Ramsey County

May 7, 2007

Howdy!!!!
Well it happened, rain!!!!!  Wasn’t that a lovely scene and smell?  There is nothing better than the smell of rain and then watching things grow.  The yards seemed to grow overnight and the fields of grain seemed to grow from nowhere in a matter of a few seconds.  I drove by a field of barley that was not up at 7 am. and drove back by there about 4 pm and you could row the field.  The birds seem to come alive and newborn calves seem shocked by the cold stuff but soon realize that rain means green grass. 

As I drove around the country side Sunday I noticed many fields already planted with many more ready, with the presence of sun.  It still is a strange spring with producers finishing up spring planting and others hardly starting around our county.

I have reports of 2 inch plus amounts on the eastern edge of the county, around 1 inch around most of the rest of the county.  The nice thing was the rain came about as perfect as we could expect.

Saturated fields????
We are not at this point but thought this a point of interest if a potential storm would do damage.  Crops act differently and suffer differently from too much rain.  I am only going to talk about corn, soybeans and pinto beans in this article but most other crops relate to the same type of problems.  Of these crops Pinto beans do not tolerate standing water very long.  Prolonged soil saturation affects not only crop growth but also yield.  In early growth stages, corn or soybeans can survive for only two to four days under water in anaerobic conditions.  Most dry bean classes are extremely sensitive to standing water. One to two days can completely destroy dry beans.  Corn is not as bad but is also sensitive to standing water, particularly in the early vegetative stages (especially prior to the fifth or sixth leaf stages).  It appears that soybeans are more tolerant to flooding than either corn or dry beans.  Moderate water movement can help reduce flood damage by allowing some oxygen to get to the plant, keeping them respiring and alive.   Look for more information in the weekly Ag Alert that will now be available.

Calendar
            July 17             Carrington Field Days
            July 18             North Central Field Days
            July 19             Langdon field days  

524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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