Crops Bulletin
 May 5, 2017   
  Issue 2  
    
 

Prepared by

Paul Kassel

Extension Field Agronomist

 

Phone: 

(712) 262-2264

Email: kassel@iastate.edu 

 

 

Serving Clay, Buena Vista, Dickinson, Emmet, Hancock, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Sac and Winnebago Counties

 

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964.
Soil temperatures. Soil temp info can be accessed through the NPKnowledge website. This site has soil temps at 1, 2, and 3 day delays at a four-inch depth by county. The info is obtained from soil temp probes at ISU research farms and is grid-interpolated for each county.
 
Actual real time soil temp info can also be accessed through the ISU Soil Moisture network on the Mesonet. Go to the ISU soil moisture network and select 'soil temperature 4 inch'.
 
Growing degree days (GDDs). Corn takes about 120 GDDs from planting to emergence. The   GDD accumulation is similar for the northwest, north central and west central crop reporting districts.
 
Much of the GDD deficit occurred in late April. Some early April planted corn is starting to emerge.
 
Dates
GDDs
Deficit
4/11-5/5
110
50
4/24-5/5
30
55
 
 
More on GDDs. The Useful to Usable website has a user friendly method to track GDDs for your farm or area. You can personalize the data by entering planting dates, hybrid maturity and past season comparisons. Output data includes silking GDDs, black layer GDDs and expected freeze dates.

 
 







Prepared by Paul Kassel, Extension Field Agronomist

Phone: (712) 262-2264, Email: kassel@iastate.edu