I've wanted to post on the strange weather we saw this winter but haven't had a lot to add to what everyone else has been saying. In particular there's been a lot of discussion on possible insect impacts.
My personal feeling is that it will be hard to predict if we'll see increased insect pressure this year. Most of the overwintering insects have adapted to survive here so the sheer numbers may not be too different (and they may encounter disease and predation which they aren't adapted to) though emergence date will obviously change. I haven't heard of any insects which don't usually overwinter here surviving however there may be some early arrivals. What I think is more likely is that there may be additional generations and that the standard timing for insect impacts will be very different from usual. Again, nothing revolutionary or which you can't find in a lot of other places from people who know more than I. I think the key will be that this year will place an additional premium on keeping informed and up to date on what's going on. Purdue's Pest and Crop Newsletter is one good resource. Another is Bob Nielsen's site where he summarizes crop information from various sources - including for crops other than corn.
There isn't a lot of this grown in Clinton County but one thing I've been struck by is how quickly alfalfa is coming along. Growing Degree Day(GDD) accumulation is one way of determining when to make your first cutting and we're already close to 300 in Central Indiana. Craig Thomas from Michigan State University recently posted an article discussing the use of GDD's to determine when to harvest. There's a good chance this will be a four-cutting year if we get rain, as long as you make your first cutting in a timely manner.
In order to track Growing Degree Day accumulation a good resource is the GDD Tracker.
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