Jul 13, 2010
Trip Report - Ohio and Indiana
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Last Thursday I took a crop tour through central and northern Indiana as well as northwestern and western Ohio with the following observations:
Ohio
Corn - I went through Ohio prior to the rains that fell in the region late last week and over the weekend. The region generally received between a half inch and an inch and a half of rainfall last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Prior to the rainfall, the soils had gotten quite dry in northwestern Ohio. There were many corn fields where the leaves were rolling due to moisture stress and some of the taller soybeans were wilting in the afternoon heat. Many of the lawns in northwestern Ohio had also started to turn brown from a lack of moisture. The moisture stress in Ohio was at least temporarily relieved by the weekend rains.
The condition of the corn crop in Ohio depended on when the corn had been planted and how much rainfall had been received after it was planted. The earlier planted corn was doing much better than the later planted corn. The early planted corn looked good. It was tall, dark green, and starting to pollinate and I think pollination will be successful.
The problem is with the later planted corn. The later corn was very uneven in height ranging from normal height to plants that were only 2-3 feet tall. The later planted corn had a lower plant population, had some drowned out spots, was stunted or slow growing, was lacking nitrogen and it generally was faring quite poorly. The earlier planted corn could have very good yields if the weather over the next two months cooperates. I think the yields of the later planted corn are going to be poor, but how poor will depend on the weather. The best weather moving forward for the corn crop in Ohio would be cool and favorably moist. The worst weather moving forward would be hot and dry conditions, which would be especially bad for the later planted corn and its shallow root system.
Soybeans - The Ohio soybean crop was not as good as the corn crop. Granted, some of the soybeans looked very good, but many of the soybeans were still very small, only a few inches tall. The plant population looked thin in many areas, the crop was slow growing, poor in color, and stunted. In some of the worst areas, there were soybean fields that had been planted,
but the soybeans had not yet emerged due to dry conditions. Some of the soybean fields were never planted probably because the farmer had filed an insurance claim for prevent plant.
Soybeans can always recuperate and the recent rainfall will do a lot to jump start the soybean growth in the state, but the later planted soybeans had lost a month's worth of potential growth. The earlier planted soybeans could still end up yielding very well, but the later planted soybeans are going to struggle to even achieve an average yield. The best and worst weather moving forward is the same for the soybeans as what was listed above for the corn crop.
Indiana
Corn - The condition of the crops in Indiana are better in the western half of the state as compared to the eastern half. When I went through the state (which was before the recent showers), eastern Indiana had become quite dry. Some of the corn had started to roll the leaves and the lawns had started to turn brown. The soil moisture in the western half of the state was better and the crop conditions were better as well.
The corn crop in Indiana is similar to the corn in Ohio. If the corn was planted early and the soil had good drainage, the crop was tall, dark green, ready to pollinate and doing fine. If the corn was planted late or if the drainage was poor, the crop was short, very uneven in height, has a poor color, and it was not doing very well at all. Even within a field, some of the corn was very good and some of the corn was very bad. There were also drowned out spots in the saturated areas where the corn had been killed and not replanted.
Soybeans - The soybean crop in Indiana is similar to corn in that there are some very good soybeans and some very bad soybeans. The good soybeans were normal in height, had normal plant populations, were dark green in color, and had a good yield potential. Many of the later planted soybeans in the state were still very small, only a few inches tall, their growth had been stunted, and they had a poor color and were struggling due to the saturated conditions. In the wetter areas, there were drowned out spots in the fields and some of those spots had been replanted, but most of them had not been replanted. There were a few fields of intended soybeans that had never been planted at all.