Southwest Michigan Planting Progress Continues to Crawl.

Bruce MacKellar and Eric Anderson, MSU Extension Field Crops Educators

If a single word can describe a growing season, 2019’s word would be Wet. Two words, too wet! Growers here were able to make some progress dancing around thunderstorms on sandier fields prior to and during the weekend of May 18th. But overall planting progress here is still in the low teens for corn, and maybe the upper single digits for soybeans. Bright spots in the region this growing season are St. Joseph and Branch Counties, which have made substantially more progress than most other areas in southern Michigan. Not much to look forward to in the 6-10 and 8-14 day forecast maps, so no reason to go there. Growers should probably focus on figuring out if it is time to consider switching hybrids and soybean varieties to shorter day numbers. And upgrade the lights on their equipment so that when the weather does break, the 24 hour a day marathon to get crops in the ground will be at least well illuminated.

One thing that the wet spring last year did teach us is that later planted crops can still do quite well. Soybeans planted well into June last season yielded in the 65 bushel range last fall. Shorter day corns also were yielding very well. Conditions that follow the delayed planting have the most important impact on the success of the later planted crops. Warm weather really helped later planted corn catch up last season. We can anticipate that these kind of conditions will be important in 2019 as well.

Both corn and soybeans that were planted early are growing, with challenges coming from wet conditions.

Corn: Black cutworm larvae can be found in some fields so it is worthwhile to monitor for these pests if you have corn that is out of the ground. The most advanced fields of corn I have heard of (Branch County) is 3 – 4 leaf stage. Most remains either in the bag or has not yet emerged. Opportunities to

An all too common farm scene in southwest Michigan this week. Heavy overnight thunderstorms quickly added to the rainfall totals for the week. Field work of all types is lagging way behind in 2019.

spray herbicides undoubtably have also been limited. Keep an eye on both crop size and weed size, especially when applying delayed pre-emergence programs. Dr. Erin Burns, MSU’s Corn Weed Control Specialist, reminds us that maximum crop height for delayed pre-emergence herbicides is available in the 2019 MSU Weed Control Guide (Table 1H, page 53 in the printed corn section (page 37 of 42 in the online corn pdf file) and maximum weed height for effective control in corn (Table 1I, page 54 in print(page 38 of 42 in the online corn pdf file). If you plan on using an insecticide for controlling cutworms that uses a organo-phosphate component, check Table 1L (end of the corn section in the weed guide to see if there may be an interaction with the herbicide you used (or maybe plan to use). This table is also handy if you used a soil applied insecticide to see if the herbicide you hope to use will have an interaction with the soil insecticide used. We also occasionally get into issues with seed corn maggot in fields where heavy amounts of winter annuals killed by tillage are rotting on or near the soil surface. Watch stands for signs of moving backwards soon after emergence. Seed corn maggots impact the seed and the plant near the soil line. They can impact both corn and soybeans.

Early planted soybeans are growing very slowly in much of the area. Hopefully, warmer temperatures will help spur on growth.

Wheat continues to look quite good across southwest Michigan. Slight uptick in leaf diseases, but not as bad as I expected given the extended wet conditions. Advanced fields are approaching the boot stage. I have not seen much in the way of armyworm damage in wheat so far.

Alfalfa continues to grow well in sandier fields with the moisture and cooler conditions. Continue to monitor for alfalfa weevil. Beans emerging in wet conditions, May 23 2019.

Equipment parked, waiting for drier conditions so fieldwork can progress in Cass County.