[Listen] Jay Zielske Pioneer Impact of Hot and Dry

Just in case you have not noticed, it has been really hot. I was planting my sweet corn Saturday and driving home about 5:30 my car said the outside temperature was 100 degrees!  I had stopped to pick up a rock in the afternoon about the size of a football. It was so hot I almost had to put on a pair of gloves to pick it up! That made me think what will that mean for my sweet corn as it emerges from the soil in a few days when it is this hot? How will it affect my soybeans that are a couple inches tall or the corn over a foot tall?

We have seen hot dry weather in August, even in July, but I cannot remember it being this hot, this dry, this long, this early in the growing season. I did check the maximum soil temperature at 2 inches at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca earlier this week. It was 85 degrees but I am sure it was much higher right on the soil surface. Without a crop canopy my black soil has to be really hot at least on the surface.

Click on the link and listen to Pioneer Agronomist Jay Zielske's thoughts on the impact of this hot dry weather. Plus, herbicide performance, side dress nitrogen and fungicide applications. You may think I am not going to "throw anymore money at this crop." I will give you a hint, Jay said it is way too early in the growing season to "abandon" this crop!