Southeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Conditions in July have been conducive for good crop development southeast of Storm Lake. Temperatures are within normal ranges for this time of the year. Although the last week has been dry, the prior week brought a welcome 0.3’’ to 0.6’’ of rainfall to a wide area. There is quite a range in crop development, especially in corn. Corn that was planted in April started to tassel around the 2nd week of July. Depending on hybrid maturity, corn that was planted in the 2nd half of May is just beginning to hit tassel stage. The development of soybeans also varies but the difference is not as pronounced. The earlier planted soybeans have a number of pods already developed while the later planted soybeans are in full flower stage with a few pods developed at most.

As good as many farms of this region look from the road, there are still problem areas out there. Over saturated soils have taken a toll on stand counts in heavier soil types or low laying regions of farms. It will be interesting to see if the better drained areas of these farms can make up the difference and produce yields within ranges we hoped for prior to planting.

Looking ahead, temperatures are expected to range in the low 90s to upper 80s for daytime highs with low temperatures at night settling in for a range of low 70s to mid-60s. There are also slight chances of precipitation starting on Sunday July 28th and continuing for the remainder of that week.