While most wheat in Ohio is at the early grain fill stage of development, growers are advised to scout carefully for stripe rust. Some farmers have reported the disease in their fields.

“For those who do find it there still may be time to apply a fungicide to fields planted with susceptible varieties,” said Pierce Paul, Ohio State University extension wheat researcher. “The cool, dry conditions experienced in the region over the last several weeks has reduced the risk for head scab, but those same cool conditions are favorable for diseases such as rust.”

Wheat harvest is likely to begin between mid- and late June and a good one is expected. Charlie Russell of the NASS field office forecast a yield of 63 bushels per acre in Ohio, an increase of 58 bushels per acre from a year ago. Ohio’s wheat crop should total 33.3 million bushels, he said.

Corn follows wheat in progress, as corn was 93 percent emerged, compared to just 7 percent last year and 54 percent for the five-year average. Reports are that corn is 80 percent in fair-to-good condition.

Ninety-four percent of the intended soybean crop was planted and 61 percent of soybeans were emerged.

The oat crop was 42 percent headed, comparable to last season at this time, and the first cutting of alfalfa hay was 73 percent complete, compared to 4 percent last year. Other hay was 57 percent complete.

Other crops are well ahead of last year’s planting schedule. Eighty-one percent of cucumbers were planted, strawberry harvest is 41 percent complete, potato acreage was 99 percent planted and 51 percent of Ohio’s processing tomato crop was planted.

Apples were 63 percent in fair-to-good condition, up 3 percent from the previous week. Forty-one percent of peaches were rated in fair-to-good condition, down 7 percent.

Temperatures this past week were 8.7 degrees above normal while precipitation averaged 0.16 inch, 0.82 inch below normal.

Although recent weeks of dry weather in Iowa allowed for rapid planting, a lack of significant rainfall in some areas resulted in poor soybean stands with seeds lying in dry soil, according to the May 29 Iowa Crop & Weather report.

“Farms that have missed the recent rains, particularly those in the southern part of the state, are drying out quickly due to the high winds and warm temperatures, and would welcome some moisture,” said Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey.

The report said persistent high winds through the week had slowed spraying and dried out soils. The report added that 95 percent of corn has emerged, 11 days ahead of normal, with soybeans at 97 percent complete and 66 percent emerging.

The report also said 35 percent of the oats has headed, more than two weeks ahead of normal. Moreover, weather conditions have been near optimal for cutting alfalfa hay, with 72 percent of the first cutting already complete.

Virgil Schmitt, Iowa State University extension field agronomist, told the Burlington Hawk Eye on May 30 that Lee County farmers in southeastern Iowa are replanting 25 percent of their corn crop due to phythium seedling blight.

Extension has taken samples in Lee County to find out which of the 25 strains of the corn fungus it is, which will take months of testing to determine what seed treatment to use next year, Schmitt added.

The weather up to the end of May has been unusually dry and hot, with temperatures 4 degrees above the third week of the same month and 5 degrees higher than normal. Many areas in Kentucky were in need of rainfall, which averaged 0.88 inch below normal for the state.

On the positive side, drier dry weather made for longer workdays. The week was rated at 6.1 workdays.

Under current conditions, corn has emergence far ahead of last year, at 96 percent. This is compared to 51 percent in 2011 at this time. The average height of the leading corn stalks is 35 inches, with average stalk height at 20 inches.

Soybeans planted are 70 percent complete. This almost double the five-year average of 36 percent of soybeans set. Dry conditions however, are postponing the planting of no-till beans. The above figures were reported by the Kentucky office of NASS on May 29.

Elsewhere, crop pests are beginning to emerge as well. 
Entomologist Douglas Johnson, University of Kentucky extension at Princeton, warned last week of the spotting of a pair of harmful insects.

 “Bean leaf beetles and Japanese beetles, both can do damage to soybeans,” Johnson said. “While these insects are usually not a problem, they could be this year due to the unusual weather conditions.”

Johnson noted a number of factors such as the unusually warm, dry winter and drought conditions in the western part of the state where, he said, rainfall is 8-9 inches below last year.

Finally, completed burley tobacco planting is reported at 56 percent, which is above the five-year average of 41 percent. Dark tobacco is 54 percent set, ahead of the 42 percent five-year average.

The winter wheat was 13 percent harvested in late May, with the expectation of being in full swing in the middle of June.