Agronomic Insights

The first step in determining frost and freeze damage is to understand the temperatures at which damage occurs and how the extremes of temperature and duration can affect crops.

As corn and soybeans emerge, evaluating the stand is important to identify problems from planting, insects, or disease. Evaluating your stands early can help you identify concerns while there may be time to remedy them.

Cool and wet conditions can be described as temperatures below 50 degrees F and soils unfit for field work. Plant growth is slowed dramatically under these conditions. Unemerged corn is at risk due to the possibility of seed reserves being used up before emergence.

The decision to replant a field is one of the most difficult decisions a producer may face early in the growing season. Experience has shown that each year some of your acres will not achieve desired plant populations due to adverse environmental conditions. If you find yourself in a potential replant situation, there are several factors you need to take into consideration prior to replanting.

In addition to successful germination, successful emergence of corn seedlings is an important early step in successful stand establishment. The synchronization of coleoptile development and the cessation of mesocotyl elongation usually results in the appearance of the first leaf from the tip of the coleoptile just as the coleoptile breaks the soil surface.