Crop Update Corn Grew 20 Inches Last Week

The weather was almost perfect last week and corn grew 20 inches. How about that, a farmer that is not complaining about the weather? Temperatures averaged 69.9 degrees. That was just .3 degrees cooler than normal. Growing degree units totaled 136.5 just1 percent below normal. Since May 1 we have accumulated 799.5 growing degree units which is 7 percent more than normal.

Rainfall last week totaled 1.79 inches and that was .67 inches above normal. Corn is in the rapid growth stage right now so hopefully we will not see any severe thunderstorms and high winds. This is the time corn is vulnerable to what is called green snap where a strong wind can break the corn stalk. During this stage the corn plant doesn't add a lot of lignin to the stalk. When the corn approaches tasseling it is about as tall as it will be and then it adds more lignin to the stalk that provides more strength.

While the weather last week was great for crop growth it was not good for applying soybean herbicides. There were rain delays, days with high winds and a couple days when the temperatures were too high for some herbicides. The weather was good for crop growth so it was very good for the weeds too!