Field Crop Update July 7, 2022
Erik Smith, Area Field Crop Specialist
Central New York Dairy and Field Crops
1. Field Observations
Soybeans are beginning to flower (think about fungicide if you're approaching canopy closure!), winter grains are at/nearing harvest maturity, while our most advanced corn crops are at v10.
Insect pest pressure is still relatively low in all crops, but keep an eye on soybean aphid in untreated beans and potato leafhopper in third-cutting alfalfa. The midsummer stretch will bring us high temperatures and potentially long dry periods, which are prime conditions for insect development.
2. Growing Degree Days as of July 6th (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:
Planting dates around May 10 are seeing GDD around the 15-yr avg.
Planting dates around May 15-20 are between the 30- and 15-yr avgs.
Planting dates around the latter part of May are seeing GDD right around the 30-yr average.
Good news for haying and harvesting grains, but bad news for growing crops: the forecast looks mild and dry through the weekend.
We may see some thundershowers next Tues/Wed, but so far nothing else on the radar. Watch for insect populations to boom…
3. Pest and disease monitoring
A. Black cutworm (BCW), western bean cutworm (WBC), true armyworm (TAW), and fall armyworm (FAW) in corn.
This week, trap numbers remained low. Next week will be the first numbers of western bean cutworm and fall armyworm, while we will continue to monitor true armyworm for a few more weeks:
B. Potato leafhopper in alfalfa.
Many folks have recently taken second cutting, or will very soon. I will resume monitoring next week. Not holding my breath for the low numbers to continue!
C. White mold in soybean
If your crop is flowering and you're approaching canopy closure (see pic), risk of white mold is currently high. This pic is a screencap taken from the SporeCaster app, showing canopies at high risk (over) and no risk (under) for white mold. Download here.
Field Crop Update July 7, 2022 (pdf; 480KB)
Upcoming Events
New York State Fiber Conference
June 9, 2024
Bouckville, NY
Theme for this year: Quality Matters
Announcements
Cash Rent and Custom Harvest Survey
To date, there is limited information available about rental rates and fees for crop harvesting. Farms can use this valuable information for their farm business planning to help improve decision making and profitability.Farmers Can Join MeatSuite For Free!
MeatSuite.com is a free resource provided by Cornell University where NY meat farmers can create a farm profile and list their bulk (wholes, halves, quarters) and bundled (i.e. Grilling Bundle) meat products.Why should farmers join?
1. It's free and easy!
2. Connect with more local customers. In the past year the MeatSuite.com farm directory had 8,300 visits from New York consumers. Farm profiles get as many as 25 views per month from potential local customers. We also spotlight MeatSuite farms on social media and bring attention and purchases to farms through highlights and giveaways.
How do I join?
Farmers can visit https://www.meatsuite.com/farmers/ to create a free farm profile. You must list at least one product for your farm's profile to go live. You'll also have access to Cornell's free Meat Price Calculator, a helpful tool for pricing your meat to make a profit.
While you're on MeatSuite, check out the "Creating Consumer-Friendly Bulk Meats" publication on the log-in page. It has tips on how to create bulk meat products that are easier for first-time buyers to say "yes" to.
If you have any questions as you create your farm profile or products, we're here to help! Please email Matt LeRoux at mnl28@cornell.edu.