1. Field Observations

We are getting closer to corn silage harvest season, but some of our crops may not be ready until mid-late September at the current trajectory. Some folks in parts of the state have harvested silage corn already, prematurely, because of the extreme dry conditions in their local areas - it was better to harvest early than to lose the crop to drought. So far I have not heard of anyone resorting to this in our region, but we all have seen some very stressed corn this year.  

In a sequel to last week's release, Mark Sorrells and the Cornell Small Grain Breeding program have released summary tables for soft white and red winter wheat variety trials:

2. Pests and Disease

Pheromone traps for fall armyworm have been deployed, so we'll be reporting on that pest in the coming weeks. Soon, we'll be finished with our monitoring of cutworms, as the season for monitoring their flights will have passed. But there is still time for them to cause damage.

3. 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.

The silking dates in section 2 begin July 17th, when I first saw tasseling in the region - so this does not mean that every crop in your particular area tasseled on that earliest date. Your crop may have tasseled on or more closely to one of the later dates. So While our GDD tables in section 2 can get you in the ballpark, check your own whole-plant DM to make sure you're ready, and not ahead/behind schedule!

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 15-25 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.