Weekly Weather and Crop Update

The Weekly Weather and Crop Update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca was released Wednesday afternoon. Last week was cool, wet and basically a "wasted" week for planting. Temperatures averaged 55.1 degrees which was 2.6 degrees lower than normal. Rainfall totaled 1.11 inches or .22 inches higher than normal. However, parts of our listening area to the south (my farm) received 3.1 inches of rain. Since May 1 we have received 171 Growing Degree Units which is 20 percent more than normal.

Unfortunately a lot of corn has yet to be planted so it did not benefit from those 171 Growing Degree Units we accumulated in May. However, thanks to warm sunshine many farmers are getting back in the field to finish planting corn and get started on the beans! Corn that was planted by May 1 has emerged and the stands look very good. Corn that was planted May 7 has not emerged yet. It is a very busy time for farmers. In addition to trying to get the crop planted it is also very important to get the pre-emergence herbicides on right after planting!