As the calendar turns to June, the frustration level rises for those farmers not finished planting the first go round, or replanting as needed, or maybe perceived as needed.

We know that corn and soybean yields are optimized when we can maximize sunlight interception. Late planting and thin stands lessen our opportunity to use sunlight to kickstart, then feed the photosynthesis process.

Many farmers produced their best yields even in 2009 despite late planting dates. However, they also recall the cost of drying down harvested grain and that many potential wheat acres went unplanted due to late soybean harvest.

Acquiring larger equipment and making some management changes over the winter enabled farmers in our area to plant the vast majority of corn acres prior to May 1 and countless soybean fields much earlier than normal.

In reality, our early seeded crops look pretty good for the most part, but ragged stands can be seen via windshield survey.
A few breaks in the weather over the past couple of weeks enabled farmers in some areas to touch up areas that may have been lost to flooding, frost, seedling diseases, slugs and cutworms.

Scattered showers late last week knocked producers out of fields just as they were fit to plant, causing additional readjustments to fieldwork schedules.

Although a 70 to 80 percent stand may not be pleasing to the eye, if plants are relatively evenly spaced, those populations in corn or soybeans are still capable of producing 90 percent of the original planted yield. That said, unless large areas of a field are lost, you might be better off paying most of your attention to fields not planted for the first time, rather than touching up a thin stand. We advise farmers to access field pocket guides from Ohio State and Purdue to verify guidelines for replanting needs.

Too many planted fields exhibited very healthy weed populations as of this writing. Farmers should review post-emergence guidelines in the 2010 Weed Control Guide for Ohio and Indiana and product labels for application guidelines.

Does tile pay? I just talked with a farmer who had taken a landlord to a field of soybeans, where part had been ditched every 50 feet. The section with systematic interval drainage had a perfect stand of soybeans. The area still needing tile needed some replanting and will likely suffer a fifteen bushel yield reduction.

Armed with that information, the tenant farmer and landlord agreed that installation of tile could be paid for in three good crop years. Those years might not be consecutive, in fact might be scattered out over ten years, but the drainage improvements would prove to be a good investment.

Acreage of wheat is significantly less than most years, but looked good through heading. Rainy days through much of the flowering period has created some concern for head scab in our area.

We plan to visit at least six fields in six different areas in our county the second week of June to determine the scab infestation level. Over twenty counties in Ohio are assessing the disease presence by checking a minimum of ten areas, each approximately 100 feet apart. At the same time, Ohio State University Extension personnel will be collecting scabby heads to forward to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center for further analysis.
All collected data is to be summarized to fine tune the multi-state Wheat Blight Prediction System.

Despite many field conditions being unfit for planting, vast amounts of hay was taken in last week. With grasses fully headed, quality had declined. Regrowth from earlier cut hay was vigorous, with plenty of moisture and increasing temperatures.

As always, be safe as we try to finish planting, sidedressing or applying pest control products. Good luck!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.