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This past fall set us up for some serious spring/summer management scenarios when it comes to acres that possibly can not get planted. With considerable rainfall during the harvest, we are left with
saturated soils frozen and covered in snows that seem to get deeper every weekend. Some of those fields still have corn crops or corn stubble left on them, trapping more snow. The same can be said of no-till wheat
and sunflowers. So what things do we need to be thinking about on these tough acres in 2009?How the spring breaks for us and the temperatures that come with it will determine most of it. Fields with considerable
snow in them will suffer the worst. It takes quite a bit of heat and sunlight to melt snow at the depths we have. How the coulees, ditches and sloughs open up is another factor. Corn and sunflower fields will take
the longest and weeds will become an issue once black dirt starts to show.
Let’s assume that there will be acres that just aren’t going to get planted due to the amount of snow. In some areas of the state it
will not be a stretch to assume 25% of cropland could not get in timely. Here are some things to consider on those acres:
1) Weeds -- as soon as the temps warm
up the soil there will be germination of weed seeds. Getting in with a ground applicator might be rather tricky due to very wet soil. Weeds help draw moisture out of the ground but also shade and cover the ground,
not allowing it to dry out. An acre that isn’t planted is an easy one to forget about, so keep your attention to these
acres. Weeds get big and rates need to be increased to knock them down. You do not want this potential seed base to reach maturity and replant those acres with weed seeds. Winter annuals will be the first concern
along with early cool season weeds like buckwheat, kochia and mustards. Glyphosate will be popular along with either 2,4-D or dicamba. If you are no-tilling later season crops into corn stubble, make sure you don’t
limit yourself on what you spray ahead of time. Soybeans are very sensitive to dicamba or 2,4-D carryover.
2) Tillage -- if
you can’t spray you more than likely can’t till. If the field is corn stalks it will be very tough as wet ground coupled with wet stalks is impossible. The ground will have to dry out on top quickly in order for
this to happen. The main reason is getting soil ready for a crop but also to keep weeds down. In some cases it might be impossible to till due to the fact that it would cause more problems than it would solve.
Tillage in too wet of conditions will make for very poor seedbeds and poor potential stands.
3) Fallow syndrome --
if you keep the field bare of weeds and can get in to till it by summer, another thing you might have to think about is using starter on the next crop. Fallow syndrome usually affects corn following sugarbeets or
drowned out fields but other crops also show these symptoms. The issue lies with the reduction of soil mycorrhizae that causes poor uptake of phosphate and zinc. Therefore it becomes very important to use a starter
fertilizer on crops planted into these acres.
4) Soil testing --
if these acres don’t get planted into a crop it becomes very important to try and get a soil test this fall. If spraying or tillage is timely to keep weeds in check, these acres should be recorded as fallow when
sending in a soil test. The main issue with the testing is that after the first 4-12” the ground will probably be very tough to get a good sample if even normal rainfall occurs during the year. Preventative plant
acres are about the worst to soil test due to wet subsoil conditions.
For this year, don’t just forget about these acres as they will become a more serious management issue in 2010. Keep the weeds down,
try to work the fields when topsoil permits you to do so and try to soil test for next year. Use rates of herbicide that will do the job and manage the residue as best you can.
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