It followed a major rain and preceded a major rain. Conditions stayed wet for several weeks during a time when weeds needed to be controlled and sidedress nitrogen applied. The corn crop never looked as good following the rains of June 20th and 21st. Many fields experienced flooding and saturated conditions. Nitrogen losses from denitrification became very evident in early-July and are still evident today.
Many fields have areas where corn plants are short, delayed in maturity, and chlorotic.
This will no doubt have an impact on yield. Bugs - although no one insect pest caused the widespread economic damage that European corn borer did last year, there were still many insect species having their way in 1997. Problems included corn rootworms, armyworms, stalk borers, and European corn borers. In some fields, one or more of these insect species caused significant damage or limited yield potential. A cool August - Much of the corn crop was silked by August 1st and it appeared that maturity would not be the major concern it had been in 1996.