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It’s a typical Ohio spring. Sporadic rains, followed by a few days of sunshine, then more drizzle. Farmers are trying to get crops planted, but progress varies. Under these conditions, cereal rye is growing fast which can help dry out soils but tends to shade newly planted crops. Second, with a warm winter and fairly warm spring with rain, slugs and voles (field mice) are flourishing. Weeds are also growing because it is too wet to spray all the fields. Here are some tips to deal with these problems.  Cover crops, especially cereal rye, outcompete many troublesome weeds but the cover crop needs to be terminated. Most farmers will kill the cover crop with herbicides but crimper crop rollers can terminate naturally and if the crop is tall, get it on the ground. Once it is on the ground, it will hold moisture and keep soil temperatures cooler going into summer. Cereal rye is a natural fit for soybeans but is more difficult to manage with corn. Soybeans thrive on the nutrient

Rain is again slowing down spring planting. April and May showers are saturating fields causing nutrient runoff and soil organic matter (SOM) losses. While most scientists say phosphorus (P) is the main culprit, harmful algae blooms (HAB) or cyanobacteria need a variety of nutrients. If rains continue into summer combined with warm weather and not much wind, HAB can multiply quite rapidly. Farmers have planted cover crops and applied a variety of best management practices to reduce HAB in Lake Erie, will it be enough?  Where is the P coming from, what is the source? Human wastes account for roughly 16%, livestock manure 17%, and the biggest source is still from agriculture, from the soil. Considering the large acreage (4.2 million acres in the Maumee River basin) it takes only a small amount of P loss to cause HAB in Lake Erie. Farmers generally apply about 35-40# of P on corn and maintain about 95% of what is applied. HAB need only 1/10 as much P as corn (1# P = 500# of HAB), so now f

Farmers are starting the busy planting season as the soil both warms up and dries out. Spring is a hectic time as farmers try to plant their crops quickly to optimize crop yields. However, planting season can be dangerous, for both farmers, their spouse and children, hired hands, and non-farm people. Agriculture is a dangerous profession, averaging 100 injuries per day and around 410 deaths per year (2019) or 19.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. Let’s try to make this a safe year.  Let’s start with the children. Farm children, grand kids, and even city kids love to be on the farm and they are fascinated by tractors, wagons, sprayers, fertilizer equipment, you name it. Children do not realize the danger this equipment can pose. Take some time and educate them if they visit. Children need adult supervision and need to stay a distance away. Most children love to ride on the tractor and that can be quite dangerous. Children riding on a fender and not buckled up can easily fall off

  As spring planting gets underway, farm stress is high. When seeds germinate quickly that farm stress goes away. Getting new seeds and plants off to a vigorous start increases the potential for a healthy crop with abundant yields. However, when seeds germinate slowly because of challenging soil or weather conditions, early stress on young seedlings is likely to produce a yield drag.  When seeds germinate quickly, corn seed maggot feeding decreases. When root systems develop quickly, wireworm or rootworm larvae is greatly reduced. When seedlings grow very rapidly, and have balanced seed nutrition, they can resistant slugs and flea beetles feeding. However, none of these positive effects occur when seeds germinate slowly or when seeds are of poor quality.  Planting conditions are not always ideal. Poor weather conditions means that often planting occurs under less-than-ideal conditions. Farmers typically have only about 9-10 days or less to get most crops planted on time. I