Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

The planting window is wide open this week with favorable weather and soil conditions. Overall, to this point planting progress is running slightly ahead of normal, and I think what’s left to plant will be done quickly over the next week or so which is well ahead of average. The ten-day weather forecast is warm and dry. This region received below average rainfall over the past 30 days overall, but some areas were wetter than others. Most of the crops were (or will be) planted into somewhat drier than usual soil conditions but still with plenty of moisture to get started. The benefits of relatively dry soil during planting include: less compaction, improved planter performance, healthy root shape & depth, and less seedling diseases. However, we will need periods of average or better rainfall to reload soil moisture as we get into late-June, July, and August, especially if temperatures continue to be warmer than average. Overall, I’d say we are having a very good start to this growing season.

The first planted corn in this area has recently emerged. It’s a little too early to evaluate stand quality on most farms, but what I have looked at has a good to excellent plant stand. Compared to last year there are very few areas of concern so far. The more recently planted corn will emerge quickly as the soil continues to warm. Given the conditions we have now, corn emerge could happen in about a week after planting. The mid-April planted corn took about three weeks, which is typical.

The soybeans planted in the first half of April have emerged in good shape also. The largest percentage of soybeans will be planted this week. I expect essentially all planting will be finished by mid-May, which is ideal.

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