Crop Sciences

AGRI-NEWS - Issue 23 - 05, May, 2002

• Coming Events
• April Summary
• Weather
• Crop Report
• Orr Center Events

Coming Events

• May 12 - Mother's Day
• May 27 - Memorial Day Observed, Office Closed
• Aug. 13 - Fall Field Day, 9 AM to 11:30 AM
• Aug. 13-14, Agronomy Superintendents Retreat (Noon to Noon)

Weather: April showers took their time arriving, and when they did, they stayed around for a spell, and presented us with yet another dilemma, too much water! We recorded 15 days with rainfall, and no snowfall for the month. Four of the rain events were greater than one half inch in quantity.

The soil moisture tubes finally began holding water during the last two days of the month. Like March, we saw plenty of wind pass through the region as well The month warmed up too fast, and it gave all of us the false sense of spring, especially when the night time low temperatures dipped into the low 40's.

Growing degree-day units really dropped off from the 20th through the end of the month. Five days with air temperatures in the 80's and record setting temperatures in the region got everyone nervous about it being a dry spring.

Crop Report: The oat variety plots appear to be doing fine. The actual growth has been slower than usual, partially due to the dry conditions that we experienced earlier in the month.

The wheat plots look better now that we have had some growth on the plants. We noticed some disease pressure early, and thought it might have been early stages of Barley Yellow Dwarf virus. However, the plants appeared to grow out of the symptoms, which may have been triggered by cool soils and possibly induced fertility deficiencies.

Some of the early, planted corn is up and growing, although, the lack of any appreciable heat units has caused very slow growth and concern among farmers. Several seed dealers are tackling the "re-plant" question, and some are recommending a wait and see attitude, hoping for sunshine and warmer temperatures. Crop growth will be slow when soil temperatures are hovering in the low 50's for an average. We have corn that took nearly 10 days to emerge.

If per chance you may be one of those that are still attempting to apply ammonia, you would be better off planting first, then applying ammonia side-dress. One must wait at least 5 days following ammonia application before planting due to injury at germination.

ORR Center Events: With the celebration of Memorial Day on Monday May 27, the office will be closed. We are slated to have a group of visitors from Korea on June 10 for a small tour of the Center.

FALL FIELD DAY:
We have set August 13 as our Fall Field Day program date, with the tour commencing at 9:00 AM sharp, and concluding at noon. We are offering 8 tour stops of 15 minutes each. The topics slated at this writing include:

• "Insect management Challenges for Western IL." - K. Steffey
  
• "The Pacific Decadal Oscillation" - S. Hollinger
  
• "Nitrogen Management Practices For No-Tillage Corn" - S. Ebelhar
  
• "How Many Corn Leaves Do You Really Need?" - E. Adee
  
• "Sustainable Agriculture Using Rotational Grazing On Diverse Pastures" - B. Tracy
  
• "Together Forever? - Corn and Soybean in Rotation" - E. Nafziger
  
• "The Circle of Herbicides" - C. Sprague (the title may change by Field Day)
  
• "The Past 25 Years - A Look Back" - G. Raines

From the way this season is commencing, many of the above topics will be extremely relevant.

SUPERINTENDENTS RETREAT:
Following on the heels of the Field day will be the annual Agronomy Superintendents Retreat, which will be hosted at the ORR Center this year. This meeting is for the Center Superintendents and Campus faculty and staff that conduct research work on any of the 6 Centers that are situated around the State. We will meet in the Centers Conference room on the afternoon of Aug. 13, and conclude our deliberations by noon Aug. 14.

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