historic averages…
“You know currently we’re at 2,211 as of a couple days ago and historically it’s 2,113 growing degree days, so we’re about 100 degrees, growing degrees, ahead of schedule and then we’ve had some good moisture this past month, I mean it’s really been good so, overall the crop is progressing nicely and when you look at the maturity stage we’re at most of that corn is dented or in the early dent and we’re, the beans are getting in that R6 stage and so we’re looking at in a couple, three weeks we should have pretty much full maturity and the risk of frost is not looking quite as threatening as it could be.”
Nesseth says producers, however, do need to be on the lookout for a condition known as “sudden death syndrome” in soybeans. He says it appears in small circular patches with yellowing leaves and brown spots on them, similar to brown stem rot…
“It’s something we don’t like. Hopefully it’s not going to be real bad and affect a lot of our acres, but it usually happens when you have some lower ground, some wet soils and if you had some cyst nematode pressure there or some other stresses, that’s usually when SDS will appear.”
Nesseth says it seems to be most notable in soybean fields planted with newer hybrids.
