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Saturated fields may pressure rootworm populations

Late planting has a multitude of disadvantages, but it may also have a silver lining.

Depending on the latitude, weather and luck, the planting season has extended well beyond what most Corn Belt farmers would prefer.

“Well, it’s not over yet,” said Lance Tarchione, a technical agronomist

for DeKalb and Asgrow. In an interview with Brownfield Ag News last week, he said that the planting season just keeps going.

“For people that are farming river bottom fields that are prone to flooding, some of that stuff will be planted two and three times,” said Tarchione. “We’ve got some acres that really haven’t ever been planted the first time and so it’s going to be a very extended planting season.”

The issues that caused late planting have also resulted in delays of what needs to be done after planting. Weeds have continued to grow while farmers wait to get back into fields to deal with them, said Tarchione. He adds, however, that saturated fields may reduce rootworm populations.

“Rootworm larvae do not swim well, do not hold their breath well after they hatch,” he said. “It’s not really beneficial for corn either, so there’s kind of a tradeoff there, but if we can get a little bit of reduction in rootworm populations, that would be a good thing.”

Late-planted crops can yield well, according to Tarchione, “as long as we don’t get terribly hot and dry later in the summer.”

AUDIO: Lance Tarchione (4 min. MP3)