Keeping a watchful eye on stalk quality this season may prompt farmers to harvest some corn hybrids before soybeans this fall.  Early identification of anthracnose and other stalk rots can help prioritize fields and minimize loss at harvest.

Conditions throughout the summer were nearly ideal for anthracnose:  warm, moist weather with extended periods of overcast skies and high humidity.  High yield potential and other stresses, such as foliar diseases and insect damage, are often associated with stalk rot as the plant must pull carbohydrates and sugars from other tissues.  This cannibalization weakens stalks and roots, making them more susceptible to stalk rot.

Plants affected by stalk rot generally show signs of early death.  A shiny, black discoloration develops in blotches or streaks on the stalk surface, particularly on the lower internodes.  Internal stalk tissue may become black and soft, starting at the nodes.  Lodging typically occurs higher on the stalk than with other stalk rot.

Photo courtesy of Iowa State University Extension

Kevin Meyer reports the corn continues to dry down in his north central Iowa territory.  Primarily seed corn harvest and silage chopping are in full harvest mode.  While it’s too early to establish yield trends, spotty reports of moisture well below 30% are common. Soybeans continue to mature with an anxious eye on what effects SDS will have on yields. As combines and harvest equipment begin to move, remember safety and have a great harvest.

Below is a video of Mark Grundmeier, soybean product manager at Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, providing tips on how to avoid future SDS outbreaks. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Northwest Iowa

Crops are maturing at a very rapid rate, and Tom Larson says there is talk of corn harvest starting next week.  Some farmers have expressed concern that the high daytime and nighttime temperature we’ve experienced recently might adversely affect corn yields and test weight.  Keep in mind that grain fill is a 60-day process, but we’ve only experienced 4 or 5 abnormally warm nights during this time.  As a result, test weight issues due to this will most likely be minimal.  Tom is seeing some ear worm feeding, mainly on the tip.  Remember:  3 damaged kernels equals 1 bushel lost.   To help reduce and even eliminate this late-season problem in the future, plant Latham® products with Genuity SmartStack, Genuity VT3 Pro and the new Viptera event.  Soybeans look great throughout Tom’s area.  The Genuity RoundUp Ready 2 Yield Soybean products are poised to be the undisputed yield leaders this year.  All of Latham’s new RR2 events in both research and field trials have really set the pods this season and the plant health on our products look great!

South Central Iowa

Travis Slusher is seeing some of the earlier maturity beans beginning to turn in south central Iowa.  Corn is progressing rapidly and he wouldn’t be surprised to see machines shelling corn before bean harvest gets started in earnest.  Stalk rot is still concerning in his area with the growing conditions he has seen this year, so if the corn is ready to come out early they should take advantage of the situation rather than fighting stalk issues later in the season.  The L3268R2 and L2735R2 Vistive varieties are still showing great plant health and outstanding pod and bean counts.

East Central Iowa

In east central Iowa, Brad Beatty says farmers are busy getting ready for harvest.  Many farmers are chopping corn for silage.  Corn is drying down fast with grain moisture testing from 26 to 32%.  Brad did a plot moisture test and LH 5228 VT3 is at 25% moisture.  These moisture levels are hard to believe for this time of year.  Soybeans are starting to turn in some fields, and some beans will be ready to harvest in about three weeks.  One grower said he will welcome an early harvest because he hasn’t been able to do any fall tillage in many years.

South Central Iowa

Some of the earlier maturity beans beginning to turn in south central Iowa.  Corn is progressing rapidly, and Travis Slusher says he won’t be surprised if some corn gets shelled before bean harvest is in full swing.  Stalk rot is still a concern with the growing conditions, so if the corn is ready to come out early, farmers can take advantage of the situation rather than fighting stalk issues later in the season.  Latham’s L3268R2 and the L2735R2V, with Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Vistive,® are showing great plant health, as well as outstanding pod and bean counts.

South Dakota

Bill Eichacker says 50% of the third cutting of alfalfa has been harvested in South Dakota and winter wheat is starting to go into the ground.  Corn is still maturing quickly with 90% of the corn at the R4 stage and over half at the R5 stage.  Both corn and soybeans are starting the R6 stage.  Silage cutters will be in full force the week of Labor Day if the ground dries out.  Early in the week parts of his region received over 4.5 inches of precipitation.  Lots of farmers are getting their harvest equipment out and a lot of new augers are going down the roads.

Central Iowa

In two to three weeks, the combines will start on beans and corn in north central Iowa.  Bart Peterson reports that a 98-day hybrid was hand-shelled August 24, just eight miles north of Fort Dodge, at 23% moisture.  Corn and beans will be a little later in West Central Iowa.  Near Odebolt, Ida Grove, and Arthur, Iowa, farmers will see one some the best bean yields they’ve had in a long time.  Bart has seen four beans in a pod on quite a few varieties of Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybeans.

Wisconsin

Steve Bailie reports beans are starting to turn in Wisconsin. Some corn has tested 29% moisture content. Corn silage harvest has wrapped up, and if the temperature stays up, corn growers will be harvesting in two or three weeks.

The weekly weather and crop conditions survey released August 30 by the Iowa office USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service shows 8% of Iowa’s corn crop has already reached maturity. Seventy-seven percent of the crop has started to dent, and 94% has entered or reached dough stage. Corn condition has improved slightly with 69% of the state’s crop now rating “good to excellent.” Click here for the full report.

Soybeans as of August 30 have begun to drop their leaves in some fields, the article stated. Pods have now been set on virtually all of the state’s soybean acres, and 14% of Iowa’s soybean acres have turned color–which is ahead of last year’s 4% and the 5-year average of 13% at the end of August.

Click here for the full article.

Genuity Technology Showcases are an important step to helping evaluate useful product concepts like Genuity Smart Stax, which will be a principal component for Refuge in the Bag (RIB). Pending regulatory approval, the single-bag RIB concept for Genuity SmartStax corn and Genuity VT Double PRO^TM corn will put the required refuge for Insect Resistance Management (IRM) into the same bag as the fully traited corn.  Once approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a 5% RIB option will provide an IRM strategy for above-and below-ground insect management that is delivered to the field. 

The Genuity SmartStax RIB product concept uses the same multiple modes of action for broad-spectrum insect control as Genuity SmartStax, which was launched this season and reduces structured refuge from 20% to 5% in the Corn Belt. Genuity SmartStax is the only hybrid seed corn product that is currently approved for a 5% refuge; it has the lowest required refuge in the Corn Belt. 

NOTE:  Pioneer’s Optimum^® AcreMax ^TM 1 is not a true single-bag solution for RIB.  The 10% in-the-bag corn rootworm refuge carries a separate 20% above-ground refuge requirement for Optimum AcreMax. For more clarity regarding refuge requirements, listen to this audio clip: Genuity SmartStax Corn.

One reason this recipe is one of my favorites is because it’s so delicious.  It’s unlike most peach pies because it has a sour cream filling.  It tastes so creamy and delicious (in my humble opinion).  Another reason I love this recipe is because I can “cheat” on the pie crust.  There’s no need to roll out a pie crust, yet one can savor a flakey crust. 

Just thinking about Saturday’s meal is making my mouth water.  Perhaps I need to change my plan …  I could leave work early today and have fresh peach pie for supper tonight!

How does your family savor what’s left of summer?

Lemon Pepper Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops, cut 1½-inches thick
• ¼ c. red wine vinegar
• ¼ c. cooking oil
• 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. lemon pepper
• ¼ tsp. garlic power

Directions

In a self-sealing plastic bag, combine vinegar, cooking oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemon pepper and garlic powder.   Use a fork to poke holes in the chops.  Next place the chops in the bag, seal and refrigerate them for a minimum of 30 minutes but overnight is even better.  Remove chops from marinade and grill.  Pork chops should be cooked to medium doneness of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Colorado Peach Pie

Ingredients

Filling:

• 4 c. fresh, sliced peaches
• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 2 T. flour
• 1 egg
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. sour cream

Crust:

• ½ c. butter
• 1 ½ c. flour
• ½ tsp. salt

Topping:

• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. flour
• ¼ c. butter
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Crust:

Cut butter into flour and salt.  Press dough into 9-inch pie plate.

Filling:

Slice peaches into a bowl; sprinkle with ¼ c. sugar.  Let stand while preparing rest of filling.  Combine ¾ c. sugar, flour, egg, salt and vanilla.  Fold in sour cream.  Stir into peaches.  Pour into crust.

Set oven to 400 degrees and bake pie for 15 minutes.  After the pie has baked for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, reset your oven for 350 degrees and bake it for another 20 minutes.  Now prepare the topping.

Topping:

Combine the sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter until crumbly.

After your 20-minute baking period at 350 degrees is over, sprinkle the crumbly topping evenly over the top of the pie.  Then bake for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Corn silage harvest is underway in eastern Iowa.  To help ensure the best quality silage possible, watch the crop’s moisture content.

Optimal performance by dairy cows occurs when whole-plant moisture is between 65 and 70%.  This moisture range also works well to preserve silage quality in horizontal (bunker) silos.  However, corn may need to be chopped a bit drier when stored in up-right silos like Harvestores.  Moisture levels between 60 and 65% moisture can minimize seepage in up-right silos, but research shows that reduced fiber and starch digestion, along with reduced lactation performance, occurs when corn silage is harvested at 60% moisture or below.

The optimum 60 to 70% whole-plant harvest moisture corresponds closely with when the kernel milk-line has moved from one-half to three-fourths the distance from the kernel’s crown to the tip where it’s attached to the cob.  Click here for information on how to find the kernel milk-line.  

Once moisture of a hybrid is known, figure a corn plant will lose about 1% moisture daily. Monitor the milk-line to gauge whether the moisture is changing too fast.  It usually takes 12-15 days to go from early dent to 50% kernel milk and another 12-15 days to go from 50% kernel milk to black layer.

More corn silage harvest techniques are available online at http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/Management/pdfs/NCH49.pdf.

NOTE:  Milk-line and whole-plant moisture can vary between hybrids and across environments.  What Latham® Hi-Tech Hybrids are working well to make silage in your area?

Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) continues to be a concern for soybean growers throughout the Upper Midwest.  This year has had one of the worst epidemics since SDS was found in Iowa in 1994, says XB Yang of Iowa State University’s Department of Plant Pathology.

Mark Grundmeier, Latham’s soybean product manager, agrees that SDS is the worst in 2010 that he’s seen in his career.  Click the below video to listen to Mark talk about why SDS is so much more prevalent this year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Northwest Iowa

Because 1,000 variables affect yield – seed bed preparation, weed pressure, type of bean planted (Cyst resistant, trait packages, etc.), plant health protection used, etc. – Tom Larson says it’s not easy to predict how SDS might impact yield.  Soybeans that have been infected with SDS continue to decline and drop leaves.  A majority of the corn in his northern Iowa territory has entered the early stages of dent.  Tom has noticed increased populations of corn aphids on the upper leaves, as well as around the ear.  If these numbers continue to increase or are already at populations over 1,000 per plant, an insecticide application might be necessary.  Studies show that at least ½ bushel per day can be lost to corn aphids.

Northeast Iowa

Nick Benson reports that corn silage harvest has begun in earnest.  Overall, farmers are positive about this year’s silage crop although there are a few obvious tough spots from excessive moisture.  Rainfall has been so variable:  one area got hit very hard by total rainfall throughout the summer, but just 20 miles to the north, fields there received just the right amount.  While SDS has been capturing everyone’s attention lately, Nick believes farmers here will be pleasantly surprised with this fall’s soybean yields.  In areas without SDS, he’s predicting record-breaking crops. Yesterday he randomly walked into a field planted to Latham® L2440 Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybeans and pulled two plants with five, four-bean pods!  He says he’s having a hard time finding L2440 R2’s without four-bean pods.  On the corn side, Nick believes areas without excessive moisture will produce extremely high yields.  From viewing Latham® showcase plots, he believes the new Latham LH 5622 3000GT will be the hybrid to beat this coming year.  It’s throwing a very nice ear with some great plant health.

Wisconsin

Steve Bailie reports corn silage harvest began this week, and many of the fields being harvested for corn silage are coming out at 65 to 70% moisture.  The majority of ears of corn in the fields have reached full dent, and many of the husks have already started to loosen up.  Anthracnose is showing up inside the corn plant if you cut it to look at the nodes. Many nodes are starting to turn brown.  Some of the soybean fields are showing symptoms of SDS, white mold and brown stem rot. Even though disease is present, Steve predicts that yields will still be adequate simply because the diseases didn’t show up until late in the growing season. Latham® Hi-Tech Soybean L1936R has once again proven its value by as not white mold is present in these fields.

South Central Iowa

Travis Slusher’s region is still receiving weekly rainfall, with another 1.5 inches recorded in the past week.  Corn and soybeans are progressing nicely despite all of the moisture this growing season.  SDS is still the main topic of conversation on the soybean side, and fortunately Latham® brand soybeans have handled the pressure better than others throughout the majority of his area.  Corn is denting nicely with Latham® Hi-Tech Hybrids LH 6167 VT3Pro, LH 5877 VT3Pro, and LH 5645 3000GT looking like some powerful new hybrids for South Central Iowa.

Central Iowa

Kevin Meyer says seed corn harvest began last week in his territory, which is a good 10 to 14 days earlier than normal.  Kernels depth and test weight continue to be a concern due to hot weather.  Corn earworm damage should be evaluated this fall as earworm moth flights were very high this year.  Fortunately, Latham has some great new technologies in the 2011 product lineup to help control above- ground insects in the field.  SDS is the hot topic at local plot days.  He encourages farmers to take crop notes and see how SDS is affecting different soybean varieties.  As these fields return to soybean production in 2012, good management decisions will help eliminate this problem in the future.

East Central Iowa

In a year when disease is prevalent, Brad Beatty said some corn numbers from Latham Hi-Tech Hybrids are displaying a sound defensive package.   The following new hybrids are looking good in his plots: LH 5426 VT3Pro, LH 5494 3000GT, LH 5645 3000GT, LH 6167 VT3Pro, and LH 6068 VT3.

These new Latham® hybrids appear to be fending off is anthracnose, which is one disease that is becoming a problem this season in Brad’s territory.    Anthracnose is related, favoring wet periods and warm nights.  Disease severity can be increased by extended periods of overcast conditions and high humidity.  It’s also more problematic in corn-on-corn situations because the fungus over-winters in corn residue.  Crop rotation is a way to help control anthracnose, so keep this in mind as you order seed for the 2011 planting season.

Minnesota

Jason Obermeyer reports that soybeans and corn are progressing nicely in his area. The first signs of maturing corn are a welcome treat for those who can’t stand the summer heat because we know cooler temps on the way!  One local dairy producer said yesterday that he will be chopping corn in two weeks. Soybeans still look good, although about an inch of rain would be welcome in South Central Minnesota now. Some of the hills are dipping back, indicating that moisture is needed.

Eastern Nebraska

Crops are about 10 to 12 days ahead of last year’s, says Mike Lorenz.   Cattle Feeders have been cutting silage.  Beans are getting closer to coloring; corn is in full dent stage and early black layer.  The concern now is disease.  He’s seeing a variety of diseases affecting soybeans in his region.  Sudden Death Syndrome is prevalent in central Nebraska while Stem Canker is affecting the northeast corner of the state.  Despite these challenges, he says it will still be a relatively good year for crops.

Central Nebraska

Steve Edwards says it looks like an early harvest this year.  The corn crop is fully dented.  Farmers have been chopping for a week in areas where silage is put up.  Symptoms of SDS are showing up in the soybean crop where there was excess moisture and compacted soil.  Beans also have been expressing some heat stress because they’re in their peak demand for moisture as the pods fill.

Northern Missouri

Rick Foster reports that soybeans are looking good except for areas where they drowned out.

Farmers throughout Latham service areas, including Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri and South Dakota, have been asking repeatedly, “What should I do?”

Although there isn’t anything you can do right now to minimize the severity of damage from SDS this season, there are multiple management practices you can employ to help ensure SDS doesn’t strike again in the future.  Ways to avoid future SDS damage include:

1. Crop rotation – Make sure you don’t plant beans-on-beans in fields that have been hit with SDS. Note fields where SDS is especially prevalent.  Crop notes will help you plant a soybean brand with high SDS tolerance in those areas the next time you plant soybeans.
2. Tillage – No-till practices allow soil to remain cooler and wetter longer, which can increase the severity of SDS. Tilling helps change soil conditions to be more adverse to SDS.
3. Planting Date – Planting at a later date can help reduce the risk of SDS, as well.
4. And Variety Selection – Variety selection is incredibly important. Choose soybeans brands that have high SDS tolerance. Latham^® brands that have done very well in SDS-affected soils include the following:
   1. L2085R
   2. L2767R2
   3. L2987L
   4. L2648R2
   5. L2875R
   6. L3268R2

We will follow up with additional blogs on SDS this week. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about your own fields. Are you seeing SDS in your fields? If so, to what degree?

“The global dependence on soybeans will increase in the 2010/11 season owing to smaller than expected world production and supplies of rapeseed and canola as well as of sunflower seed,” said Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil forecast on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

“This will result in increased imports and crushing of soybeans in China, other Asian countries as well as in the European Union and many other countries,” it said.

Click here for the full report.

Come celebrate how Iowa’s farmers are helping feed and fuel our world. And speaking of food … what’s better than a day at the fair with cotton candy, taffy, corn dogs and shakes? Today I wanted to share a recipe for one of my favorite fair foods, caramel corn. I found this recipe on a website devoted entirely to state fair foods! Every time I make this recipe with my kids, I feel like I’m bringing a little bit of the fair to our house. Now, I just have to learn how to make pork chops on a stick …

Have a wonderful weekend! I hope you’re able to sweeten it up with caramel corn and some time at the fair! For more blue ribbon state fair recipes, check out www.statefairrecipes.com.

Caramel Corn

This recipe is fun to make with or for family and friends!

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ cup syrup
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon soda
• 4 quarts popped corn

Directions

1. Combine first 4 ingredients and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Add ½ teaspoon soda. Stir well.
3. Pour over 4 quarts popped corn.  (I like to use Puff Corn.)
4. Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

*Tip: Add peanuts, walnuts, pecans, etc.