May 19, 2010
Ponding and Slow Development Impacting Corn in Northern Illinois
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Last week's heavy rains have resulted in a significant amount of ponding across northern Illinois. The dryer conditions in April allowed farmers to plant right through all the low spots where water traditionally collects. Many of those low spots are now filled with water. The crop affected most by ponding is corn because it was planted first. Most of these ponded areas will need to be replanted once they dry out.
The majority of the corn in northern Illinois has emerged, but its early development has been very slow due to the cooler than normal temperatures during the first half of May. Corn that was 1-2 inches tall on the first of May is now only 2-3 inches tall even though it's now three weeks later. Isolated patchy frost has also slowed the early development of the crop. As a result, nearly all of the early advantage the crop had at the end of April has been lost due to the slow development of the crop.
Pounding is not unique to only northern Illinois, it is occurring all across the Corn Belt from North Dakota to Ohio anywhere there has been heavy rainfall over the last two weeks. Many of these areas are going to require replanting once it dries out. Collectively there will be hundreds of thousands of acres of corn and soybeans that will need to be replanted.
Weekend rains across Tennessee and Kentucky are also hampering efforts to replant crops drowned out by the record rainfall that fell during the first weekend of May. Many flood prone areas along the rivers are still under water and it will take at least a week or two for these areas to dry out enough to resume planting.
Temperatures are expected to warm up later this week to above normal for the first time in several weeks. This will encourage more rapid growth of the corn, but the slowdown has taken away a lot of the early-planted advantage the crop had due to the early start of planting.