Posted: 08.19.2010

Area agronomists at a Pioneer Field Day in Clinton Wednesday said farmers need to be watching their plants - not the calendar - when deciding when to start chopping silage!

Arnie Imholte, area agronomist with Pioneer, told Pam Jahnke that the average corn field in southern Wisconsin is as mature NOW as it was by the end of September last year!  That means that, depending on the variety and field, growers could start harvesting fields for silage as soon as next week.

One thing that's confounding to growers this year is the high moisture content in the plant stalk.  "With the high soil moisture - the whole plant moisture is kinda high.  Anyone that's going to start harvesting early is going to have to make sure they're processing that kernel properly to get the most from the field."

 "On the corn, the kernel milk lines are quarter to half - so it's coming fast" Imholte said.  The same situation is happening with soybeans according to Imholte, " We're gonna fill beans for the next few weeks and then we're going to be at maturity in a lot of fields."

One item that Imholte and many agronomists have been battling in this years soybean crop is Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS).  Imholte says the disease was more widespread this year than any year before in Wisconsin.  Its a soil borne fungus - its probably over-wintering on plant residue and with soybean cysts.  The good news is that today's hybrids are able to battle the disease and still yield.  "Breeders have really been working on resistance, so you'll see fields with SDS in it, but the plants are still retaining their leaves whereas 15 years ago the plant would have been dead.  So the plant is still filling the pods.  It'll have some affect on the yields, but nothing like it would've 15 years ago."

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