In the first of our growing season updates with Channel Seeds, Michigan corn and soybean planting progress is behind. Monday’s crop progress report says both corn and soybeans are behind the 5-year pace. Statewide corn progress is 2 percent ahead of last year, and the pace is better in the north.
“I would estimate probably 50 to 60 percent of the corn and soybeans in total are in the ground, even less than that, far less than that is out of the ground at this point, but we are certainly feeling the effects of some of the moisture we’ve had come through,” says Christian McGuire, Channel Technical Agronomist covering northern Michigan. But in the south, “They seemed to have gotten some of those rains that northern Michigan was able to avoid. They’re probably half of what’s in the ground in northern Michigan.”
McGuire says emergence has also been slow.
“Usually for a rule of thumb we need to see 130 growing degree units and that is taking a little longer to hit that threshold once the crop has been in the ground with some of these cooler nights and cooler mornings, but the stuff that has emerged looks fairly good. Stand counts are right where I want to see them. The only factor that I see affecting emergence is there is a little bit of seedcorn maggot feeding, especially in soybeans popping up and that just comes from the wet soil conditions as well. It’s kind of their time to thrive in that moisture.”
If patience to plant is wearing thin, he cautions there could be season-long ramifications if you get in while the field is too wet.
“Just not waiting for that soil to dry out just enough for proper planting conditions can really result in a lot of sidewall compaction which is going to affect your root zone all year long,” he said. “It’s going to hurt in water uptake, nutrient uptake all season long if we aren’t waiting for those proper planting conditions.”
Hear more in the full MAT and Channel Seeds update:
