While much of the state has crops planted and emerged, Southeast Indiana continues to be a problem area. Brian Bush, with DuPont Pioneer, says planting continues to lag in SE Indiana, “I would estimate we only have about 80% of the corn planted and less than 60% of the soybeans planted. The hardest hit area is south of SR50 where many farmers did not start planting until June 1.”
Bush says even those farmers who got corps in the ground are having issues, “Corn that was planted around April 25 has had to be replanted because of seedling blight.” He estimates that about 75% of the early planted corn had to be replanted. Fields that were planted just prior to the Memorial Day weekend have been hit with heavy rains. In the past few days, some of these fields were hit with up to 3 inches of rain.
In addition, Bush says insect pressure is building, “We are seeing a lot of Armey worms and black cutworms. Those who planted BT crops have really benefited from this technology.” He added, in some fields, you can find up to 50% of the plants being damaged by these insects. He said weed pressure is also a problem and without, any Dicamba Products, growers have very few options for controlling very tall weeds. Bush says it is time to consider switching maturity dates, “I think it is time to consider moving to 110 day maturity dates or less.” With the crop insurance deadline now passed, some growers are considering taking a prevented planting claim or switching to soybeans.
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