Five days were suitable for fieldwork in Michigan for the week ending Aug. 4, according to NASS Great Lakes regional field office.

“There was a little bit of rainfall last week, but a little behind what we think of as normal,” said Kif Hurlbut, deputy director at the Great Lakes Regional Field Office. Concerning corn, he said he’d “anticipate that we’d see a bit more doughing in the coming weeks.”

Growing-degree days are below normal in most areas of the state, according to the most recent crop progress and condition report. Corn condition would benefit from warmer weather.

Wheat harvest in southern Michigan was completed last week and continued in mid- and northern Michigan. Some wheat sprouting was reported in northern Michigan. Manure was applied to recently harvested wheat fields, while rain prevented straw baling and hay harvest.

“I think that most farmers would do well over in corn and soybeans, as opposed to hay and straw,” Hurlbut said.

For fruit, tart cherry harvest was 75 percent done in the west-central part of the state and was in full swing in the northwest. Cool temperatures have helped maintain fruit quality during the long harvest period.

The mechanical harvest of Jersey and Bluecrop blueberries continued. Blackberry harvest began, as well. Other specialty crops included zucchini and summer squash; the harvest was under way for those in Ottawa County and in the southeast region.

Cucumber harvest was under way in Newaygo County and in the southeast as well, with some snap bean harvest beginning in Oceana and Mason counties.

Cabbage and sweet corn harvest continued in the southeast region. In the southwest, eggplant and green bell pepper harvest had begun as well, with green peppers having sunscald symptoms and banana peppers with rot symptoms in the southeast.

A small amount of aster leafhopper remained in celery crops in the west-central region of Michigan.

Although some areas received precipitation, most of Iowa saw below-average rainfall during the week ending Aug. 4, according to the Aug. 5 Iowa Crop & Weather report.

“Soil moisture continues to be depleted, as much of the state again received below-average precipitation,” said Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. “Cooler-than-average weather has resulted in less stress on crops, but slowed development that is already well behind the five-year average.”

The report stated 88 percent of Iowa corn tasseled, with 72 percent silking and 19 percent reaching the milk stage; some of the earliest-planted corn has reached the dough stage, however. The report added 79 percent of Iowa soybeans were blooming, with pods set on 35 percent.

Seventy-seven percent of Iowa oats have been harvested, the report read. Iowa farmers also took advantage of the dry weather to continue harvesting the second cutting of alfalfa hay, which now stands at 87 percent complete. The third cutting has begun and was 6 percent compete, the report added.

In the southwestern quarter of Iowa right now, Clarke McGrath, Iowa State University extension field agronomist, said, “The planes and choppers are going full-bore, so many acres are already treated with fungicides or mixtures of fungicides and insecticides.

“If you haven’t sprayed an insecticide yet, take a walk through your corn and see what the aphid situation is,” he said, adding corn leaf aphids had shown up in fields late last month.

“So far, levels have varied – many fields have low pressure, but I have seen and heard of some fields that probably warrant treatment. If you sprayed a fungicide/insecticide mixture recently, talk with your local dealer to see when you will need to go back in and re-scout to see if the aphids were controlled.”

The Aug. 5 synopsis from the University of Kentucky (UK) Agriculture Weather Center said models were indicating rainfall through Aug. 10. Temperatures were expected to remain below normal through the rest of that week.

The NASS weather report for the week ending Aug. 4 stated temperatures across Kentucky averaged 6 degrees cooler than normal. It was the third week of slightly below-normal temperatures.

Meanwhile, the Louisville office of NASS reported topsoil moisture in the state had surveyed in at 76 percent adequate and 15 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture had survey at 79 percent adequate and 15 percent surplus.

Don Hershman is a plant pathology extension specialist for UK. In a phone call recently he talked about the current soybean crop. He said there have been some reports of low levels of stem canker in the fields. Unfortunately, “It’s too late now to apply fungicide.”

Hershman also found high moisture levels have caused some plants to develop frogeye leaf spot and brown spot. “Crops that were planted later in the season seem to be doing well due to limited crop stress,” he said.

Corn that week was rated 84 percent silking, 53 percent at milk stage, 26 percent at dough stage and 9 percent at dent. Condition of the corn was rated nearly 90 percent good to excellent.

The Kentucky soybean crop was 54 percent planted. Plants setting pods were rated at 28 percent and condition of the beans was rated 87 percent good to excellent.

Finally. 60 percent of the burley crop was reported in bloom and 80 percent of dark tobacco was in bloom. Tobacco plants topped were burley at 33 percent and dark 60 percent. Condition figures put tobacco at 13 percent very poor to poor, 22 percent fair and 65 percent good to excellent.