Saturday, June 18, 2011

Late-Season N Applications in Corn

Eric Miller, R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, and Jim Camberato of Purdue Extension have recently offered an article about late season Nitrogen applications when weather or other factors keep you out of the field beyond when is optimum. In brief, the article compares corn with N applied at V7 (7 visible leaf collars) or V15 (a week or two from silking) and a control with only starter N applied. While corn with the V7 sidedress outperformed that with the V15 application, it wasn't by much and both applications far outperformed corn receiving no sidedress.

It's a good article and you should read it through but in essence, even if you're late and have to get creative with equipment, Nitrogen application still pays off.

Friday, June 17, 2011

More Category 14, Ag Fertilizer Application Information

Consider this a follow-up to my earlier category 14 post and something of a "save the date" message.

In addition to the training and exam sessions offered, the Indiana State Chemist will be offering exam-only sessions for producers and commercial applicators needing to get their category 14 certification.

To date, two of these sessions are available:

  • Sept. 15, 2-4 p.m. Eastern, Wells County Community Center, 1240 4-H Park Road, Bluffton. To register, call 260-824-6412 or by email at horan@purdue.edu.
  • Dec. 16, 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Clinton County Fairgrounds, Fairground Street, Frankfort. To register, call 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or email cemanuel@purdue.edu by Dec. 12.
You'll notice the second session will be here in Clinton County and you sign up by contacting me. That day, December 16 will also be an Ag Outlook Breakfast and a Private Applicator Recertification Program (CCH's will also be avilable) in the morning. These haven't been "officially" scheduled but I have speakers lined up (we're looking at a weed control and insect update) so I'm pretty confident it'll happen. For additional information you can take a look at the Purdue Pesticide Programs Website.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Twisted Whorls in Corn

Bob Nielsen has provided an updated article on the appearance of twisted whorls in corn. While this can be a sign of plant injury, the growing conditions we've seen the past few weeks can also be a cause.

Note: I'll be gone the rest of this week and all next week and tied up with a GIS program I'm helping teach the following week (this gets us to June 24). I'm not certain how often I'll be able to update this blog during that period, though I'll try.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cutworm Problems

Cutworms Chewing Through Technology by Christian Krupke and John Obermeyer

• Cutworms are abundant, especially where weeds were plentiful before planting

• As predicted, seed insecticides and/or Bt corn are NOT controlling severe infestations

Numerous reports have been received of emerging corn being damaged by cutworms. As mentioned in previous Pest&Crop issues (#4, 5, 6, 8) the seed-applied insecticides and/or Bt traited corn will only provide suppression of cutworms. With the severe damage some fields are reportedly receiving, it is obvious that some producers did not scout fields after emergence to determine the need for rescue foliar insecticides.

Black cutworm is not the only species of cutworm present and damaging fields. Many reports of claybacked cutworm have been received as well. This species overwinters as a partially grown larva, so it is larger when the corn is emerging, compared with black cutworms, which begin their annual Indiana cycle as eggs in the spring. What’s important is that larger larvae, ≥ 0.5 inch, are not controlled by Bt proteins expressed in Herculex and SmartStax. Producers are unhappily finding out that black cutworm is the only species labeled for control with these traited-seeds, and rescue treatments are on their tab. And As we’ve learned in the past and hearing again this spring, the seed-applied insecticides (e.g., Cruiser, Poncho) provide only suppression of cutworms. They likely do a fine job of suppressing light to moderate infestations, but severe infestations are NOT controlled, even by the higher rate.

Cutworm control may be needed if 3-5% of the seedlings have obvious foliar feeding and/or plant cutting and live larvae can be found while digging around damaged plants. Higher label rates of insecticides should be considered if the soil surface is crusty and most cutworm activity is below ground. For a listing of foliar insecticides for rescue control, refer to “Corn Insect Control Recommendations – 2011,” which can be viewed by clicking this link.

If you have questions or for more information, please contact Christian Krupke or John Obermeyer in the Department of Entomology.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Crop Insurance and Underwater Corn

I'm hoping this blog helps some folks out there. I know it's helping me keep up on things.

There are a couple of articles in the latest edition of Ag Answers which may interest people. George Patrick, Purdue Ag Economist and Crop Insurance Guru has some advice for people considering using the June 5 corn Prevented Planting Provision.

And we're pretty familiar with this after the past few years (I'd just switched from Youth to Ag when we had the June, 2003 rains that transformed Clinton County into a marshland of rotting crops) but Bob Nielsen has an article about the response of the corn plant to ponding and saturated soils.

And it may be too wet to plant or do any fieldwork, at least in the northern part of the county, but it's not too early to do some scouting. The Purdue Pest & Crop Newsletter has some advice about things to look for. In particular, black cutworm could be a problem this year.

Also, a friend of mine in Tippecanoe County said she saw her first firefly last night. We all know this means corn rootworm won't be far behind (unless they all drowned?). I know Purdue is interested in how refuge-in-the-bag will work so if you planted some and you see something interesting (funky?) give me a call. I'm not sure if we can get a specialist to come out and look, though we have better luck than some people since we're close to campus, but I can at least take some pictures and send them in. And don't worry, the Purdue people (and I) are pretty good about confidentiality.