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Still time for pre-plant tillage and weed control
An agronomist is confident farmers in the Upper Midwest still have time for pre-plant tillage and weed control despite the late spring.
Jon Zuk with Winfield United says April snow has prolonged winter-like conditions, severely limiting fieldwork.
“With the late spring, I think a lot of the weeds and other things are also late. So the burn-down and those concerns, at least in the fields I’ve been on, there’s not a lot of weed germination or emergence yet. So I think we’re still going to hold tight for a time frame on those things.”
Zuk points to recent history as a reason not to panic even though very little corn has been planted.
“Just go back to last year. If we look at when 50 percent of the corn was planted in Minnesota, that wasn’t until May 7th. And then look at the crop we pulled off last year (which) in most cases was really, really good. So we still have some time.”
He tells Brownfield optimal planting dates in Minnesota range from April 25th to May 15th, so farmers can afford to be patient as fields warm up and dry out.
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