in-crop-weather

State
Indiana Crop Weather

Week Ending Date  
May 4, 2003

Issue
IN-CW1803

Agricultural Summary 

Showers slowed field activities in many areas of the state during the
week, according to the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service. Most
farmers welcomed the rain as soil moisture was deficient in many
regions. Planting of corn and soybeans continued to make good progress,
especially in the northern and east central regions of the state. Corn
planting is 6 days ahead of average and soybean planting is 1 day ahead
of the average pace. Tillage of fields continued along with spreading of
fertilizer in fields dry enough to support heavy equipment. Many early
planted corn fields have now emerged. Late weekend rain covered much of
the state. Ponding is evident in some fields.                        
                         

Field Crops Report 

There were 3.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Fifty percent of the
intended corn acreage is planted compared with 9 percent last year and
34 percent for the 5-year average. By area, 61 percent of the corn
acreage is planted in the north, 52 percent in the central region and 23
percent in the south. Eleven percent of the corn acreage has emerged,
compared with 1 percent last year and 8 percent for the average.
Seventeen percent of the soybean acreage is planted compared with 2
percent last year and 15 percent for the average. 

Eighty-three percent of the winter wheat acreage is jointed compared
with 91 percent last year and 95 percent for the 5-year average. Eight
percent of the winter wheat is headed compared with11 percent last year
and 16 percent for the average. Winter wheat condition improved and is
rated 84 percent good to excellent compared with 66 percent last year at
this time. 

Major activities during the week were tillage of soils, spreading dry
fertilizer, spraying chemicals, repairing equipment, moving grain to
market, hauling manure, cleaning fence rows, along with taking care of
livestock. 

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report 

Pasture condition is rated 10 percent excellent, 57 percent good, 27
percent fair, 5 percent poor and 1 percent very poor. Pastures and
forage crops continue to improve aided by the recent rain and warmer
temperatures. Livestock are in mostly good condition. Spring calving
remains active. 

                               
                    Crop Progress Table
--------------------------------------------------------
                          : This : Last : Last : 5-Year
     Crop                 : Week : Week : Year :  Avg
--------------------------------------------------------
                                     Percent
Corn Planted                 50     26     9      34
Corn Emerged                 11      1     1       8
Soybeans Planted             17      4     2      15
Winter Wheat Jointed         83     75    91      95
Winter Wheat Headed           8      2    11      16

       
                    Crop Condition Table
--------------------------------------------------------
                   : Very :      :      :      : Excel-
     Crop          : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent
--------------------------------------------------------
                                  Percent
Pasture               1      5      27     57     10
Winter Wheat 2003     0      2      14     61     23
Winter Wheat 2002     0      6      28     52     14

   Soil Moisture & Days Suitable For Fieldwork Table
-------------------------------------------------------
                   : This  : Last  :  Last
                   : Week  : Week  :  Year
-------------------------------------------------------
                           Percent
Topsoil
  Very Short          1        3       0
  Short               6       15       0
  Adequate           55       59      32
  Surplus            38       23      68
Subsoil
  Very Short          6        6       0
  Short              16       19       1
  Adequate           61       65      47
  Surplus            17       10      52
Days Suitable       3.6      4.1     1.1

Contact information
--Greg Preston, State Statistician
--Bud Bever, Agricultural Statistician
  E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov
  http://www.nass.usda.gov/in/index.htm                     

Other Agricultural Comments And News

             MARESTAIL - WILL IT BE A PROBLEM THIS YEAR?                                     

Last summer, there were a number of product performance issues related
to poor herbicide activity on marestail. There are a number of reasons
why this occurred and the purpose of this article is to provide an
overview of these reasons and an update on the current status of
marestail in Indiana. 

Reasons why marestail was difficult to control in 2002: 

1) Marestail is a weed which can emerge both in the fall and in the
spring. In essence, it is both a winter and a summer annual. Fall
emerging marestail will have a more extensive root system than those
that emerge in the spring. Plants with more established root systems 
can be difficult to control because of resprouting from meristems in
the lower part of the stem and roots. This occurs if systemic herbicides
are not translocated to these meristems in high enough quantities to 
inhibit growth. Larger or older plants will have a larger number of 
active meristematic areas in the plant, thus effective herbicide 
translocation to all meristems becomes very important. 

2)Glyphosate products (Roundup, Touchdown, Glyphomax and others) are
relatively weak on large marestail. These products provide fairly good
control of small (4 inch or less) seedlings, but control falls off
pretty dramatically when marestail is more than 4 inches tall. Many of
the control failures with glyphosate products were on plants sprayed
when they were greater than 1 foot tall. In many of the same fields,
glyphosate was the only product used. The addition of 2,4-D or
FirstRate/Amplify to glyphosate would have improved control of larger
marestail.

3) Weather conditions. Typically, weeds growing in very wet or very
dry soils have slower rates of metabolism than weeds growing in less
extreme conditions. It is highly likely that the reduced rate of 
metabolism of weeds growing in these conditions resulted in compromised
herbicide activity. We observed this with glyphosate on common 
lambsquarter in 2002 as well. Common lambsquarter, much like marestail,
is difficult to control with glyphosate when it is more than 4 inches 
tall. So the combination of reduced plant metabolism, plus the fact
that glyphosate efficacy on large marestail is variable anyway resulted
on control failures. 

4) Glyphosate-resistant marestail has been confirmed in Jackson,
Bartholomew and Jefferson counties and is suspected in several other
counties in southern Indiana. Glyphosate resistant marestail has also
been confirmed in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It appears initially
that this problem will continue to grow because of widespread adoption
of glyphosate use in soybean and the potential for growth in use of
glyphosate in corn. In addition, marestail seed is well suited to
dispersal by wind. Once a population is established, it will spread
very quickly if resistant plants are allowed to go to seed. 

The Good News. Our observations so far this year is that the marestail
populations are lower than they were last year. There are a number of
reasons for this.

1) The past fall was relatively dry and seedlings did not emerge. 

2) The past winter was relatively harsh compared to previous years.
While I was at the University of Missouri conducted studies to monitor
winter weed populations in the fall, winter and early spring months. I
was relatively surprised by the relatively high rate of mortality of
many winter annual weeds, even during relatively mild winters.
Typically, henbit and chickweed populations were 50 to 75% lower in the
spring compared to the previous fall. So, it is highly likely that any
marestail that emerged in the fall would have suffered a similar fate,
which would further reduce populations. 

3) Spring has been relatively dry in many parts of the state, so spring
emergence of marestail is low. 

4) 2,4-D provides good control of marestail and is one of the cheapest
herbicides we have. In some areas of the state, there is/was a
reluctance to use 2,4-D as part of a burndown program for no-till crop
production. Crop advisors, representatives with companies that sell
glyphosate products, and Purdue University extension specialists have
taken an active role in educating our clientele about this issue over
the winter months. It appears initially, that much more 2,4-D is being
used as a component of the burndown program. This is a wise strategy as
it provides another mode of action on this and other weeds and will slow
the development of more resistant weed populations. 

So, to answer our question above, it appears that the marestail problems
are of a lower magnitude so far this year. But weather conditions which
prevent spraying and/or soil preparation over the next couple of weeks
could result in a different story. Stay tuned . 

Final Comment. Weed Scientists at Purdue University are very concerned
about this issue and will be monitoring the distribution and spread of
glyphosate-resistant marestail in Indiana. If you think you have a
suspect population, please contact your county Extension Educator. We
will be collecting seed later this summer and fall from across the state
for glyphosate tolerance screening and would to collect seed from as
many populations as we can manage. 

Bill Johnson, Glenn Nice, and Tom Bauman, Department of Botany and Plant
Pathology, Purdue University.                        

                  
                    Weather Information Table
     
               Week Ending Sunday May 4, 2003
---------------------------------------------------------------
                | Past Week Weather Summary Data   
                |---------------------------------
 Station        |      Air      |           | Avg  
                |  Temperature  |  Precip.  |4 in.  
                |---------------|-----------|Soil 
                |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN|Total |Days|Temp 
------------------------------------------------------------- 
Northwest (1)   |                                
Chalmers_5W     |84  36  58  +2   1.34     4   57
Valparaiso_AP_I |76  37  56  +2   1.45     3     
Wanatah         |78  33  55  +3   1.43     3   60
Wheatfield      |80  34  56  +3   1.66     3     
Winamac         |79  38  59  +4   0.68     2   58
North Central(2)|                                
Plymouth        |79  33  57  +2   1.55     2     
South_Bend      |75  37  58  +5   1.17     3     
Young_America   |84  39  60  +6   0.33     4     
Northeast (3)   |                                
Columbia_City   |77  32  57  +4   0.41     3   57
Fort_Wayne      |78  35  58  +4   0.92     3     
West Central (4)|                                
Greencastle     |81  38  59  +2   0.23     3     
Perrysville     |84  35  60  +4   0.57     3   59
Spencer_Ag      |82  41  62  +6   0.63     3     
Terre_Haute_AFB |81  40  61  +4   0.20     3     
W_Lafayette_6NW |83  36  60  +5   1.60     4   60
Central (5)     |                                
Eagle_Creek_AP  |81  42  61  +4   0.71     3     
Greenfield      |81  40  61  +6   0.55     4     
Indianapolis_AP |81  44  62  +5   0.92     4     
Indianapolis_SE |82  39  61  +5   0.36     2     
Tipton_Ag       |82  36  59  +5   0.87     2   61
East Central (6)|                                
Farmland        |81  36  60  +7   0.60     3   58
New_Castle      |80  35  59  +5   0.28     3     
Southwest (7)   |                                
Evansville      |82  47  65  +4   0.47     2     
Freelandville   |80  45  63  +6   0.55     2     
Shoals          |83  39  63  +6   0.73     2     
Stendal         |81  46  65  +6   0.59     1     
Vincennes_5NE   |83  44  64  +6   0.48     2   60
South Central(8)|                                
Leavenworth     |82  42  63  +6   0.64     3     
Oolitic         |80  39  63  +7   0.54     2   63
Tell_City       |83  44  67  +7   0.41     2     
Southeast (9)   |                                
Brookville      |82  36  62  +7   0.10     1     
Milan_5NE       |81  39  62  +7   0.64     4     
Scottsburg      |82  38  63  +5   0.76     3     
------------------------------------------------------------- 

-------------------------------------------------------------                                                            
                |        Accumulation           
                |      April 1, 2003 thru       
 Station        |       May 4, 2003         
                | Precipitation   |GDD Base 50oF 
                |      |     |    |     |
                |Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN  
-------------------------------------------------------------
Northwest (1)   |
Chalmers_5W     | 4.44  +0.29  15   190   +41
Valparaiso_AP_I | 3.77  -0.71  11   183   +74
Wanatah         | 4.21  -0.08  12   151   +65
Wheatfield      | 4.19  -0.05  10   188   +95
Winamac         | 2.90  -1.25  11   198   +81
North Central(2)|
Plymouth        | 3.84  -0.54  10   171   +44
South_Bend      | 4.06  -0.20  11   196   +98
Young_America   | 2.01  -1.94  14   209   +96
Northeast (3)   |
Columbia_City   | 2.62  -1.46  13   162   +78
Fort_Wayne      | 3.18  -0.64  10   175   +70
West Central (4)|
Greencastle     | 2.66  -1.64  14   205   +37
Perrysville     | 3.14  -1.25  11   237   +98
Spencer_Ag      | 3.52  -1.09  12   233   +88
Terre_Haute_AFB | 3.25  -1.21  12   250   +81
W_Lafayette_6NW | 4.14  -0.09  15   225  +107
Central (5)     |
Eagle_Creek_AP  | 2.37  -1.85  12   247   +89
Greenfield      | 3.31  -1.27  13   228   +96
Indianapolis_AP | 3.00  -1.22  12   254   +96
Indianapolis_SE | 3.12  -1.19  10   232   +86
Tipton_Ag       | 2.41  -2.00   9   172   +75
East Central (6)|
Farmland        | 1.99  -2.06  10   191  +100
New_Castle      | 1.62  -3.01  10   165   +69
Southwest (7)   |
Evansville      | 4.07  -0.55  12   328   +74
Freelandville   | 3.67  -0.82  11   276   +88
Shoals          | 4.03  -0.71   9   283   +99
Stendal         | 4.58  -0.51  10   314   +98
Vincennes_5NE   | 3.51  -0.98  11   288  +100
South Central(8)|
Leavenworth     | 4.10  -1.09  14   289   +99
Oolitic         | 3.93  -0.67  11   266  +106
Tell_City       | 5.06  -0.39  10   374  +146
Southeast (9)   |
Brookville      | 2.07  -2.35   9   247  +123
Milan_5NE       | 3.24  -1.18  14   235  +111
Scottsburg      | 6.39  +1.65  12   267   +78
------------------------------------------------------------- 
DFN = Departure From Normal (Using 1961-90 Normals Period).
GDD = Growing Degree Days.
Precipitation (Rainfall or melted snow/ice) in inches.
Precipitation Days = Days with precip of .01 inch or more.
Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit.

Copyright 2003:  AWIS, Inc.  All rights reserved.

       The above weather information is provided by AWIS, Inc.
For detailed ag weather forecasts and data visit the AWIS home page at
          www.awis.com or call toll free at 1-888-798-9955.

The INDIANA CROP WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is
issued weekly April through November by the Indiana Agricultural 
Statistics Service, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite B105, 
West Lafayette  IN 47906-4145.  Second Class postage paid at 
Lafayette IN.  For information on subscribing, send request to above
address.  POSTMASTER:   Send address change to the Indiana Agricultural
Statistics Service, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite B105,  
West Lafayette IN  47906-4145.                           

Source: Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service