As we roll into the month of June, things are moving along with the 2020 corn crop throughout my geography.  Below are a few notes from LG Seeds Agronomy and Sales Teams from each geography.

South, Central & Northeast Texas – Chris Shepard:

Corn in far South Texas had a dry start resulting in short plants and fewer kernel rows on ears than normal.  Supplemental irrigation in areas has helped the irrigated corn progress towards maturity, and yields should be on par with most years on irrigated ground, while dryland yields will struggle in places.

The upper Gulf Coast also started off dry but had better conditions mid-season.  Corn on heavier ground looks great, while corn on lighter ground struggled a bit more early on, reducing potential.  Overall, the area has been wet with moderate temperatures during grain fill and corn over much of the area looks poised to be above average.

Central and Northeast Texas was and is a bit more mixed.  Early planted corn that survived early wet conditions looks very good with high yield potential, but corn that went in late is a bit more mixed in progress.  It is yet to be seen how the summer heat will impact grain fill for the later planted crop. 

Overall, in Texas, southern rust has been extremely light, however we are seeing a high amount of Northern Corn Leaf Blight this year in corn-on-corn rotations due to the wetter conditions mid-season.

Texas Panhandle, New Mexico & Western Oklahoma – James Baxter:

Corn planting is beginning to wrap up in the Texas Panhandle. We started planting earlier this year and have had virtually no rainfall in the region so far this season. As a result, planting is wrapping up earlier this year as compared to the last five years. The daytime temperatures in early May were in the upper nineties to low 100’s. In the latter half of the month, the temperatures moderated to mid-70’s to lower 80’s. Our low temperatures have been in the upper 40’s to mid-50’s. The winds have been light to moderate. Since all our corn is irrigated, the crop looks better at this stage than I have seen in several years.

The planting of the New Mexico silage corn crop is progressing well. Most of the early crop was planted in late April to early May. The second crop will follow onion harvest. That is happening now. I expect it to continue until mid-June. They have had good early moisture and normally receive their summer monsoon moisture which starts in July.

Since it so dry, sorghum planting will have to wait until we receive a rain. 

Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri – Craig Pearson:

Corn planting season is sitting at 100% complete with the crop emerged and looking good. Most corn acres are sitting at V2-V6. We will see good GDU accumulation the next week with temperatures reaching the low 90’s. Soybean planting is sitting at 50% complete with the anticipation being near 100% by the end of the week.

Western Kansas – Matt Teply:

As we are moving into the first week of June, planting is starting to wrap up on most of the corn and soybean acres in this region. Northwest Kansas still has a few dry land corn acres going into the ground where wetter conditions slowed planting in late May.  Southwest Kansas continues to struggle with severe drought over most of the area.  Some smaller areas have had some relief and some dry land corn acres were planted.  Much of the corn crop is in the V4 to V5 growth stage.  Over the last week there has now been a big shift of focus to planting grain sorghum across the entire region.  Weather permitting, #plant2020 should be finishing up over the next few days.

Pacific Northwest – Ryan Clifton:

In the Pacific Northwest, we are mostly planted with a couple plots left to put in. Portions of the area had 2" of rain a week ago so it put chopping triticale behind. Many growers will strip-till their remaining corn acres in behind triticale once harvest is completed.  The very first corn planted is about 6" tall at this time.

California – Joe Paper/Phil Miller:

Planting progress overall with corn in California is about 60% complete.  Grain corn is about completed which amounts to about 50% of the market, while silage corn is in full swing. Silage growers will plant through the end of July and the early planted growers will harvest their silage and replant the first week of August to harvest again in November.

Alfalfa is being harvested every 28 days and we currently on our 3rd cutting.  All the new LG Seeds varieties are performing quite well and our LG Seeds 5R300 is the talk of the industry out here. Hopefully, the alfalfa market strengthens so we can capitalize on a strong fall planting season.  Growers will start seeding alfalfa in California on September 1^st with sprinklers.

Download a copy of this technical bulletin here: Far West and Southwest Crop Progress