1. Field Observations and Weather Outlook

A reminder from what I posted last week, but still relevant: If anyone has experienced damage to their crops as a result of this week's extreme weather, please reach out and let us know so that we can alert NYSDAM of impacted regions.

Corn has started tasseling this week, so some folks could be harvesting silage as early as the end of August, and the bulk of silage crops may be ready the first half of September. Starting next week we'll start tracking Growing Degree Day units since tasseling dates to forecast peak silage quality. 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.

This year's moisture will mean that soybeans are at high risk for white mold. And now that many/most crops around the region are flowering, now is the time to protect them. So if your crop is flowering and is close to canopy closure, this is your chance. 

Tar spot has been detected in western NY so if you suspect it is in your corn, please let me know so that we can get a positive ID. But it is easily confused for insect droppings, so if you can wipe it off, it's not tar spot.

Enjoy this spell of dry weather while we have it!

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:

3. Pest Monitoring

New seedings of alfalfa tended to be above threshold for potato leafhopper this week (Table 1). Western Bean cutworm and Fall Armyworm monitoring began this week, and numbers are thankfully low (Table 2). I have not seen soybean aphid issues so far - populations are very low. The first reports of northern corn leaf blight are coming in from western NY, so be on the lookout.