Ottumwa Courier, IA
08-29-06
Some crops hurt by early heat
Recent rainfalls just too late for some area farmers
By SCOTT NILES Courier staff writer
OTTUMWA — Recent rainfalls have helped some, but for some area farmers it was just too late.
Mark Carlton, a field specialist for the Iowa State University Extension office in Monroe County, said recent moisture won’t help the corn.
With corn, he said, there is one shot for the kernels to develop and “fill out” the ears. Other crops such as soybeans or pastures and other foragubg crops, have a longer development period.
“Some of the corn was hurt during hot weather and there was pollination problem in some fields. Then the corn plants themselves, were tipped back. They reached a certain point and stopped. The ears being tipped back affects yields. It may be the results of the corn rolling up and getting dry,” Carlton said. “If it would have rained three or four weeks earlier, they would have been in a lot better shape.”
He explained that when corn reaches a certain point it is crucial that it gets the moisture and nutrients it needs.
“... If a corn plant is stressed early in its life, it will drop rows of kernels. The really hot, dry weather that we had hurt the corn and didn’t have a chance to recover,” Carlton said.
The lack of moisture in the soil was the biggest factor for possible corn yield loss. Though moisture levels can vary from field to field and county to county, most of southeast Iowa is still behind the state average in this area.
Machelle Shaffer, communications director for the Iowa Department of Agriculture offered a breakdown of where southeast Iowa stands in relations to the rest of the state.
“As far as moisture levels, [Southeast and South Central Iowa] is showing only 49 percent adequate moisture compared to the state total, that is showing 79 percent adequate moisture in the soil,” she said.
However, that has not stopped the progress of the crops in this part of the state.
“As far as crop progress, it is give or take a couple percentage points. Those counties ... are very similar as to the statewide. It is just slightly below. Certainly nothing to be alarmed about,” she said.
And although corn crops may have suffered some because of the lack of rainfall earlier in the season, other crops seem to be doing just fine.
Carlton said the recent rain has really helped the soybeans, pastures and foraging crops.
He said soybeans, unlike corn, develop all season. He said they have more than just one shot to produce pods and they can keep on producing more until harvest time.
“Soybean plants ... keeps on flowering and producing pods. The soybean plants have put on more pods in the last three to four weeks. Their pods can develop at any time. With the rain it will mean more beans in every pod,” Carlton said. “I have a lot more hope that the yields weren’t hurt as bad with soybeans, as they were with corn. But, even with corn it will boil down to what hybrids were planted in each field and how much rain each field received.”