From The Rows | Aug. 21, 2023 — Mark Bernard (East)
Day one on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour had our split route heading north out of Columbus to about 35 miles south of Sandusky. We sampled through the counties of Morrow and Crawford, caught a piece of Huron Co. then west through Seneca Co. towards Tiffon. The route took us south of Findlay through Wyandot and Hancock Counties. The sampling included OH crop reporting districts 1, 2, and 5. I was paired with driver Steve Matthews from Gro Intelligence out of NY, NY. Not our first rodeo together so the day flew by rather quickly. Thanks to the fog that rolled in mid-morning, the heat stayed away until afternoon.
On the corn side we sampled a high of 238 bu./acre in Seneca Co. with a low in Morrow Co. of 165 bu./acre. The average corn yield on our OH route today was 197 bu./acre, well above last year and the three-year average. Plant populations have continued to increase in OH over the years. This year the average harvest population on our route was 28,130 plants/acre. No one would’ve dared plant that heavy in my early years on Tour, fearing the corn would lodge before harvest. Now, with improved genetics, traits, use of fungicides and perhaps heavier potash fertilization, that has changed. Watching national radar this summer and hearing reports from an acquaintance near Sandusky that rainfall had been ample, I wasn’t surprised. We had mud sticking to our boots most of the day.
The crop health on the corn was outstanding. Disease and insect pressure were nearly nonexistent. On one sample in Wyandot, some gray leaf spot was noted. Ohio usually has some rootworm pressure but one token northern corn rootworm beetle flying by in the same field was the extent of it. While no one has come up with a Bt event for resistance to deer and raccoons, the standability was otherwise outstanding. Late maturity was not unusual for an OH corn crop. Most was in the dough stage with a couple samples still in the milk stage. Only one of the 11 samples had started to dent. Some fields will need the full month of September to reach maturity. Not to panic. Lake Erie is due north.
On the soybeans side, our 3’x3’ samples were more variable, with a high of 1638 pods in Wyandot Co. and a low of 428 in Morrow Co. There were a couple double crop fields that were impressive in Huron and Seneca Co., better than some of their soybeans after corn counterparts. Those operators must’ve been able to harvest their wheat and plant those soybeans in a timely fashion. Maturity on the samples overall was lagging. Early R5 stage was as mature we found. See comments about Lake Erie above. The average pod count on our OH route on the day was 1021, very close to in line with last year’s average for those crop reporting districts. Abundant soil moisture noted on our route may help soften the blow from this week’s heat.
Disease pressure on our soybean samples was again extremely low. As in the past, it’s likely some of these fields were sprayed with a foliar fungicide. The use of Ilevo and Saltro seed treatments along with more tolerant varieties have made the SDS from my earlier years on Tour less apparent. Insect pressure too was a non-factor. Again this year, no soybean aphids or Japanese beetles were spotted on this route today. Even the grasshoppers weren’t noticeable on the field borders. Not surprising given the rainfall. There are pathogenic bacteria and fungi that become more commonplace under those conditions.
Speaking with others who sampled OH, several had results similar to ours while a few were substantially less. Regardless of the route, it remains to be seen what kind of an impact the heatwave will have on the OH corn and soybean crop. Here’s hoping that it will be of short duration.
Our split route tomorrow will sample the western side of Indiana while the other half will get a glimpse of the eastern IL crop. The heat will likely become more intense making everyone more agitated. However, we get the hour back we lost yesterday. No one will co
