The following are reports from my team of Technical Team Agronomists in the north and east.  Conditions vary across my area, we had record cold and excessive rains in several areas so there has been a fair amount of replant.  All things considered the crop is further along than it was at this point last year.   Thanks to my team for putting these updates together, hopefully you find them interesting.

Northeast Iowa – Dave Hoy

Starting to see the effects of the cold snap around Mother’s Day with a slight loss of corn populations and soybean populations.  Overall corn hybrids look very good and soybeans are also coming along nicely.  Observing better populations with treated soybeans versus untreated soybeans. I think this year treated soybeans paid dividends.  Cutworms have emerged in corn but are causing little damage so far.  Corn is anywhere from V3 the V-6. Soybeans are anywhere from just emerging to second trifoliate.  Just finishing up the last of the replant calls as excessive rains and cold soils have depleted populations in lower areas enough to warrant replant.

Wisconsin – Alan Bass

Planting is primarily done for both corn and soybeans in Wisconsin. There is some planting to finish up in the Northeast part of the state. Early planted corn looks very well and has progressed significantly better than last year. Some weather-related issues seemed to have popped up with a little replant associated with the cold weather. However, most crops made it through just fine. Some storms left large amounts of water that triggered replants as well, but not blanketed areas. We are seeing some issues with shallow planting and clumpy conditions when planting and then stayed dry. Some areas have some uneven stands or delayed emergence. Some of the “drought” in the pocket of the southwest part of the state seems to be eliminated with rains recently. Soybean emergence looks very good as well.  First crop hay is down a little due to some cold temps early on in the season.

Michigan – Justin Schneider

Michigan corn and bean stands are not perfect. A large portion of the state received over 5 inches of rain two weeks ago that set back and hurt a lot of stands. With that rain also came cooler temps that set back the crops as well.  The April to first week of May planted corn-soybeans seem to look better than the mid May planted.  Overall, I would rate most of Michigan’s corn and soybean crop as fair-to-good. Corn 100% planted with a few still trying to replant wet holes. Soybeans are probably around 90-95% planted with wet pockets that will need to be spotted in. 

Northern Indiana – Phil Brunner

Corn planting is around 99% and soybeans 85%.   Replant is hot and heavy. It started the day after Memorial Day and hasn’t let up.  All is from planting from May 8^th -10^th when we had the cold spell.  Some survived, some did not.  All the crops that were planted before and after that window look good.  No insect or disease issues yet.

Northern Ohio – Corey Prosser

Corn is 98% planted and soybeans are 95%. Crop conditions are all over the board as there has been a significant amount of replanting due to cold weather and heavy rains following planting. There are a lot of products that have been looking very strong this year such as LG51C48, LG59C72, LG54C04, LG5590 and LG57C97. These products have had good emergence and have stood out both in plots and on the farm. Corn in areas will be very good if it was planted and made it through the cold wet snap. Most fields are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies and there has been some rapid growth syndrome due to heat in the last week. We have had a few issues with Armyworm and Black Cutworm but not large scale. Mainly in the East-central part of the area. Replants have finished or will be finished, hopefully by the end of the week, or possibly into next week.

Soybeans have also had a lot of growers concerned early. With most planted early, before the cold wet weather, emergence was slow and all over the board. There was a good amount of replant but there were a lot of fields that evened up within the last week. C2888RX is still a standout for our team and the new LGS3202RX has looked promising in plots but will see what the year brings.

Southern Ohio – Jordan Miller

Southern Ohio has faced all four extremes this May resulting in sporadic windows of planting and replanting. May began well and growers were able start some field work and planting. This was followed by a rain event that gave us a pause and followed by a cold front with below freezing temperatures that caused damage to emerged soybeans and corn. Another small window opened and was followed by another rain event that left 4-5 inches of rain. Larger plants were able to survive the saturated soil better than recently planted and resulted in replanting low-lying areas. Another planting window opened with very high temperatures into the 90’s which gave crops a chance to catch up…too fast. Rapid growth syndrome was seen in corn causing yellow color and striping in the uppermost leaves where the plant was having issues keeping up moving nutrients into the new growth, plants greened up when temps moderated. May wrapped up, and into June a window has opened for growers to finish and some areas are dry to the point where some seed has not begun to germinate from a lack of moisture in the seed zone. Stink bugs have been observed and European Corn Borer moths are also being seen and soon we will have hatching of 1st generation larva.

Northeast and Southeast (NY, PA, DE, MD, VA, NC, SC)

New York, corn is 65-70% in most areas with some customers are done, some are only 25%, and everywhere in between depending on rains, ground conditions, etc.  Soybeans are conservatively 50% planted and spring alfalfa seedings are complete.

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, corn is 95-98 % planted with soybeans 80-90 % have not started double crop beans behind Barley and Wheat.  South eastern to northern VA had replant because of late frost in May some areas are in river bottoms are wet and are still waiting to be planted.

On the Delmarva, corn planting is complete, soybeans at 90% and sorghum at 85%.  Double crop soybeans will begin soon.

North and South Carolina and Georgia, corn planting is complete. Soybeans are 100% in GA, 90% in South Carolina and 80% in North Carolina.  Some corn damage in parts of NC and SC due to excessive rain.  However, most of the crops in these areas are moving along on target.