By Nicolle Ritchie
Weather
Persistent precipitation over the past week has slowed down field work and led to flooding or standing water in some places. Although it’s been rainy, temperatures have been quite warm, which is expected to continue into next week. A stretch of dry weather throughout much of next week will be followed by light precipitation heading into next weekend.
Crops and pests
After a less wet weekend, some field work occurred in the beginning of the week, including cover crop burndown, tillage and spreading of fertilizer, lime and manure. Peak flight and egg laying for seedcorn maggot occurred April 10 based on the Constantine Enviroweather station data. Fields planted close to peak flight are at higher risk of seedcorn maggot damage, especially in tilled high residue or manured fields. The wet weather has prevented planting within a week of peak flight, and warm temperatures next week are promising for getting seeds out of the ground quickly (if planting occurs next week). Overall, seedcorn maggot risk is probably likely to be low this season.
True armyworm counts spiked in St. Joseph County over the past week, likely carried up on the southerly winds with the storms.
Source : msu.edu