Good Early June Crop Stands in Northwest Indiana

Crops good in northwest Indiana

What a difference a year makes. In northwest Indiana corn and soybean farmers in that corner of the state, and many other areas too, are in a dramatically better situation than early June 2015. Kirby Bacon, technical agronomist with DEKALB and Asgrow works with growers in the area.

“All things considered, other than a couple of really smaller regional areas, we’re in pretty good shape,” he told HAT. “Stuff looks pretty good. Populations are there and I think in general adequate, and the stand is a pretty good quality stand out there right now.”

In USDA’s weekly progress update corn and soybean planting and emergence are near the 5 year averages except for the lag in southern Indiana. Bacon says although the north has gotten a good start he recommends scouting now. There is some insect pressure to be found.

“Now is a great time to go out there as we’re doing those stand assessments and look for any insect pressure early on in the crop life. What we’re finding pretty consistently is both wire worm damage and some stink bug damage. I want to remind everybody these things have economic thresholds. You need to do the right thing from a sustainability standpoint, so it’s important to note that although I am finding some of this injury and some stand loss due to these pressures, in most cases I’m not finding anything that’s at or near that economic threshold situation.”

Weekend rains in the north were timely for many fields, but on the sandy soils in the north, Bacon says more rain is now needed.

“Not a lot of large precipitation events and so we’re getting some drought stress,” he said. “I will also tell you this. I don’t mind seeing some drought stress early in the season. There are some benefits associated with that.”

What are the benefits of early season stresses? Bacon explains in the full HAT interview:Kirby Bacon June update