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  Crops are starting to grow faster with warmer temperatures after a cool wet spring with entering rapid nutrient uptake and plant growth. Most plant nutrients are absorbed through the roots. Some nutrients get locked up in the soil making them unavailable to the plant. There are many factors that contribute to nutrient soil immobilization. If the fertilizer solution pH is too high or too low, nutrient deficient, or excessive; some nutrients might not be absorbed. Low soil organic matter, reduced microbial activity, damaged root systems, excessive water or a lack of water can all lead to lower rates of plant nutrient uptake and absorption. Many farmers regularly use some foliar feeding with herbicides or fungicides to enhance crop growth and yield. The leaves, and sometimes even the stems, of many plants are equipped with tiny, pore-like structures called stomata. Stomata open and close at certain times of the day. Stomata have two major functions. Stomata allow oxygen and water v...

About this time almost every year, we have to deal with high humidity and high temperatures. It is now officially summer, and it feels like it! After a cool, almost colder spring with plenty of moisture, the sun is shining and it is hot. Plants are starting to grow, but most fields are definitely behind schedule. Livestock also suffer during hot and humid periods of time. For livestock, staying cool depends on first getting plenty of water. Check your watering systems to make sure they are working correctly. Keep water supplies in the shade. Cool water helps animals dissipate body heat. Make sure stock tanks are secure and full of water. Sometimes animals will try to get in the tank to cool off or knock it over. Make sure the water flow is adequate. Check automatic waterers and increase the flow if necessary. Dehydrated animals may need electrolytes; consult a veterinarian for the proper dosage. Misters and sprinklers also provide a way for animals to cool down. In extreme heat, animal...

  As farmers struggle to finish planting and replanting due to excess rain and cooler temperatures, warmer or hotter summer weather may be coming soon. Farmers are facing another challenging year. Some new Ag innovations may soon change how farming is conducted. The whole Artificial Intelligence (AI) movement and machine learning is starting to be incorporated into agriculture. Farming is labor intense but also has huge amounts of data that can be harvested from each parcel of crops to make immediate decisions. Sensors, drones, and satellites provide trillions of bits of data to the farmer and/or consultant. This data base can be analyzed almost now with computers, software, and AI systems to easily and efficiently give farmers instant information to improve crop quality and yield. Here are some examples of how this affects agriculture, now and in the future. For predictive analysis; weather, disease and pests, and improving crop yields are important agricultural functions. Curren...

  After a wet and late planted spring, crops and weeds are starting to grow. Spraying weeds is important for getting good yields and reducing weed competition. Many farmers use commercial applicators to spray their fields, but a lot of farmers do it themselves or have applicators for spot spraying. There are factors that affect herbicide performance. Water quality; water pH; the temperature of the water, air, and soil; type and volume of water; size of weeds; and even time of day can impact herbicide effectiveness. In the Midwest, Purdue University is a leader on improving herbicide performance. For anyone spraying herbicides the following publications are a must read. PPP-86: The Impact of Water Quality on Pesticide Performance. PPP-107: Adjuvants and the Power of Spray Droplets. PPP-112: Water Temperature and Herbicide Performance. PPP-115: Compendium of Herbicide Adjuvants which explains how to prevent water minerals from tying up herbicides. Here are some tip: Check your wat...

  Farmers are making significant progress on planting but some areas are well behind. May 2025 has been the second coldest May on record. Between cold, wet, windy conditions; farmers are managing to get crops planted. Some areas have received over 7 inches of rain, just in the month of May and these farmers are way behind getting crops planted. However; soil microbes, plants, and humans would benefit from more sunlight, warmth, and adequate moisture. On the weather front, the polar vortex from the arctic region has been dipping down into the Midwest, bringing cold air, wind, and some moisture. La Nina events may be starting to fade, but it’s allowing the colder conditions to persist. Added to that situation, dry conditions in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada are fueling wildfires and smoke which is further reducing sunlight in the USA Midwestern States. When it is cold, microbes do not reproduce as quickly. Microbes double their population every 10°F increase in temperature abov...

May has been a cold and wet and many farmers are struggling to get crops planted. Some for the first time. Others are already replanting. Although a week old, May 18th USDA's crop progress report is probably fairly accurate with the recent rains. Estimates are that only 34% of corn acres are planted in Ohio, with 22% of corn emerged. Emerged acres are probably higher by now. Corn planting progress was behind the 5-year average (48%), but corn emergence was slightly ahead (20%) as of May 18th. For soybeans, 40% of soybean acre were planted and 24% of soybeans emerged. On corn, some farmers got a few acres planted in late April when the air temperatures for a short period of time were warmer. but soil temps were cool. That corn either emerged, rotted or the soil got hard and struggled to emerge. Corn needs to come up within 3 days of each other for optimal yield. Cold wet weather causes many mineral deficiencies since the microbes in the soil are not warmed up and repopulating. Yello...

Farmers are again struggling this spring to get crops planted. Depending upon the amount and distribution of rain, some farmers may be almost done while other farmers are struggling to get their first field planted. In late April, there was a nice warm stretch of weather for a few days with some relatively dry weather. Some farmers got a lot planted. Others waited. Some fields of corn and soybeans are up but with the cool weather, some are struggling to grow. For slugs; cool, wet weather with slow growing crops are the best conditions for a “ slug fest smorgasbord"! Slugs like wet cool conditions and they love to eat plants under stress. Most plants, especially corn, can out grow slug damage with good weather. Soybeans are the most susceptible to slug damage. Once you see slugs starting to eat newly emerging soybeans, it is too late because once the cotyledon ( first new emerging leaves from the seed) is damaged, the plant dies. A lot of fields have either weeds still growing or...

Brian Doughtery, a Understanding Ag consultant, says compaction is a sign of a poorly functioning soil. Soil compaction is not a natural occurrence, it comes from too much equipment (heavy axle loads, too much tillage), not enough biology (lack of roots and living organisms), and excess nutrients. Well aggregated soils look like black cottage cheese; soil crumbles easily in your hand and water and gases move freely in soil. Well aggregated soils have 50% solid materials made up of ground up rock, minerals and water with the other half being pore space by volume. Compaction just means the pore space is reduced or eliminated resulting in denser compacted soil. For good plant growth, roots need to penetrate the soil to get water and nutrients and have adequate gas exchange. Roots need oxygen produced and released by the leaves to move down into the soil to break down the food produced by the leaves. Roots give off carbon dioxide after the oxygen breaks down the food in the roots. It’s a...

Beck’s Hybrids conducts annually extensive corn and soybean research to improve crop yields. They recently released a 256-page book on their recent results. Research is conducted throughout the USA, Midwest, and Ohio.  Over 2 decades, the yield penalty for late corn planting is less than on soybeans. The most important thing on corn is getting it planted at a consistent depth, spacing, population, and under the right conditions more so than actual planting date. In no-till, having good closing wheels to close the slot is essential. Optimal seed to soil contact is critical for uniform emergence and the yield benefit was 2.7 to 5%. Spiked wheels help crumble soil when conditions are not perfect.  Becks did significant corn nitrogen (N) research. Putting N fertilizer on both sides of the seed allowed more uniform root distribution and yielded an average of 7 bushels more corn. The highest average corn yield of 225 bushel per acre over 4 years was 60# N applied on both sides of th...

Many planters and drills were rolling this week in Northern Ohio. Some had to stop due to rain, others found conditions were not quite right. Soon, everyone will be moving again so watch out for the increased road activity during this busy planting season. When the weather warms up, and there is some rain, usually mushrooms start popping up. Taking a walk this past weekend, I was looking at the trees. Many trees are very slow putting on leaves. Upon further inspection, many trees appear to be dead. Not small trees, fairly large trees, anywhere from 6 to 18-inch diameter trees. Upon inspection, 9 large trees were dead out of 12 trees in a fence row. Two weeks ago, after walking through a woods, there were dead trees down everywhere. Having walked that woods several times, these were mostly new logs, not all old logs. The question is: What is killing my trees? The answer appears to be complicated. Maybe not just one factor, but several interacting factors. In the last several years, th...

  New University of Florida research shows that healthy plants with high levels of nutrients resist plant pests. As farmers get ready for spring planting, applying fertilizer enhances plant growth, yield, and reduces pests. Dr. Arnold Schumann outlines benefits certain nutrients give to plants to fight various fungus, bacteria, and viral diseases. In general, nutrient and pathogen relationships are quite complex. Pathogens (disease organisms) alter the plant’s ability to take up nutrients, how they transport them, how they are used etc. Often, pathogens damage the roots, stems, and leaves so that the plant cannot produce a crop. Sometimes pathogens tie up nutrients or damage the vascular system for moving nutrients around in the plant. Secondary infections often occur and sick plants attract insects that also damage the plant. Keeping plants healthy includes creating nutrient-rich food which is also beneficial for livestock and human health. Most people think of nutrients as plant...

  Recent soybean research by Dr. Rafiq Islam, Ohio State University shows benefits from using sulfur fertilization and small doses of aspirin or salicylic acid (SA, a fulvic acid) to increase soybean yields. Soybeans are planted on about 86.5 million USA acres. Yearly increases in soybean yields have been flat and with lower prices, farmers are looking for ways to get higher yields. Hot weather, drought, flooding and other environmental issues have caused soybean yields to stagnate. Dr. Islam used research funds from the Ohio Soybean Council to investigate salicylic acid (SA). SA helps crops tolerate drought and stress by more efficiently regulating stomatal closure (water loss from leaves), transpiration, and proline biosynthesis (an amino acid which helps proteins to form). By enhancing stress tolerance, SA could help improve soybean yields and quality under challenging conditions. Another growing concern for soybean cultivation is soil sulfur deficiency, due to reduced atmosph...