Managing Stored Drought-Stressed Corn In Early Spring

Feb 07, 2013

If you had any amount of confirmed mycotoxins in your grain at harvest, it is safer to avoid storing the affected grain.

Ambient temperatures will be getting warmer and soon will be above 40°F, which is about the temperature where fungal (mold) spores begin to grow again in the spring. If the fungal organism is one that produces mycotoxins, the level of mycotoxins in the grain can increase, which will likely result in greater dock when the grain is sold.

The worst case would be if the grain were refused by the grain dealer or not approved for feeding to certain species or sizes of livestock.

Disinfecting Empty Bins and Harvest Equipment

It is important to thoroughly clean out bins once they are empty, including all grain and grain dust that could still contain molds and insects. When moldy grain has been removed from the bin, use a spray disinfectant on all interior surfaces to kill mold spores. A solution of 1 gallon of 5.25% household laundry bleach and 20 gallons of water should work well. Several days after applying the bleach, rinse it off so as not to corrode galvanized metal.

Source: Cropwatch.unl.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.