Farmers found some dry days between rains last week and now almost all of Iowa’s corn crop is planted. The bad news is that rain left standing water in many fields.
Iowa State University agronomist, Mark Johnson, monitors nine counties in central Iowa from Carroll and Marshalltown to south of Des Moines.
“We did get a lot of big ponds that I’m sure is going to wipe out an acre..two acres…three acres. And then last week, west of Minburn…south and east of Perry..there’s an area there that got some pretty good hail damage on corn,” Johnson says. He thinks most of the corn can survive.
“My hunch is that we’ll lose very, very little stand,” Johnson says, “it looked quite bad. Often times when the growing point is below ground it can look as bad as can be, and it still comes back just fine.”
Ninety percent of the corn has emerged, which is two days ahead of last year and five days ahead of normal. In the latest U.S.D.A. crop report, 77 percent of the corn crop was rated in good to excellent condition. Soybean planting is now 88 percent complete, that’s nine days ahead of last year, and 10 days ahead of normal.
Thanks to Michael Leland, Iowa Public Radio