Muscatine Journal, IA
02/13/06
Weather gives soil a leg up: But it might also
give pests a helping hand
By Peter Rugg Of the Muscatine Journal
MUSCATINE, Iowa – Record-warm temperatures in January may be a mixed
blessing for local farmers.
While unfrozen soil was able to absorb more moisture than had been anticipated
entering the winter season, the population of pests that damage crops may be
higher than normal come spring, said Virgil Schmitt, crop specialist at Iowa
State University’s Muscatine extension office.
“There are a lot of vermin out there, and the winter really has not done much to
damage that population,”
Schmitt said. “I’m specifically thinking in soybeans of the bean leaf beetle, in corn
of the European corn borer and to a lesser extent corn rootworms. ... A milder
winter makes it easier for them.”
While Schmitt cautioned that farmers might need to be more vigilant of vermin,
he added, “there’s no reason to say the sky is falling.”
And colder weather could still hurt the pest population.
“If February and March go totally into the pits, the population cold still be
decimated,” he said.
In December, weather and agriculture officials were warning farmers of a difficult
growing season in 2006, mostly due to low subsoil moisture levels following one
of the driest years in Iowa’s history. Frozen ground meant that most of the
snowmelt run-off wouldn’t be absorbed into the soil. But, after an unseasonably
warm January, more moisture has been reabsorbed into the subsoil than
expected.
January was Iowa’s second-warmest January on record, and the 59th wettest, in
134 years of state records, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and
Land Stewardship’s Climatology Bureau.
“Our soil was quite dry going into the winter,” Schmitt said. “One of the best
things was that the soil wasn’t frozen all month, so all of the moisture that fell
soaked in.”
Schmitt estimated current subsoil moisture levels at 5 inches. Subsoil can hold
up to 10 inches of moisture, and normal levels for early February are roughly 6.5
inches.
Schmitt added that the warm weather has also allowed many area farmers to
clean up crops missed by combines in the harvest season, and is easier on
livestock.
Finally, some areas of farmland may have absorbed moisture differently than
others.
“If people have been doing some digging, like on hay and pasture land, those
areas have continued to use moisture all winter because of how warm and
protected the ground has been, and those places will still likely be very dry. The
areas you grow crops in, the outlook is much brighter,” Schmitt said.
Contact Peter Rugg at: 563-263-2331 Ext. 322 or
peter.rugg@muscatinejournal.com