News From Around Servi-Tech
Southwest kansas
Wheat harvest started from Texas
up to the southern counties of Kansas.
Yields are coming in well below the
past year’s averages, but the fact there is
wheat out there to cut after the severe
dry spell is a testament to today’s wheat
breeders and their respective varieties.
As wheat harvest moves along, these
acres will soon be on the growers mind
as to what they will put them to next.
Dryland and irrigated corn have
been racing along with the heat, and
have had to withstand some extreme
weather from the time it has been
placed in the ground. Some areas have
experienced hail, wind and downpours,
while others have been sandblasted and
scorched with the heat and wind.
Soybeans and cotton are in the
process of getting put in the field. The
region has experienced some scattered
severe weather creating the need to
be replanted, while others have gotten
along nicely and starting to really
get their legs under them. With the
warm weather, we have been seeing
weed pressures taking off sooner than
normal. We are beginning to put our
post applications on the soybeans and
cotton (with insecticide) to keep them
clean through canopy.
Our staff has been working diligently
with growers and retailers to help make
the best agronomic decisions. We are
here to help provide our services with
the sampling of soils and tissues as well
as scouting.
Eastern colorado
The crop season is flying by with
the summer solstice almost here.
Crops got planted in an on-again
off-again pattern with some irrigated
crops just getting finished up the
first week of June. Rain was the
main delay for the planting project.
Stands of corn and soybeans are
generally pretty good. Sugarbeets
got a good start with some timely
showers to help emergence. The
later planted crops like dry beans
and sunflowers are just starting to
emerge, but so far conditions are
promising. Millet and forage crops
are just now getting planted. Seems
to be quite a bit of alfalfa planted
this spring. Most alfalfa seem to be
tied to contracts to dairies and dairy
heifer facilities.
Weed control has generally
been good from the pre-emerge
products. The post products are
just going out now. There is plenty
of Palmer amaranth that escaped
the first application in most areas.
If the Palmer got some size before
the second treatment it can be a
struggle to get controlled. A high
percentage of the soybeans are
Dicamba tolerant and the various
products will get a test to see what
they are capable of. Weed pressure
has increased as the season has
warmed up and there are plenty of
challenges to be managed so there
is minimal if any effect on the final
crop performance.
The wheat crop almost totally
escaped any stripe or leaf rust in our
The Cover Crop Summer 2018
22
trade territory. The crop is really good
on the north end of the territory, but
as the rains have been lighter as you
go south, the crop is the same way.
Definitely south of I-70 it is poorer
across both Colorado and Kansas.
Just less rain in those areas and in
places like Oakley, Kansas, the crop
reflects that lack of moisture. The
crop is well into kernel formation and
should be on target for the harvest
schedule.
There is good movement of the
ProfilerPlus equipment, in addition to
the Profiler equipment growers chose
to keep, that has staff busy installing
water probes.
T21 has 5 interns this year. Layton
Werth and Gabe Anderson come to us
from Fort Hays State University, Luke
Korf from Colorado State University,
Michael Edwards from the University
of Wyoming and Jake Herrell from
Dordt College. It is great to have you
on board for the season! It is nice to
have an unbiased set of eyes and fresh
legs to help get the work done. It is a
chance from them to take what they
have been taught in college and apply
it in the real world. Welcome!
central nebraska
The last six weeks have been very
busy for our crop service staff with
planting, evaluating plant stands, and
now weed management.
We have had some herbicide
successes as well as some less than
desirable results. A couple of very
positive management programs
are fall herbicide applications