Weekly Weather and Crop Update

This was the final weekly weather and crop update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca for the season. Cold, cloudy and windy pretty well describe the weather in Southern Minnesota last week. That was pretty much the theme the later part of this growing season. Temperatures last week averaged 34.7 degrees and that was 9 degrees below normal. Precipitation totaled .25 inches which was .2 inches below normal. Part of that precipitation was the first snowfall of the season at 1.6 inches.

A cool and cloudy August delayed the maturity of the corn and soybeans this year. Plus rain on 18 of 31 days in October has delayed harvest. Soybean yields were down a little from last year but still very good for the most part. Corn yields have been excellent and almost on par with last years record corn crop. With the calendar now saying November there is little chance of soil temperatures getting back over 50 degrees. That means it is now safe in South Central Minnesota to apply anhydrous ammonia with a nitrogen stabilizer.