Southeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Oversaturated soil continues to slow progress southeast of Storm Lake. Most farms continue to be wet, but improving. Generally, good drying weather has been received this week (week of May 13th) with only one widespread rain event received during the overnight hours of May 15th. During this “drying” period. Some of the tile lines have been able to catch up and streams/ drainage ditches have had a noticeable drop in water level. Much of the standing water in fields has subsided as well. Some corn and soybean planting has occurred this week, but the soil conditions were likely marginal. It is not uncommon to see farmers planting around the wet areas of farms to make some progress. Tomorrow, Saturday May 18th, conditions look favorable to continue to make headway with rain forecasted to return on Sunday May 19th with continued rain for the better part of next week.
Crop emergence thus far has been a mixed bag. Depending on the location, stand counts look average to poor. The poor emergence can be attributed to soil crusting and oversaturated soils. There will likely be a lot of replanting to take place in areas of farms that held water too long and ultimately terminated the crop. The soil crusting has hurt some stand counts, but the rain event received during the overnight hours of May 15th likely will get many of those fields over the hill to a respectable final stand. Growers are beginning to battle the calendar at this point to get the crops in.

Pictured above is a look at a corn field planted on April 24th.  This part of the farm has a good stand.

Pictured above is another look in that same corn field.  This area was impacted by soil crusting.  Some plants are noticeably shorter due to the adverse conditions.