Ontario corn and soybean crops appear to have come through an extended dry spell in good condition, but there may be some negative impact on winter wheat, according to the latest provincial field crop report.
“The planting season went by extremely fast and under dry conditions,” said the Friday report. “Farmers were concerned with soil moisture and planted as deep as needed to plant seed into moisture. This has resulted in good germination and reasonable emergence in most fields setting the crops up for excellent yield potential.”
Although recent rainfall in the province was much needed and welcomed, the report noted it did come with hail in many areas, with east Chatham-Kent through west Elgin reporting crop injury.
Corn
Corn is growing well and has not suffered much from the recent 3-4 dry weeks. Areas that planted on heavier soils or rushed ahead of the mid-May rains have seen some emergence problems. Corn is mostly in the 4-10 leaf stage and its speed of growth will increase greatly with the rains.
Soybeans
Much of the soybean crop is doing well. There continues to be emergence of plants in some fields where planting depth and date were issues. Recent rains may spur on some of those plants that have been sitting as ungerminated seed in dry soil. Some replants have occurred on heavy textured soils and/or following the cool wet period of May 17-21. Crop advisors are pleased with the root systems developing in many of these soybean fields. Weed control is the primary concern of soybeans.
Winter wheat
Wheat for the most part still looks excellent. There are places on dry knolls or sandy soils where it’s obvious there has been some yield potential lost.
The crop ranges in maturity by location. In the far southwest it’s well into grain fill whereas moving east, heading started mid- to late last week. In general yield potential looks excellent. It will be interesting to see whether the cool temperatures in mid-May with a couple of frosty nights may have impacted some wheat depending on what stage it was at. A few fields have lodged from recent rains, but still minor.
Dry Beans
Most of the crop is planted, although some just recently as people chose to wait for rainfall. Weed control and scouting for weeds will be the priority in the coming days. Conditions for planting were excellent although dry for those who planted at the beginning of the month.
