Southeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Southeast of Storm Lake, fields are greening and crops rapidly growing. Sprayers can be seen around the countryside making their final herbicide application on corn. Some farmers are beginning to knock down their first cutting of alfalfa and grass hay. Weather conditions have become favorable over the past week. Daytime temperatures reaching the low to mid-80s while overnight temperatures dipping to the low to upper 60s. High humidity and scattered showers have also benefited. Dry soil conditions in early stages of crop development (especially in corn) encourages deep root growth which is beneficial later in the season for water and nutrient uptake.

It was a small concern with the cooler temperatures we experienced in late April and the majority of May that uniform emergence would suffer due to slower germination. Generally, that does not look to be the case. The majority of the corn fields have uniform stands with respectable stand counts. Soybean emergence is a different story. In some cases, there are soybeans emerging a week after the first plant cracked through the top layer of soil. There are multiple reasons for this but uniform emergence in soybeans is not critical. The majority of the crops look good to excellent SE of Storm Lake. Timely rains to insure adequate moisture will be essential to keep this trajectory.

Looking at the 10 day weather outlook. Temperatures look to dip down going into Memorial Day Weekend with high chances of precipitation. The extended 30 day outlook is calling for slightly above average temperatures with near normal probability of precipitation.