Corn cobs that are variable in cob size and maturity. Picture taken near Williamsburg, Ont. Banks Photo
By Kelsey Banks, Agronomist
AgriNews Contributor
Kelseyabanks3@gmail.com
I was once told that every year is a repeat of another year that may be recent or sometime in the past. This year compared to last year is interesting due to the differences in the growing environment.
Last year we had rain at the end of July or early August, then it was very humid afterwards at the end of August. Overall, the struggle was more managing disease rather than an insect pest. This year, we have a few more issues with insect pests and due to the dry growing environment, less issue with disease.
Corn
Most of the corn, like other crops, are waiting on a nice rain. Right now, the corn that was planted after the eight days of rain, has variable sizes and maturity of the cobs in the field; however, in most of the fields that were planted before that rain, have larger cobs.
Soybeans
In the last crop update I had said aphids were not a problem. A few days after I had written that we had many aphids in many soybean fields across Eastern Ontario. I take that comment back! The pods are still growing but need moisture to grow more. Some fields are so dry that the pods are there, but there are no tiny beans in them yet.
Winter wheat
Harvest has completed across most of Eastern Ontario. There was a higher-than-average yield along with a lot of straw.
If you have any questions, please speak with your local agronomist.
