Crops report for Richland County

For the most part, producers have switched from planting mode to crop protection mode. I did have an opportunity to get out to the southwestern portion of the county and in both the irrigated and dryland areas, the crops are coming along well.

I had an interesting question from a producer who was seeing some weird growth on his spring wheat planting. The picture below is what he was seeing and is attributed to cold temperatures occuring as the wheat leaf was developing and the leaf gets trapped in the sheath.

The problem is more aesthetic than harmful and should not affect yield.

The recent wet conditions have the potential to create a few problems. The first being that many of our crop diseases prefer moist, humid conditions. If you have fields with some disease history, you should probably consider doing some crop scouting in the coming weeks. The second issue raised with our recent weather pattern is that, because soils have been too wet, some producers have not been able to get their herbicides applied in a timely manner. I would not go as far as to say that there are a great deal of weed escapes out there but as the rains continue to fall, the weeds will continue to grow and there is a potential for weeds to get out of hand.

Soil Temp, not necessarily crop stage, crucial in determining spray timing for Rizoctonia Crown and Root Rot of sugarbeets

According to research conducted by Barry Jacobsen, plant pathologist at MSU, farmers should monitor soil temperatures to decide when fungicide treatments should be made to prevent infection of Rizoctonia Crown and Root Rot on their sugarbeet crop. According to Barry, "research over the past 9 years demonstrates that Quadris applications for Rhizoctonia Crown and Root Rot control should occur when soil temperatures at the 2-4" level average (high and low for the day) is 60-70 degrees Farenheit."

With the recent warm weather and readings from various weather stations, Richland County is in this range. For the complete article, log onto the Plant Diagnostic Information System web page, select Montana and Richland County.

Spring Planting report

Farmers in Richland County have taken advantage of the recent superb weather conditions and have planted a majority of their spring crops.

As of yet, I have not seen or heard of any major problems affecting stand establishment. I have noticed a good "crop" of dandelions in fields while doing "windshield surveys". Although dandelions are certainly not the only weed species that we have to deal with, they are fairly pesky and persistent. For a great article on dandelion control, I would encourage you to visit the NDSU crop and pest report for this week.

As Crop Season Progresses, Watch Ag Alerts for Updates

Producers are encouraged to visit the Plant Diagnostic Information System (PDIS) web site throughout the growing season to keep abreast of possible disease, insect, and weed issues in our area. PDIS is maintained by Kansas State University Extension and has Ag Alert updates for every state in the nation.

To view updates for Richland County, go to http://www.pdis.org/AgAlerts/Overview.aspx the scroll down to find Montana in the box labeled State and Richland in the box labeled county.

Richland County seeding on hold

While the spring planting season got off to a great start, due to weather conditions, we are currently on hold. Much of the valley area has been planted and producers were getting a good start on the dryland areas when rain, cold temperatures, and even a dusting or two of snow moved in.

From data gathered by the weather stations, soil temperatures have dropped into the 40-45 degree range at just about all depths that are measured and soil moisture ratings are rating moisture either at the saturated or adequately wet levels. So far for the month of May, rainfall received by the weather stations has ranged from 7 tenths of an inch at both the Poplar Bridge and Fink road stations to 2 inches at the Girard location.

The crops that have been planted are up and are continuing to look good and grow well. We have experienced lows in the low to middle 30's but, from what I've seen, the temps were not low long enough to produce damage to new seedlings.

If there is some seedling damage being spotted, I would be happy to investigate.

North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) a wealth of information

A new link that was just recently added under the heading "links to other agricultural sites" on this blog will take you to the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) web site. From this site, not only can you receive weather data, but you can also choose various crops grown in the area and get more information about them.

For example, if you were to click on barley, you would find information on the growing degree days accumulated for your area and a tool to predict the growth stage of the plant. Other crops on the site also have disease prediction models, insect infestation predictions and an area where you can create an account and use an irrigation scheduler. To find NDAWN's web site, go to http://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.edu.