Weekly Weather and Crop Update

Looking at the Weekly Weather and Crop Update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca this was the first time this growing season we experienced a dryer than normal week. Rainfall totaled .23 inches and that was .8 inches less than normal. However, the warmer than normal trend continued. Temperatures averaged 73.4 degrees which was 1.1 degrees above normal. Growing degree units totaled 162.5 and that was 10 percent above normal. The grand total since May 1 is now 1332 which we normally reach on July 22.

The corn that was planted in April and early May is now beginning to tassel. There is still plenty of soil moisture available but an inch a week of rain would be nice as corn goes through the critical reproductive phase. Much of the corn that was yellow from all the rain has greened up nicely. Hopefully there will not be a huge impact on the yields because of all the rain. It is that time of year when we need to begin scouting for soybean aphids. It has been 3 years in a row most farmers have not to spray soybean fields for aphids. Hopefully this will be the 4th year in a row?