Minnesota Crop News

by Dan Martens, UM Extension Educator, Stearns-Benton-Morrison Counties, marte011@umn.edu, 320-968-5077

I am listing links here for my summaries following the October 20, 2016 Sauk Centre Hay Auction and a Land Rent Workshop Schedule.

1. Oct 20 2016 Summary by groups based on type, bale and quality

2. History of Selected Lots - Shows Averages for each of last 6 years, including the 2015/2016      season.

3. Graph of Selected Alfalfa hay groups.     I reset my graphs starting in October to match what I’ve graphed in previous years.
    The 2016-17 season is the RED line now.

4. Land Rent Workshop Schedule      Offered by Extension Ag Business Management Staff in November and December. You can check     the MN Crop News Website listed below for a little more information. No RSVP required and no       registration fee that I know of.

by Lisa Behnken, Extension Educator, Fritz Breitenbach, IPM Specialist SE Minnesota, Lizabeth Stahl, Extension Educator, Jeff Gunsolus, Extension Agronomist, Weed Science, Phyllis Bongard, Content Development and Communications Specialist, and Jeffrey Vetsch, Soil Science Researcher, SROC, University of Minnesota 
Farmer’s interest in planting dicamba-tolerant soybeans continues. There are a number of reasons a farmer may choose to plant dicamba-tolerant soybeans, but a primary one is to potentially be part of their 2017 weed management plan to help in the control of glyphosate-resistant weeds. However, a word of caution, dicamba is currently NOT labeled for application to soybeans at planting or postemergence (read more below).

by Lisa Behnken, Fritz Breitenbach, Liz Stahl, and Ryan Miller
Performance comparisons of early (1.3-1.8) and late (1.9-2.4) maturity glyphosate tolerant/RoundUp Ready soybean in southeastern Minnesota are now available. The studies with 24 early-maturity and 25 late-maturity entries were conducted near Rochester, MN (Lawler site) on a Port Byron silt loam. Trials were planted on May 5, 2016 with a 4-row John Deere 7000 planter equipped with cone units. The seeding rate was 150,000 seeds per acre with seed planted at a depth of 1.5 inches in 30 inch rows. Plots were four rows wide by 22 feet in length and the center two rows of each plot were machine harvested on October 4, 2016.

by Dan Martens, Extension Educator, Stearns-Benton-Morrison Counties,
marte011@umn.edu, ph 320-968-5077

I am attaching my summaries following the October 6, 2016 Sauk Centre Hay Auctions.

1. Oct 6 2016 Summary by groups based on type, bale and quality

2. History of Selected Lots

Shows Averages for each of last 6 years, including the 2015/2016 season. I left the 2010 year on because that’s how far back we go to find prices kind of similar to where we are now.

3. Graph of Selected Alfalfa hay groups.

The 2015/2016 line is hand-drawn yet for summer and fall auctions. I will start a fresh graph after the second October sale. The “vertical line” represents the range of values, High, Average, Low.

There may be some hay around that has been damaged by flooding. Some hay stored outside in some areas has endured a lot of rain. Averages with wide range of values, like $40 to $135 in the Medium Square RFV 151-175 range, may not mean so much. In the list of individual loads, all 6 loads av…

by Phyllis Bongard and Jeff Gunsolus
With the recent confirmation of Palmer amaranth in Minnesota, it is critical to identify this noxious weed, so it can be eradicated before it becomes widespread. A new pictorial guide compares key characteristics of Palmer amaranth and tall waterhemp at several growth stages throughout the growing season to aid in this identification.

Daniel Kaiser and Fabian Fernandez
Extension Soil and Nutrient Management Specialists

A new update has been posted for the corn fertilizer guidelines in Minnesota. Throughout the fall we will be posting information regarding changes made to the guidelines as they pertain to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur management for corn. For the first installment we will take the time to outline changes made to the nitrogen guidelines for the state of Minnesota.

A previous e-news was set out this spring outlining changes to the nitrogen rate guidelines for non-irrigated corn production. The revised publication was delayed due to questions that arose based on the suggested application rates of N for corn on corn. The new suggested rates are listed in Table 1 of the publication.