Minnesota Crop News

Anthony Hanson, UMN Extension crops IPM educator; Jeff Coulter, UMN Extension corn agronomist; Dean Malvick, UMN Extension plant pathologist The following information was provided during the July 17, 2024 Strategic Farming: Field Notes session. Use your preferred podcasting platform or listen online to a podcast of this Field Notes session hosted by UMN Extension crops educator Claire LaCanne that featured Drs. Jeff Coulter and Dean Malvick. Corn development Jeff Coulter discussed what to expect with corn development with the wet conditions this year. This has been a difficult year with too much water resulting in potential nitrogen issues and variability in development in areas where growth was delayed due to saturated soil. This staggered development also complicates management decisions.  Growers have been asking Coulter if applying extra nitrogen is worth it in these conditions. If additional nitrogen is to be applied, it should be done no later than V14. Pollination status is al

Are you curious about how healthy your soil is? There are fascinating tests to explore the microbial activity, organic nitrogen pools, and physical stability of your soil, but they are expensive compared to traditional soil nutrient tests. Luckily, there’s funding from Minnesota Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for producers who want to test their soil health! Known as Crop Evaluation and Monitoring Activity-216 (CEMA-216) , this NRCS activity can help cover much of the costs associated with sampling and lab analysis for many soil health tests. However, a qualified individual must do the sampling. University of Minnesota Extension is partnering with MN NRCS to bring training on CEMA-216 sampling procedures to certified crop advisers (CCAs) or other individuals who would like to perform CEMA-216 sampling. Registration and Location: The training will be August 16, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s “Farm at the Arb” in Chaska, MN . For this free trainin

  Fusarium Head Blight Risk The risk for Fusarium head blight remains moderate to high for highly susceptible varieties for most of Minnesota through the coming weekend (Figure 1). The marked difference in the risk of infection between highly susceptible and moderately resistant varieties remains the same (Figure 2).  Figure 1. Fusarium head blight risk for very susceptible varieties for July 9 through 12. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Figure 2. Fusarium head blight risk for moderately resistant varieties for July 9 through 12. Darker orange indicates moderate risk and red indicates high risk. Harvest Management It isn't hard to find scab in the University of Minnesota spring wheat and barley variety trials across the Red River Valley that were seeded in the second half of April.  It's a bit too early yet to see symptoms of infection in the yield trials trials that were seeded in May.  None of these trials are sprayed with a fungicide to sup

Angie Peltier, UMN Extension crops educator; Fei Yang, UMN Extension corn entomologist; Bruce Potter, UMN Extension IPM specialist; and Robert Koch, UMN Extension soybean entomologist The following information was provided during the July 10, 2024 Strategic Farming: Field Notes session. Use your preferred podcasting platform or listen online to a podcast of this Field Notes session hosted by UMN Extension crops educator Claire LaCanne. How a mild winter and a rainy spring impacts pests Western corn rootworm Mild winter The 2023-24 winter was a mild one in areas where agronomic crops are produced when compared to the average Minnesota winter. To help them survive cold winter temperatures, those insect pests that spend their winters in Minnesota tend to concentrate the fats and alcohols in their blood to produce a natural ‘antifreeze.’ However, the recent warmer than normal winter likely helped these pests’ (think alfalfa weevil, bean leaf beetle and European corn borer, etc.) survival

Robert Koch, UMN Extension soybean entomologist; Bruce Potter, UMN Extension IPM specialist; and Fei Yang, UMN Extension corn entomologist Questions continue to be raised about the potential to use chlorpyrifos-containing products against crop pests. Chlorpyrifos was taken off the market for a period of time after the US EPA removed all tolerances for food and feed. Then, tolerances were reinstated after the EPA’s decision was challenged in court; however, this occurred after many manufacturers had already voluntarily canceled their products at the federal level. Minnesota has conditionally registered the following products that still have federal registrations for 2024. These products may be used through 2024 according to the directions on their labels. Check the MDA webpage or Kelly Solutions webpage for current listing of registered products for Minnesota. As of July 12, 2024, the ten chlorpyrifos-containing products registered for agricultural use in Minnesota were: DURAGUARD ME

By Liz Stahl, Extension Educator – Crops and Axel Garcia y Garcia, Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist Cover crops varied dramatically in the amount of biomass produced when seeded in the middle of July at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center by Lamberton. Photo taken August 26, 2022. The species in the front range (l to ri) are sorghum-sudangrass, pearl millet, oat, crimson clover,and Japanese millet. Photo : Liz Stahl. Record-setting precipitation in Minnesota this year during the months of April through June has drowned out crops in areas of fields and also prevented the planting of crops in the first place in other fields. As the water recedes and fields dry out, farmers are deciding what to do with these areas. Why plant a cover crop? Planting a cover crop in drown-out spots and prevent plant fields will help control weeds and prevent erosion while providing other soil health benefits. Effective weed control is critical, since weeds like waterhemp can quickly overta