Huron Expositor, 2009-07-08, Page 24.
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4.14 01,1
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News
Corn and soy -bean crops behind with cool temperatures
jjilary L vqg
With a cool and wet start to the
growing season both corn and soy
beans are behind in terms of what is
considered normal development.
Peter Johnson, crop specialist with
the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA),
said most other crops are also behind
in normal development. -
"Corn and soy beans are the two
that are most concerning from a field
crop standpoint. We are behind, but
having said that we are not so far be-
hind that we couldn't easily catch up.
with just a few weeks of more normal
temperatures, particularly with the
corn crop," he said. "We need warm
nights to go with the warm days."
"One of the things .people don't un-
derstand correctly is the fact that
really high temperatures don't help
crops, they actually harm crops," he
said.
Johnson said in a perfect world the
temperature would never go over
28 -degrees celsius.
"Yes it has . been cool, but there
has been quite a few days where we
have had 22-24 degree daytime tem-
peratures and for both corn and soy
beans, those aren't awful tempera-
tures," he said.
"What has been harder on the crops
is the single digit night time temper-
atures and we have had more than
our fair share of those. We would like
to have warmer nights to go hand-in-
hand with some respectable days,"
he said.
As far as the wet weather is con-
cerned, Johnson said, a lot of the
corn crop was planted into less than
ideal soil conditions and therefore "if
you plant into wet soil the only thing
that will save you is more rainfall."
He said frequent rain showers have
allowed the corn crop to benefit from
-softer soil and good root growth.
"The negative side is that it has
been very tough on people trying to
make hay and we are expecting a
lot of root rot to show up in the bean
crops - both soy and edible - because
of these wetter than normal condi-
tions.
"The rainfall hasn't been a real pos-
itive thing overall but it is still better
that it would have been had we gone
into really hot and dry conditions
given the way that we planted the
crop,"•Johnson said.
Now it is time for the weather to
straighten around and provide some
warmer temperatures and some sun-
shine.
"That is the other thing that we're
lacking. A lot of cloudy days means
less sunshine and sunshine drives
the photosynthesis that helps the
crops grow and mature. We will get
into a situation where maturity of
the corn becomes problematic but we
are not there yet, we are not close to
that yet, but we certainly would like
it (the weather) to straighten out,"
Johnson said.
He said the temperatures have
been contributing to insect and
disease concerns such as soy bean
aphids, who like the cooler tempera-
tures.
"Their populations are increas-
ing in some soy bean fields and it
is something we are going to have
to watch very closely," he said, add-
ing white niould in canola is another
thing that he is concerned about giv-
en the current weather patterns.
"If it stays damp and cool like this
then we will start to worry about it
in the soy and edible bean crops as
well," he said.
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