1. Field Observations and Weather Outlook

So far, crops still look great. However, be on the lookout for tar spot, which has been showing up on farms in two counties in western NY. And while I have yet to see white mold myself, now is the time when symptoms start to manifest. We've had more than our share of moisture as of late (see maps below, showing 30-day precip and 7-day streamflow - every black dot on this second map is a record high), so we're bracing for what could be another bad year for this disease.

We're also reaching the end of our window to plant late-summer seedings of alfalfa crops, so if they're going in, they have to go in now. …Which means we're inching closer to silage harvest. Keep an eye on crop development, and make sure you're getting out into the field and not focusing on the headlands when staging corn. The team is working on putting together a corn silage dry-down event the first week of September, so stay tuned for details as we finalize plans

2. Growing Degree Days (GDD) (See: Climate Smart Farming Growing Degree Day Calculator)

Growing degree days (GDD) are calculated by taking the average daily temperature and subtracting the base temperature for development of a given organism ((High + Low)/2 - base temp = GDD). For corn silage, we are using base 50/86, as corn development starts at 50 degrees F and ceases above 86. Check your location and planting date:

Remember: Silage corn needs 750-800 GDD (depending on hybrid maturity) after silking to reach a whole plant DM of 32%. Under typical late season dry down conditions we can expect the crop to reach 35% DM four to seven days later. We can expect to accumulate 20-25 GDD per day, or even up to 30, so peak maturity can creep up on us quickly. But no matter what the numbers say, always check your crop to see how close you may be to harvest. For more details, see this article: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/5a5c472d-0fa1-452a-abd4-929ebcb9feec/content 

3. Pest Monitoring

Moth trap numbers have dropped dramatically in Central NY, but Katelyn Miller, my counterpart in western NY, trapped a large number of fall armyworms in her traps this week. I'll keep you in the loop if any outbreaks occur.