With wet weather continuing to create harvest and planting delays, a new guide developed by agronomists from OSU to help growers check their crops' development.

"Wet conditions throughout the state have farmers waiting for soils to dry before harvesting or planting can continue," according to the Oct. 20 U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop progress report. "Farmers spent the majority of last week waiting for field conditions to improve so they could continue with harvest and get winter wheat planted.

New OSU Crop Guide Available

The 2014 Corn, Soybean, Wheat and Alfalfa Field Guide is now available for $12.50 and can be purchased through the Ohio State University Extension eStore or ordered from OSU Extension county offices.

The guide is an excellent tool in a new, larger, easier-to-read format that can be used by scouts, crop advisors and farmers when they're scouting their fields, says Harold Watters, an OSU Extension agronomy field specialist and coordinator of the university's Agronomic Crops Team.

The publication offers farmers key production tips from agronomy experts from OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college.

"The guide reflects current recommendations applicable to Ohio farming operations, including information on insect, disease and weed identification as well as agronomic information that should be valuable when checking fields," Watters says. "The guide can help growers evaluate their harvest, estimate yield and determine diseases on corn, including helping them to evaluate stalk rot or ear rot.

"The guide is a valuable tool for growers because the field season is not over. Because of delays, we still have a lot of crop to harvest. We have a long way to go."

Statewide, for the week that ended Oct. 19, soybeans are 36 percent harvested with 97 percent of soybeans dropping leaves, according to the Oct. 20 U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop progress report. That compares to soybeans at 68 percent harvested this time last year, with 96 percent of soybeans dropping leaves during that time, the USDA said.

Corn is at 23 percent harvested for grain, with 89 percent mature, according to the crop report. That compares to 30 percent harvested for grain with 89 percent mature this time last year. Winter wheat is 55 percent planted, compared to 77 percent planted as the same time last year.

 "There were 3.2 days suitable for fieldwork in Ohio during the week ending Oct. 19."

The 2014 field guide is a spiral-bound book that includes color photographs and an index of agronomic topics, Watters said.

"The guide can also help growers with weed and insect identification and also has updated fertility recommendations," he said.

The guide is divided into seven sections:
• Corn Management.
• Soybean Management.
• Wheat Management.
• Alfalfa Management.
• Weed Identification.
• Sampling.
• Pesticide Application Technology.
• General Crop Management.

The guide can be purchased at estore.osu-extension.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2845. A digital version is also available as a PDF file for purchase at estore.osu-extension.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2841

Source: OSU Extension