Recent rains have brought some relief to fields of crops.

Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Mike Witt says that before the rains, soil moisture conditions were starting to eek back into drought conditions, but that they weren’t too bad off. He adds that the rains though have resulted in some farmers checking their field for any washout, or areas where crops may not have come in as well. Witt tells Raccoon Valley Radio what farmers should keep in mind when trying to decide if they need to replant.

“So one of the big things with planting, if you’re looking at your soybeans to start off, make sure that even if you have a reduced standard, reduced population, that you still have enough out there for the yield, it’s not worth the time and effort to go out and replant. And what I mean by that is we have seen yields in that 100 to 90 soybean area that still get really good yields out there in the field compared to the 150’s to the 170’s. So make sure that if you need to replant your soybeans, you go out and you take a look at that.”

Witt mentions that for corn, it is past the time that replanting would be most beneficial. He explains that another thing that some farmers are looking at is pre-emergence herbicide application. Before individuals get started with applying herbicide though, Witt says that they should make sure that ground conditions are right for going out to spray, and then the weather itself needs to be just right, so that wind gusts don’t cause any chemicals to drift.