By Rebecca Vittetoe
Across Iowa, planting is nearing completion or has wrapped up. There have been some emergence concerns in fields across the state due to soil crusting. The rain over the weekend and early this week will hopefully help alleviate that, but unfortunately there were areas that also experienced heavy rainfall, hail, strong winds, and tornados. ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomists share more specifics about what’s happening in fields around the state.
Cherokee, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux, Woodbury counties
"Planting in northwest Iowa was essentially completed by the end of this past weekend. With little moisture up until this point, conditions had become very dry in some areas. Over the weekend, this corner of the state saw precipitation along with damaging storms. There should not be a problem with the soil absorbing this moisture, but downpours and hail caused washouts and damage to emerged plants, especially soybeans. There will be some fields replanted due to this weather. Most soybean fields range from just planted to V1, while corn fields range from VE to V2. There has not been much insect activity at this point but weed growth has been rapid.”
Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Hancock, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Winnebago counties
“Corn emergence has been observed in several fields, with some fields reaching the V1 growth stage. Crusting was found in some early planted fields, and rotary hoes were used in some fields that had soil crusting issues.
Source : iastate.edu