In addition to wet soil, Early said soil crusting is a major issue, “In some fields, it is light enough that the crops may break through, but in some areas, the crust will be too hard for newly planted seeds to break through.” He said, in the next few days, growers should be able to tell which fields can be saved and which will have to be replanted.
According to Early, breaking up soil crust can be a difficult management chore, “You can try a rotary hoe, but the issue we have had with these is they do not have a lot of down pressure and sometimes cannot break through the soil.” He said some growers have used a planter or vertical tillage tool, “These options are very time-consuming.”
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