Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Nearly all of the crops are planted except for some areas along the northern edge of Iowa that have remained too wet all spring. Farmers started planting around the wet spots trying to get as much as possible with hopes of coming back to fill in wet spots later. We’ve had two weeks of above average temps, which is pushing crops to grow quickly and drying out the topsoil. The weather outlook is for more above average temps with below average rainfall during the first half of June.

Corn seems to be growing about an inch per day! Making for a short window to get corn sprayed with herbicides. Most corn looks very good. The first (late-April) planted corn generally looks excellent, some is nearly knee high. The few issues we are seeing are related to overly wet soils, compaction, or both. Most corn is in the process of transitioning from its seed root to its primary nodal roots. Often times this is when corn can look sick or uneven because of root restrictions, inconstant soil structure, or saturation. Corn usually grows out of this stage quickly, if given modest rainfall, warm temps, and fertile soil. We have good sub-soil moisture available, but continued rainfall is still important during root development stage.

Soybeans are also progressing quickly from the warm weather. There are very few emergence / stand issues except in saturated soils. Many of the late-planted soybeans were planted into very wet conditions,which can lead to problems if the soil dries out quickly and gets hard before the beans emerge.