It seems like summer has finally arrived. The heat is welcome, and it looks like farms were finally able to get back in the field on Tuesday. Still a lot of first cut hay going down this week and many corn and soybean acres that need to get planted!
Corn and Soybean Update
It is great to finally be able to row the corn in some earlier planted fields. This heat should start to turn it from light yellow to green. Most corn I was in this past week is just emerging up to V2. USDA NASS will no longer be sending out crop progress and condition reports for individual states anymore so I can’t report where we are as far as planting percentages. Maybe that is a good thing this year.
I mentioned the first black cutworms in last weeks report. Well, they are everywhere now. All corn out of the ground should be checked. We were working in two of our neonic risk assessment trials in Niagara and Orleans County on Monday. Both fields were over the 5% threshold for cut plants and needed to be sprayed ASAP. Worms were three-fourths to an inch long and could be found just beneath the soil at the base of cut plants. They will only cut more plants as they get bigger!
Slugs also continue to be a problem in corn as well as soybean. I know of a couple growers that have applied slug baits and have been happy with the results. The warmer weather will help get the newly planted crops out of the ground quicker so this should help outgrow their feeding.
Early soybean fields are struggling between seedcorn maggot (SCM) injury and slugs and lots of replanting is going on. I continue to get reports of maggot injury even on soybeans planted mid-May. All of these fields had a seed insecticide on them. It has been a long time since I have seen so much seed damage. It has been a wet and cool spring, and crops have been slow to emerge. This has just been a perfect storm for SCM. With some heat finally here, newly planted crops should get out of the ground a lot quicker and avoid serious SCM injury from the next generation.
Wheat Update
The September planted winter wheat is flowering. I looked at a couple fields yesterday planted September 16-18 and everything looked good. If you are unsure about what wheat flowering looks like, see this archived video we have on our YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51xthmslywo&list=PLBMGyzTr13dsj4Ufdu6Dle2AJtGJbyo6z&index=6. Unfortunately, the Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) Monitoring Tool, https://www.wheatscab.psu.edu/, is showing NWNY and the whole Northeast under high risk for the next 6 days. Most of our wheat will be at a vulnerable stage over this time period. Fungicides are actively being sprayed and will help suppress FHB and other leaf diseases such as powdery mildew and rusts.
I have been actively looking for cereal leaf beetle (CLB) larvae and armyworms. I’m finding CLB adults at low levels and just starting to find eggs and small larvae. At this point, we are looking for larval feeding injury on the flag leaf. Threshold is one larva per flag leaf. No armyworm infestations have been found yet, but I know it could be coming. Remember to watch for the blackbirds diving into wheat, rye or barley. They will let you know where the armyworms are!
Pheromone Trap and Degree Day Update
For a second week in a row, cutworm and armyworm moth numbers are low. We mentioned earlier that we saw plenty of cutworm larvae this week that were big enough to be able to cut corn. Despite not reaching 300-degree days in any part of our region since our first significant flight on May 5, there are plenty larvae big enough to be a concern and cause economic damage. All corn should be scouted and insecticides applied if at or above the 5% threshold for cut corn plants.
Next report will be June 11.
Assisting Mike Stanyard and Jodi Letham is Field Support Staff – David Bechtel
