Extension Educator – 4-H Youth Development
Month: September 2019
Will Late Planted Corn Reach Black Layer Before a Killing Frost?
Source: Allen Geyer, Rich Minyo, Peter Thomison, OSU
Early morning frost on corn Source: Purdue Univ.
Ohio saw record late corn planting in 2019. According to the Agricultural Statistics Service, only 33% of Ohio’s corn was planted by June 2. The question being asked now is will the June planted corn reach physiological maturity (black layer) before a killing frost? Corn is killed when temperatures are near 32°F for a few hours and when temperatures are near 28°F for a few minutes.
A useful tool is available from the Midwestern Regional Climate Center (the U2U tool, available at: https://mrcc.illinois.edu/U2U/gdd/) that uses current and historical weather data to predict when corn will reach black layer. The user selects the geographic location that they are interested in, actual planting date and the adjusted relative maturity of the planted hybrid.
Previous studies have indicated that the GDD requirement of late planted corn to reach black layer from planting is less than the requirement of corn planted on a “normal” date. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Bob Nielsen from Purdue University has developed an adjustment to the GDD requirements for late planted corn. This calculator can be found at: https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/hybridmaturitydelayedplant.html Using this calculator, enter the adjusted GDD value in the U2U tool in the “Black Layer GDDs” line.
We have used the U2U tool to predict whether our corn research will accumulate enough GDDs before a killing frost. Table 1 shows the results of using these tools for the 2019 Ohio Corn Performance Test sites (OCPT) as well as a late planted demo plot that was planted at Hoytville. These results are based on a 109-day (2618 GDD) hybrid. The table indicates the planting date, adjusted GDD requirement for the 109 day hybrid, whether physiological maturity (black layer) will be achieved before frost, the predicted black layer date and the average 32° and 28° frost dates. Because of the adjusted GDD requirements with later planting dates, the predicted GDD accumulations will exceed or just meet the required GDDs before the average frost date for all 10 OCPT sites, including the 5 sites that were planted in June. We hope that these predictions come true! Note that the demo plots at Hoytville that were planted on June 27 will not reach black layer before a killing frost based on the U2U tool.
Table 1. Planting date, Adjusted Hybrid GDD Requirement, Reach BL Before Frost, Predicted Black Layer (BL) Date, and Average Frost Dates for 2019 Ohio Corn Performance Test sites.
Considerations for 2019 Wheat Planting
Source: Andy Michel, Laura Lindsey, Pierce Paul, OSU
With the autumn rapidly approaching, wheat planting is likely to begin soon. Planting after the Hessian fly free date remains the best chance to avoid issues with insects and diseases, as well as helping ensure good agronomic quality. Some benefits of the fly free date:
Hessian Fly: Adults of the Hessian fly lay eggs in emerging wheat. These eggs then hatch into small larvae that feed before spending the winter as a flaxseed. The early autumn feeding will stress the young wheat plant right before the winter, resulting in stunted and wilted plants. Very little egg laying occurs after the fly free date, which helps to limit infestation. Wheat varieties with resistance against the Hessian are available, in addition to seed treatments, which can help limit damage.
Aphids: Two main aphids infest wheat in Ohio: the English grain aphid and the bird cherry-oat aphid. These aphids rarely cause economic injury on wheat from feeding. However, they can transmit several viruses that can severely impact wheat including Barley Yellow Dwarf virus. These aphids do not only feed on wheat, but several other grasses that serve as natural sources of viruses. If wheat is planted too early, and emerges before the aphids overwinter or stop feeding, they can be early transmitters of viruses. Although seed treatments could help kill the aphids, they may survive long enough to transmit the virus to the plant. Any transmission in the autumn would likely serve as a local source in the following spring.
Other foliar diseases: Although not directly related to the Hessian Fly, planting after the fly free date also helps to reduce the early establishment of leaf diseases like Stagonospora leaf blotch and powdery mildew. Planting date is indirectly linked to spore production by fungi that cause these diseases and infection of young plants. The earlier you plant, the more spores are available, and the more suitable (warmer) conditions are for infection. Fall infections often leads to more damage and greater yield loss in the spring, especially of susceptible varieties are planted and not protected with a fungicide at Feeks 8 (flag leaf emergence). As conditions become cooler after the fly free date, pathogens that cause leaf diseases become last active, and as such, are less likely to infect plants.
Drydown In Corn – What To Expect?
Source: Dr. Peter Thomison, OSU
Many corn growers may encounter slower than normal drydown this fall due to late crop development associated with June planting dates. Much of Ohio’s late-planted corn may not achieve black layer until mid-October or later when drying conditions are less favorable for drydown. Once corn achieves physiological maturity (when kernels have obtained maximum dry weight and black layer has formed), it will normally dry approximately 3/4 to 1% per day during favorable drying weather (sunny and breezy) during the early warmer part of the harvest season from mid‑September through late September. By early to mid‑October, dry-down rates will usually drop to ½ to 3/4% per day. By late October to early November, field dry‑down rates will usually drop to 1/4 to 1/2% per day and by mid-November, probably zero to 1/4% per day. By late November, drying rates will be negligible.
Estimating dry‑down rates can also be considered in terms of Growing Degree Days (GDDs). Generally, it takes about 30 GDDs to lower grain moisture each point from 30% down to 25%. Drying from 25 to 20 percent requires about 45 GDDs per point of moisture. In October, we typically accumulate about 5 to 10 GDDs per day. However, note that the above estimates are based on generalizations, and it is likely that some hybrids may vary from this pattern of drydown. Some seed companies indicate considerably lower GDDs for grain moisture loss, i.e. 15 to 20 GDDs to lower grain moisture each point from 30% down to 25% and 20 to 30 GDDs per point from 25% to 20%.
Past Ohio research evaluating corn drydown provides insight on effects of weather conditions on grain drying. During a warm, dry fall, grain moisture loss per day ranged from 0.76 to 0.92%. During a cool, wet fall, grain moisture loss per day ranged from 0.32 to 0.35%. Grain moisture losses based on GDDs ranged from 24 to 29 GDDs per percentage point of moisture (i.e., a loss of one percentage point of grain moisture per 24 to 29 GDDs) under warm dry fall conditions, whereas under cool wet fall conditions, moisture loss ranged from 20 to 22 GDDs. The number of GDDs associated with grain moisture loss was lower under cool, wet conditions than under warm, dry conditions.
Weather related crop stress may affect drydown this year. Dr. Bob Nielsen at Purdue University notes, “When areas of fields die prematurely due to stresses like drought, spatial variability for grain moisture at harvest can be dramatic and often creates challenges with the management of the grain dryer operation. This is especially true early in the harvest season when grain moistures of healthier areas of the field are in the low 20’s. The spatial variability for grain moisture decreases later in the harvest season as grain moistures throughout the field settle to an equilibrium level (15% or less).”
Agronomists generally recommend that harvesting corn for dry grain storage should begin at about 24 to 25% grain moisture. Allowing corn to field dry below 20% risks yield losses from stalk lodging, ear drop, ear rots, insect feeding damage and wildlife damage.
For more on grain drydown, check out the following article by Dr. Nielsen.
Nielsen, R.L. 2018. Field Drydown of Mature Corn Grain. Corny News Network, Purdue Univ.
URL: http://www.kingcorn.org/news/timeless/GrainDrying.html [URL accessed Sept. 23, 2019].
Back-to-school means different laws apply to youth farm workers
Source: Peggy Kirk Hall, Associate Professor, Agricultural & Resource Law
When kids head back-to-school, it’s time for farmers to do some homework and recall the rules that apply to youth working on farms during the school year. Once school is in session, Ohio labor laws place restrictions on the times of day and number of hours that youth under the age of 18 can work on a farm. The laws don’t apply to parents, grandparents, or legal guardians, however. For other farm employers, be aware that the laws vary according to the age of the minor and some require written parental consent. Here’s a quick refresher:
16 and 17 year olds
- Cannot work before 7:00 a.m. on school days, with the exception that they can work starting at 6:00 a.m. if they were not working past 8:00 p.m. the night before.
- Cannot work after 11:00 p.m. on a school night, which means a night when the minor has school the next day.
- No daily or weekly limits on the number of hours the youth can work.
14 and 15 year olds
- Cannot work during school hours while school is in session.
- Cannot work before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m., but can work until 9:00 p.m. from June 1 to September 1 or during any school holiday or break lasting more than 5 weekdays.
- Cannot work more than 3 hours during a school day or more than 8 hours during a non-school day.
- Cannot work more than 18 hours in a week while school is in session, unless the job is part of a work education program such as vocational training or work study.
12 and 13 year olds
- The same time restrictions and daily and weekly hour limits for 14 and 15 year olds (above) apply to 12 and 13 year olds, but there is no exception to the 18 hour weekly limit for vocational training or work study programs.
- Employer must obtain written parental consent for the youth to be working, unless the youth’s parent or legal guardian also works on the same farm.
Under 12 years old
- Can only work on a farm where employees are exempt from the federal minimum wage, which includes a farms of an immediate family member or a “small farm” that used fewer than 500 “man days” of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter the preceding year. A “man day” is a day during which an employee performs agricultural work for at least one hour.
- Exception to the above: local youths 10 and 11 may hand harvest short-season crops outside school hours for no more than 8 weeks between June 1 and October 15 if their employers have obtained special waivers from the U.S. Secretary of Labor.
- The same daily time restrictions and daily and weekly hour limits for 14 and 15 year olds (above) apply to youth under 12 years old, but there is no exception to the 18 hour weekly limit for vocational training or work study programs.
- Employer must obtain written parental consent for the youth to be working.
The other labor laws that typically apply to youth doing agricultural work on a farm continue to apply throughout the school year. For example, employers must maintain records for youth employees, provide a written agreement of compensation and a statement of earnings on payday, and a 30-minute rest period if the youth works more than five consecutive hours. An employer can’t assign any youth under the age of 16 with a “hazardous” job or task unless the youth is 14 or 15 and has a certificate of completion for tractor or machine operation. Further information about these and other laws that apply to youth under 18 working on a farm is in our new Law Bulletin, Youth Labor on the Farm: Laws Farmers Need to Know, available here.
Sorting Out the Soybean Herbicide Resistance Traits
Source: Mark Loux, OSU
The world of soybean herbicide resistance traits has gotten more complex over the past several years. The good news is that we have new options for control of herbicide-resistant weeds, although it can be a little difficult to sort out which one is best for a given situation and whether the possible downsides of certain traits are tolerable. The following is a quick rundown of what’s available and some things to consider when selecting seed. This is not meant to be an extensive evaluation/description of these systems because including all the possible configurations of herbicide use and the stewardship stuff would probably kill the possibility that anyone reads the rest of the article. We also do not attempt to include all of the possible seed trade names. For ratings of herbicide effectiveness on certain weeds, check the tables in the “Weed Control Guide for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois”.
Roundup Ready (RR1, RR 2 Yield, etc.) – the original herbicide resistance trait. Resistant to glyphosate which can be applied anytime up through R2
LibertyLink – resistant to glufosinate (Liberty, Interline, etc.) which can be applied anytime up to R1.
LL-GT27 (Freedom Plus, etc.) – resistant to glyphosate, glufosinate, and isoxaflutole (Balance), although there is currently no isoxaflutole product approved for use in these soybeans.
Enlist – resistant to glyphosate, glufosinate, and 2,4-D. Enlist One (2,4-D choline) and Enlist Duo (2,4-D choline + glyphosate) are the only 2,4-D products approved for preemergence and postemergence use on this soybean, outside of the typical use of 2,4-D ester 7 or more days ahead of planting that works on any soybean. These products can be used any time before or after planting Enlist soybeans without a waiting period as well as postemergence through R2
Roundup Ready Xtend – resistant to glyphosate and dicamba. XtendiMax, FeXapan, and Engenia are the dicamba products approved for preemergence and postemergence use on this soybean. These products can be applied any time before or after Xtend soybean planting without a waiting period, as well as postemergence (prior to R1 and no later than 45 days after planting).
Note: Dicamba and 2,4-D are different herbicides. Dicamba cannot be applied to Enlist soybeans and 2,4-D cannot be applied to Xtend soybeans. Just like glyphosate cannot be applied to LibertyLink soybeans and glufosinate cannot be applied to Roundup Ready soybeans. Seems obvious but it’s a surprisingly frequent question.
All of these soybean herbicide trait systems have utility in certain situations. Factors determining this are the resistant weeds present and the type of tillage. The primary resistant weed issues in Ohio, which require herbicides other than glyphosate, are marestail, giant and common ragweed, waterhemp, and Palmer amaranth. A few things to consider here – all of which assume that some type of residual herbicides are being used, regardless of the specific weed issues: Continue reading Sorting Out the Soybean Herbicide Resistance Traits
Reminders about Pre-harvest Herbicide Treatment
Source: Mark Loux, OSU
Information on preharvest herbicide treatments for field corn and soybeans can be found in the “Weed Control Guide for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois”, at the end of these crop sections (pages 74 and 141 of the 2019 edition). Products labeled for corn include Aim, glyphosate, and paraquat. Products listed in the guide for soybeans include Aim, paraquat, glyphosate, and Sharpen. Some dicamba products are also approved for preharvest use in all types of soybeans, which escaped our notice until now, so it is not listed in the guide. The basic information for preharvest dicamba (for 4 lb./gal products):
Apply 8 – 32 oz/A as a broadcast or spot treatment after soybean pods have reached mature brown color and at least 75% leaf drop has occurred; soybeans may be harvested 14 days or more after a pre-harvest application; do not use preharvest-treated soybean for seed unless a germination test is performed on the seed with an acceptable result of 95% germination or better; do not feed soybean fodder or hay following a preharvest application of this product.
Preharvest herbicide treatments are primarily intended to suppress/kill and desiccate weeds that can make harvest more difficult. Products with contact activity will cause faster desiccation and leaf drop of weeds but may be less effective at killing weeds compared with systemic products. Effective desiccation with contact herbicides may still require a week or more following application. Differences can vary by weed. The maximum paraquat rate is well below the rate required to actually kill large weeds, but it is still probably most effective for desiccation of morninglory. Glyphosate is not likely to be effective on marestail and waterhemp, and many giant ragweed populations, whereas dicamba may with enough time between application and harvest. The first frost will usually provide the same results, so in a situation where crop maturity is delayed as is the case in many fields this year, consider whether an herbicide treatment is actually needed.
Preharvest treatments are not intended to be used to speed up crop maturity, and largely do not accomplish this. The restrictions on preharvest treatments that specify how mature the crop must be at time of application are designed to minimize any effect of herbicides on crop maturation. Applying earlier than specified could interfere with that process. The residue tolerances for this use are also based on a certain application timing, and failure to follow label guidelines could result in illegal herbicide residues in grain.
Above normal temperatures will continue for the rest of September
Source: Jim Noel
After a cooler start to September it was expected to be warmer than average and that has happened and will last the rest of the month. Highs will generally be in the 70’s and 80’s north half and in the upper 70’s to near 90 range in the south half. Lows will generally be in the 50s and 60s. This will be several degrees above normal.
The first half of September was expected to be drier with a trend to normal or wetter weather in later September. Indications are that we will remain at or below normal rainfall for most of the state for the remainder of September. Over the next two weeks, rainfall is forecast to be mainly an inch or less with normal being 1.0-1.5 inches. The main rain areas will be off the southeast U.S. coast and in the upper Midwest as the attached two week rainfall graphic shows. High pressure will remain in control of a good portion of the southeast third of the U.S. as tropical activity off the U.S. Southeast Coast will help strengthen the high pressure in the Southeast.
Probabilities support our first first freeze at or later than normal for this autumn. Typically it occurs in the Oct. 10-20 range for much of the state. It is highly unlikely we will see anything before Oct. 10.
Looking at October, we expected near to slightly above normal and rainfall not too far from normal.
It’s that time of year … Don’t forget to calibrate your yield monitor!
Remember the old adage … Garbage in = Garbage out. Many of us use our yield data to make additional management decisions on our farms such as hybrid or variety selection, fertilizer applications, marketing, etc. Data from an uncalibrated yield monitor can haunt us for many years by leading us into improper decisions with lasting financial affects. In today’s Ag economy we can ill afford any decision with adverse financial implications.
The two biggest reasons I usually hear for not calibrating a yield monitor are 1) I just don’t have time to do it or 2) I can’t remember how to do it without getting my manual out. While I know it’s easy to criticize from “the cheap seats”, I would argue that this could be some of the most important time you spend in your farming operation each year. Like many other tasks on our farm, the more we do it, the easier it gets. Yield monitor data has so much value! This data provides a summary (in term of yield) of every single decision you made on your farm during the past year.
Below is a calibration checklist created by Dr. John Fulton and Dr. Elizabeth Hawkins.
Continue reading It’s that time of year … Don’t forget to calibrate your yield monitor!
Dairy Margin Coverage program signup deadline extended
September 23, 2019 – Ohio Country Journal and Ohio AgNet
The National Milk Producers Federation is urging farmers to take advantage of a one-week extension in the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program signup deadline to Sept. 27, announced by USDA.
Continue reading Dairy Margin Coverage program signup deadline extended