Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota

This article written by Extension specialist Dan Kaiser was originally posted in the MN Crop News Blog. Interpreting plant tissue reports can be challenging due to variation in tissue concentrations from one field to the next. Plant tissue sampling has been used for years to help diagnose potential nutrient deficiencies in fields. Variations in nutrient concentrations in plant tissues can be impacted by many factors; some which can be controlled and some cannot. When planning tissue sampling, there are a few factors you should consider to get the most out of the information you receive.

Northern leg of the UMN small grains summer plot tours Most crop producers in northwest Minnesota grow small grains. If you are a small grains producer or just a curious person that would like to understand more about some of the major crops in the rural landscape, join faculty from University of Minnesota at one of the four northern small grains plot tour events:

Dry conditions: How dry has it been? Something feels wrong about complaining about the dry soil conditions this spring, particularly as this allowed folks in northwest Minnesota to finish planting much more quickly than our neighbors to the south. Therefore only observations follow below. Corn and soybean plots were planted on May 21 into very dry soils at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center (NWROC) in Crookston. Only 1.38 inches of precipitation fell in the 60 days prior to planting. This was 2.01 less than the 30-year average of 3.39 inches (Figure). Since planting an additional 1.9 inches of rain, or 1.58 inches less than the 30-year average, have fallen ( data: NWROC ). Fortunately more is forecast in the near-term ( NWS-NOAA ). What happens to corn and soybean seedlings trying to emerge in dry and crusted soils?

The following article was written by Allen Sommerfeld at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Pesticide applicators are reminded of restrictions for the herbicide St. Paul, MN: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is reminding pesticide applicators of the state-specific restriction for the use of the herbicide dicamba for the 2019 growing season. The product cannot be applied in Minnesota after June 20.

The following article was written by small grains agronomist Dr. Jochum Wiersma and posted to the MN Crop News Blog. Scouts continue to find tan spot in both winter wheat and spring wheat in their second week of scouting. There were no reports of Septoria spp. or leaf rust. The reported incidence and severity of tan spot increased a bit from the previous week. The risk assessment models mirror their findings as conditions for septoria and leaf rust were not as favorable as have been for tan spot.

This article by Dan Kaiser, Extension soil fertility specialist, was originally posted on the MN Crop News Blog. As we start moving into June, there is an increased risk for nitrogen loss through denitrification. Denitrification is a process by which nitrate is chemically reduced and lost as a gas. Denitrification as a loss pathway is similar to other nitrogen loss pathways as it is driven by water. For denitrification to occur, nitrogen has to be 1) in the nitrate form; and 2) the soil has to be saturated to a point where there is little or no oxygen and there is carbon as an energy source for soil bacteria. The potential for denitrification increases as soils warm due to increased microbial activity.

The following article was originally posted on the MN Crop News Blog by small grains Extension agronomist Dr. Jochum Wiersma.  ‘Even after his farmstead had been burned to the ground, His wife and oxen murdered, The Farmer put on the harness and put himself in front of the plow. And the Farmer kept on plowing.’

The following article was originally posted on the MN Crop News Blog by small grains Extension agronomist Dr. Jochum Wiersma.  The small grains disease and pest survey started this week. Overall, problems are far and few in between. Crop development ranges from 2-leaf to jointing for the spring cereals, while the first rye fields are heading and winter wheat varies from stem elongation to early boot stage.

The following article was originally posted on the MN Crop News Blog by small grains Extension agronomist Dr. Jochum Wiersma.  The small grains disease forecasting models are up and running.  You can access the Minnesota forecasting site here , the North Dakota site here , and the national FHB Prediction Center website here .

There is a newly updated herbicide mode of action and sugarbeet injury symptoms resource available online .

The soybean gall midge is something that the 2019 crop scouts in NW MN will be watching for. This article was originally posted on Minnesota Crop News Blog by Bruce Potter, IPM specialist and Bob Koch, Extension entomologist. We now know a little more about an insect pest recently found injuring soybeans in several Midwestern states, including Minnesota. Recently described as a new species, the soybean gall midge, Resseliella maxima (Gagné), is the first member of the genus Resseliella reported from soybean. It is a member of the rather large and diverse family of flies, the gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). The larvae of many gall midges feed on galls formed in plant tissues. However, some species do not form galls. Some feed on fungi and decaying organic matter, and the beneficial aphid midge is a predator of aphids. Other crop pest species include the wheat pests, Hessian fly and wheat blossom midge, and a species that is a pest of Asian soybeans. Discovery of ...

This article was originally posted on the Minnesota Crop News blog by University of Minnesota's Hannah Rusch, Jeff Coulter, Julie Grossman, Gregg Johnson, Paul Porter, and Axel Garcia y Garcia . Cover crops can be used to extend the period of vegetative cover on soils. They take up water and nutrients and can reduce risk of nutrient losses from cropping systems. Additionally, cover crops help to hold soils in place and protect them from erosion. This reduces loss of nutrients bound to surface soil particles such as phosphorus. Fitting cover crops into corn cropping systems in the upper Midwest poses a challenge for cover crop establishment, given the limited number of growing degree days after harvesting corn and soybean and before the onset of frost. One strategy to overcome this limitation is to interseed cover crops into corn and soybean before harvest. Previous research in Minnesota evaluated the role of soil disturbance and seed-to-soil contact with different me...

The first week of June is an exciting one for University of Minnesota Extension in northwest Minnesota as the summer 2019 crop scouting began in earnest. Small grains scouting.  Extension personnel at North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota are teaming up to monitor small grains. In Minnesota this scouting effort is sponsored by your check-off funds through the Wheat Research and Promotion Council. The information gathered will help UMN Extension small grains agronomy specialist Dr. Jochum Wiersma and Extension educator Jared Goplen to provide timely updates regarding emerging diseases and pests issues in northwest and west-central Minnesota.