in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date July 5, 2009 IN-CW070609 AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY A week of unseasonably cool temperatures slowed crop growth across most of the state, according to the Indiana Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Irrigation systems were active as soils were becoming dry in some fields. Dry weather did allow farmers to make progress in the hay fields and nearly finish up all first cuttings. Wheat harvest finished up in southern and some central counties while farmers in the north spent the week preparing to start their harvest. Farmers were busy planting double crop soybeans, baling straw, applying herbicides to soybean fields and preparing for county fairs. FIELD CROPS REPORT There were 5.8 days suitable for field work during the week. Two percent of the corn crop has silked compared with 0 percent last year and 17 percent for the 5-year average. Corn condition is rated 64 percent good to excellent compared with 61 percent last year at this time. Ninety-five percent of the intended soybean acreage has emerged compared with 96 percent last year and 98 percent for the 5-year average. Three percent of the soybean acreage is blooming compared with 4 percent last year and 20 percent for the 5-year average. Soybean condition is rated 64 percent good to excellent compared with 58 percent last year at this time. Fifty-five percent of the wheat acreage has been harvested compared with 36 percent last year and 60 percent for the 5-year average. Winter wheat condition is rated 66 percent good to excellent compared with 77 percent last year at this time. LIVESTOCK, PASTURE AND RANGE REPORT Pasture condition is rated 75 percent good to excellent compared with 68 percent last year at this time. Livestock remain in mostly good condition. Crop Progress Table ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn Silked (Tasseled) 2 NA 0 17 Soybeans Emerged 95 88 96 98 Soybeans Blooming 3 NA 4 20 Winter Wheat Harvested 55 32 36 60 Alfalfa - 2nd Cutting 28 NA 18 35 Crop Condition Table ----------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent ----------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn 2 8 26 52 12 Soybean 2 8 26 54 10 Pasture 1 4 20 55 20 Winter Wheat 1 8 25 51 15 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable for Fieldwork Table ---------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : : Week : Week : Year : ---------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 1 0 1 Short 14 7 6 Adequate 67 69 75 Surplus 18 24 18 Subsoil Very Short 1 0 1 Short 7 4 4 Adequate 78 73 71 Surplus 14 23 24 Days Suitable 5.8 5.0 4.9 Contact Information --Greg Preston, Director --Andy Higgins, Agricultural Statistician E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Indiana ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other Agricultural Comments And News WESTERN BEAN CUTWORM SEASON BEGINS * Moth captures are just beginning. * Scouting in northwestern Indiana counties for egg masses/young larvae should begin when moth captures are frequent. * Fields just beginning to tassel are most attractive for moth egg laying. Pheromone trap cooperators are beginning to capture western bean cutworm moths. Over the weekend of June 27, several moths were captured, last week’s heat probably spurred their emergence from the soil. The most surprising capture was from Mike Shrack in Jay County, it is only a guess on whether that moth overwintered in that area or was transported on winds. You can track future Indiana, and other Midwestern state captures, via the Western Bean Cutworm Monitoring Network at http://www.ent.iastate.edu/trap/westernbeancutworm/ and click on "Trap Sites" under the Site Navigation on the left hand side. Scouting and treatment guidelines are likely only a concern for counties, where moth numbers have been highest and damage was observed last year. University of Nebraska entomologists, knowing this sporadic pest for decades, suggest that egg scouting begin once moths are being captured with regular frequency. In five different areas of a field, inspect 20 consecutive plants for egg masses which are laid on the upper surface of the top leaves of corn and/or larvae that may have hatched and crawled to the whorl and begun to feed. Moths are most attracted to cornfields that are soon, or just beginning, to pollinate. A treatment threshold of 8% of the plants with an egg mass and/or larvae in the whorl is suggested. Timeliness is critical, because as soon as pollination begins, larvae will make their way into the ear via the silks and become impervious to insecticides. This threshold has recently been tweaked by crop consultants, and suggested by Iowa State University, to be about 5% of plants infested. Last year, damage from this pest was found only in occasional fields in northwestern counties. Hot spots within a field had numerous ears infested, but usually only one worm was found and damage was primarily in the ear tips. Last year, a field in northern Newton County near the Illinois border was noticeably damaged by this pest. From our limited experience with this pest, areas of sandy soils and continuous corn seem to promote higher populations. Too, Cry1F (Bt protein found in Herculex 1) has shown to be very effective in suppressing this pest. In the weeks to follow, we will keep you abreast of observations shared from others concerning this ear-attacking insect. Too, we’ll post photos to help in worm identification. Till then...happy scouting! Christian Krupke, John Obermeyer, and Larry Bledsoe, Department of Entomology, 100 Smith Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HOW LONG HAVE WE HAD THESE PROBLEM WEEDS? We sometime think that just when we eliminate one weed in a field, another one comes along and takes its place. Well that is how nature works. But, have you ever wondered where "new" weeds come from once you solved a weed problem or why when you change tillage practices, you get a different population of weeds? My theory is that we have seen a few new weeds enter the state in the past 100 or so years, but if the new weed is not a grass like Johnsongrass, it probably is not a weed that will majorly impact crops. While many weeds have moved into the state with early settlers or were dropped off of wagons and railroad cars, many of the more problem species are native to the area. A few examples of weeds that were transported into the state as it was being settled are velvetleaf, prickly lettuce, kochia, and Johnsongrass. Many of the weeds that dominated the state in the past, or the ones that we presently have in fields today, are a result of tillage practices, crop rotations, and weed management programs. In earlier days, prior to tractor-powered deep tillage, corn was usually grown about every third year with small grains and a forage legume crop produced in between. Tillage was shallow, and in the years of small grains and forages there was no postemergence tillage in those crops. Records show that the predominate weeds in Indiana from 1888 - 1929 were primarily crabgrass, a group of annual broadleaf weeds, a few biennials, and some shallow rooted simple perennials (Table 1). More people worried about wild garlic than about Canada thistle. As tractor powered equipment increased, people begin to moldboard plow and go to more monoculture crops like corn, or later a corn soybean rotation. With these practice changes, we began to see a different set of weed problems including annual broadleaf weeds and deep-rooted creeping perennials. Crabgrass was still the dominate grass (Table 2). In the 1950’s and 60’s both fertilizer and herbicide use increased. This is when we began to see giant foxtail overtake crabgrass as the predominate grass species, and also see the pigweeds, Jimsonweed, and lambsquarter species appear in crops. As herbicide selection allowed us to go to reduced or no-till, a strange thing happened (Table 3). All of those weeds that were present in fields back in the early days (Table 1) begin to reappear. However, we still managed to keep the weeds we had in the tillage years (Table 2). By reducing tillage, those weeds that do not fare well under aggressive tillage were able to survive well under no-tillage. Since those weeds were not the major weed problems present in fields when herbicides were introduced after the early 1950’s, there was little resistance selection pressure on them. Many of the broadleaf weeds that were present during the herbicide years began to show high degrees of tolerance or resistance to herbicides. We have always had our set of major problem weeds. We have just shifted them around with tillage and herbicide use. Table 1.  Major Weed Problems 1888 - 1929 Prickly lettuce Broadleaf plaintain Daisy fleabane Wild carrot Buffalobur Mustard species Horsenettle Downy brome Cocklebur Crabgrass Canada thistle Wild garlic Table 2.  Major Weed Problems 1929 - 1950 Cocklebur Bindweed species Jimsonweed Canada thistle Velvetleaf Morningglories Quackgrass Common Milkweed Johnsongrass Crabgrass Table 3.  Major Weed Problems in No-till Prickly lettuce Morningglories Canada thistle Foxtail species Daisy fleabane Marestail Horsenettle Common Ragweed Wild carrot Giant ragweed Crabgrass Pigweed species Mustard species Common milkweed Bindweed species Tom Jordan, Department of Botany & Plant Pathology, Lilly Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The INDIANA CROP & WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is issued weekly April through November by the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. For information on subscribing, send request to above address. POSTMASTER: Send address change to the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather Information Table Week ending Sunday July 5, 2009 ----------------------------------------------------- | Past Week Weather Summary Data |--------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |---------------|------------|Soil |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN| Total|Days |Temp ---------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) Chalmers_5W 82 56 67 -8 0.53 1 Francesville 81 57 66 -7 0.43 2 Valparaiso_AP_I 83 57 66 -7 0.27 3 Wanatah 83 54 66 -7 0.21 2 73 Winamac 82 57 67 -6 0.40 1 75 North Central(2) Plymouth 82 55 66 -8 0.05 2 South_Bend 80 55 66 -7 0.09 2 Young_America 80 56 65 -9 1.04 2 Northeast (3) Fort_Wayne 83 52 67 -7 0.07 2 Kendallville 82 57 68 -4 0.13 4 West Central(4) Greencastle 80 53 65 -10 1.87 1 Perrysville 83 57 68 -6 1.49 2 72 Spencer_Ag 84 56 68 -8 1.50 1 Terre_Haute_AFB 85 54 69 -6 1.29 1 W_Lafayette_6NW 83 54 68 -6 0.53 1 77 Central (5) Eagle_Creek_AP 84 61 69 -6 0.89 1 Greenfield 83 57 68 -7 0.44 2 Indianapolis_AP 84 61 69 -6 1.12 2 Indianapolis_SE 82 58 67 -8 0.88 2 Tipton_Ag 82 57 67 -7 0.35 3 80 East Central(6) Farmland 83 56 67 -6 0.17 1 73 New_Castle 82 56 66 -7 0.30 2 Southwest (7) Evansville 90 59 73 -5 0.72 1 Freelandville 85 61 71 -6 0.53 1 Shoals_8S 85 53 68 -8 0.35 1 Stendal 87 59 72 -5 0.63 1 Vincennes_5NE 86 59 71 -5 0.37 1 84 South Central(8) Leavenworth 86 56 70 -5 0.39 1 Oolitic 83 55 68 -7 1.08 1 75 Tell_City 92 59 72 -5 0.41 1 Southeast (9) Brookville 87 57 69 -5 0.52 2 Greensburg 86 58 69 -4 1.07 3 Seymour 84 60 68 -6 1.62 2 ----------------------------------------------------- Weather Information Table (Continued) Week ending Sunday July 5, 2009 ------------------------------------------------- | Accumulation |-------------------------------- | April 1, 2009 thru Station | July 5, 2009 |-------------------------------- | Precipitation |GDD Base 50oF |-------------------------------- | | | | | |Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN ------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Chalmers_5W |14.33 +2.46 40 1134 -118 Francesville |14.44 +2.39 37 1100 -32 Valparaiso_AP_I |11.45 -1.29 38 1116 +20 Wanatah |12.86 +0.76 40 1013 -27 Winamac |11.32 -0.73 35 1108 -24 North Central(2)| Plymouth |12.56 +0.00 47 1039 -143 South_Bend |13.88 +2.08 37 1115 +37 Young_America |16.28 +4.70 35 1174 +26 Northeast (3) | Fort_Wayne |11.84 +0.84 41 1197 +62 Kendallville |13.47 +1.88 44 1183 +115 West Central(4) | Greencastle |23.38 +10.38 42 1164 -168 Perrysville |20.29 +7.45 44 1329 +94 Spencer_Ag |23.72 +10.14 45 1281 +49 Terre_Haute_AFB |17.19 +4.52 39 1470 +144 W_Lafayette_6NW |17.90 +5.99 42 1253 +98 Central (5) | Eagle_Creek_AP |19.03 +7.16 40 1405 +92 Greenfield |21.20 +8.58 41 1244 +5 Indianapolis_AP |21.83 +9.96 41 1460 +147 Indianapolis_SE |23.97 +11.86 44 1243 -45 Tipton_Ag |20.00 +8.14 44 1163 +53 East Central(6) | Farmland |13.89 +1.76 39 1180 +110 New_Castle |15.72 +2.59 39 1148 +49 Southwest (7) | Evansville |15.95 +3.06 39 1723 +144 Freelandville |22.71 +9.44 39 1466 +84 Shoals_8S |21.70 +7.54 39 1330 +8 Stendal |22.18 +7.73 38 1687 +222 Vincennes_5NE |20.76 +7.49 43 1540 +158 South Central(8)| Leavenworth |16.91 +2.58 50 1471 +148 Oolitic |19.09 +5.61 45 1333 +83 Tell_City |15.88 +1.43 38 1598 +117 Southeast (9) | Brookville |13.95 +1.19 40 1383 +226 Greensburg |19.30 +6.21 45 1447 +221 Seymour |17.41 +4.72 42 1324 +54 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2009: Agricultural Weather Information Service, Inc. All rights reserved. DFN = Departure From Normal GDD = Growing Degree Days. Precipitation (Rainfall or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precip of .01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. For more weather inrformation, visit www.awis.com or call 1-888-798-9955.