Author: agronomynews

Jarrod Miller, Extension Educator, Somerset County

Nitrogen is a tricky nutrient, it can exist in several different forms in the soil. The plant available forms are nitrate (NO3) and ammonium (NH4), and farmers have to find methods to keep those forms near plant roots. A recent review article in the journal Nature Plants discussed how plants may manage nitrification through root exudates. Nitrification is the transformation of NH4 to NO3 (again, both are plant available, so its OK). This is an issue for farmers because NO3 leaches out of the root zone easier than NH4. Researchers have observed that field crops like sorghum, rice and wheat may all produce biological nitrogen inhibitors (BNI) to prevent the transformation of NH4 to NO3. In the case of wheat, the authors were hopeful that the trait in two cultivars could be bred into other wheat, increasing their nitrogen use efficiency. This may become another tool for field crop production one day, along with cover crops, sidedressing and no-till in methods to manage nitrogen.

While BNI’s may come around in the future, there are nitrogen additives available that perform a similar task. Nitrification is driven by soil biology, Continue reading Biological Nitrification Inhibitors and Nitrogen Additives

Scott A. Minnick, NOAA, Wakefield, VA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the second straight year, a wet and generally cool May had a significant impact on planting. Much of the state of Maryland received over 125 to 150 percent of normal rainfall for the month. Temperatures were generally right around normal to below normal, but stubborn cloud cover during the month limited light exposure for growing crops. Continue reading Maryland June Weather Report

To: Local Jurisdictions, SEOC Reps & MEMA Staff

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Yesterday, NOAA has released their 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook​ for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, which ​as we know ​runs from June 1 through November 30 Continue reading NOAA 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook and Cyclone Names

Andrew Kness, Extension Educator, Harford County

It might seem odd reading an article about frost and freeze to grain crops in the June issue of this newsletter, but we had a fairly widespread frost event in northern Maryland during the second week of May. As a result, I have been contacted by some growers asking about the susceptibility of grain crops to a late freeze. The main concern with a May frost is in small grains and soybeans. Early frost damage to corn almost never limits yield unless the frost is accompanied by extended exposure to lethal temperatures (>3 hours exposure to 28°F for corn).

When we talk about frost and freeze injury in plants we’re really only concerned about the damage to two organ/tissue types; buds and flowers. If you lose all vegetative bud(s) or growing points that support new growth, the plant will die. Different plants have different abilities to recover from freeze damage, largely because of their germination process. For example, peas are a frost-hardy crop that can be planted before the frost-free date, whereas soybeans and snap beans should be planted after the risk for frost has passed or has significantly reduced. But why is that? They are closely related plants, yet their tolerance to frost and freeze is vastly different. Continue reading Early May Freeze: What’s The Risk to Our Grain Crops?

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Crop Watch has posted an excellent article on the effect on rainfall on residual pesticides. With the recent rainfall in the region holding up planting, you may want to review this article: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/effect-excessive-rainfall-efficacy-residual-herbicides-applied-corn-and-soybean

Jarrod Miller, Extension Educator, Somerset County

A storm brought random hail to Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore last week. Fields only a mile apart went undamaged, while other suffered shredding and defoliation. Many farmers may have questions about replanting, yield loss and pathogen damage.The University of Nebraska has also seen some recent damage due to hail and have summarized some great information about evaluation here: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/evaluating-early-season-hail-damage-corn. Continue reading Hail Damage to Corn and Soybeans

Jarrod Miller, Extension Educator, Somerset County

While wheat and barley are past flowering, you should keep scouting your fields. Below is an image of wheat with barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) on the left. It was at the edge of a field and potentially infected with BYDV by aphids a month ago. An article on aphid prevention and BYDV can be found here:http://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=4595. An update on our blog about BYDV can be found here:https://blog.umd.edu/agronomynews/2017/05/28/barley-yellow-dwarf-symptoms-and-management/

Dr. Nathan Kleczewski (Delaware Extension Plant Pathologist) has observed FHB in some fields, although moderately resistant varieties with property timed fungicide applications have low to absent FHB presence. The photo on the right shows a healthy and FHB infected wheat head from 2014.

While fields may be too wet for equipment to pass, its a good time for boots to do some scouting.