Battle for the Belt: Season 3, Episode 22: August Weather Update and Fall Outlook

Season 3, Episode 22 of Battle for the Belt is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH8MmN9_7eE

In Episode 22, Aaron Wilson, Ohio State Extension Climatologist, gives us an August weather update and a quick Fall outlook. Also, you can read more about the weather in his article “Rapid Drying Conditions Emerging Across Ohio.

What’s happening in the field?

The weather around the state has been dry the last few weeks, particularly in central and Northwest Ohio. The dry weather has resulted in parts of Ohio showing up on the U.S. Drought Monitor as abnormally dry (Figure 1).

The Northwest location is within the abnormally dry area of Ohio. The Western location is not on the drought map, but it is dry and in need of rain (Figure 2). The Wooster location has had the least amount of visible water stress this season among the three sites.

Almost all of our corn is now in the reproductive stages, with the final two planting dates at all locations showing signs of dry down and stress. The fourth planting date (May 29 to June 13) has been drying down and showing nitrogen deficiency, possibly cannibalizing the stalk, at varying severity levels among the three locations (Figure 3).

The earliest planting date (March 27) is also drying down but is at R5.5 in some areas. To accurately stage corn during the reproductive stages, one must evaluate the ears. Upon evaluating ears for the last month, many ears have had tip dieback or zipper ears. Figure 4 has ears from the first planting date at all three locations with tip dieback being visible at all locations, throughout most of the four hybrids planted. Tip dieback can be caused by conditions such as heat stress that induces kernel abortion, nitrogen deficiency, high populations, foliar disease, and cloudy days. Our early planting dates avoided most foliar disease during this critical time but did not dodge heat stress. Disease has been an issue for corn in the fourth and fifth planting dates, especially in Wooster and Western.

Soybean have had a relatively low stress season, other than the current dry period for some of the state. The dry period at the Northwest location has affected some nutrient uptake in later planted soybeans, which can be seen on lower leaves in the canopy (Figure 5). At all locations, soybean plants are in the reproductive stages, with most being at R5. The first planting date across areas is close to R6 (Table 1 and Figure 6). There is limited insect damage and disease stress overall. The first four planting dates have a full canopy, while the final planting date has not fully canopied in all locations yet.

Table 1. Precipitation, soil temperature, average air temperature, and cumulative GDDs at the Western Agricultural Research Station, the Northwest Agricultural Research Station, and Wooster Campus. Weather data retrieved from: https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/. 

Keep following the ‘Battle for the Belt’ this growing season to learn more and get further updates! You can find the full video playlist of Battle for the Belt on the Ohio State Agronomy YouTube channel.