Will leave the plot data this month so you can finish make your buying decisions on seed purchases. You need to purchase and take delivery or at least finish booking your seed as some varieties are selling out.

Corn

This is the time of year that we start to think about variety selection for next year's crop. And there are some guidelines that perhaps we need to think about. Yield is very important but is not the only consideration for selection. There are many varieties and brands that will yield well but varieties have other traits that we also need to be concerned with. .

* Yield; use a three year average, based on several locations throughout the state. The UK Research Plots are good and you can find them on the internet.

* Maturity; If you have several acres of corn, you will want to spread out your risk of hot dry weather by 2 or 3 maturity groups.

Dry Down; Dry Down is different than maturity, some corn will mature early but will be slow to dry down. Check your seed catlogs for that information.

Drought Stress: Again check catlog, some corns will handle drought stress better than others. Sometimes the problem may be a droughty type soil.

Disease Resistance; These can be a problem where you have corn behind corn especially in bottoms where there are more fogs. Gray Leaf Spot can over winter as well as blow in from the gulf. Check Gray Leaf Spot, Northern Leaf Blight and MDM or MCDV can all be problems. The MDM of MCDV can be a problem where there is Johnsongrass to act a host plant. Again check seed information.

Germination in cold soil; Early plantings either conventional or no-till, take this into consideration.

Standability; This can either be stalk strength or root strength, not as critical if you will harvest as silage.

Test Weight; Usually deals with grain quality, but some corns just have lower test weight.

GMO  or Value-Added Traits; Covers a lot of ground, usage of nonselective herbicides, insect control and milling qualities are all covered under this heading.

Population; Don't chose a corn because the recommend population is what you plant, but use the guideline that the corn that has been chosen will be planted at it's recommend population.   

And you may be able to add some more things to this list.

Here are some corn and soybean varieties from UK's Research Plots that have a good 3-yr average from plots throughout Kentucky. But you also need to do some research yourself.

Corn

Three Year Average, All State Locations, read chart left to right

Soybeans

Three Year Average, All Locations, read chart left to right

Soybeans

Well the Asian soybean rust problem never happened this year. But because of the hurricanes it probably ended up scattered over most of the southeast and Midwest, when this area receives some cold weather the rust should be killed back to the gulf states. This is where it will over winter again and we will have to deal with this problem again next year. There are many locations in the south and even Mexico that the Asian Soybean Rust has overwintered. There are many pounds of soybean fungicides that will have to be stored this winter. The following tips should provide helpful in storing these fungicides this winter.

* Do not store the fungicides in areas that have a drain.

* Storage temperatures should not go below freezing, chemicals cannot go through numerous freeze/thaw cycles. Keep the chemicals dry and out of direct sunlight.

* Check the product label, certain formulations have special storage requirements. 

* Write down the purchase date on the label, use older or opened products first. Usually chemicals if stored correctly will be good at least for three years.

* Keep an up-to-date inventory of pesticides to assist in purchase decisions and in case of theft or emergency. 

* Pesticide storage areas should be placarded and locked away from children and animals.

* Never store pesticides with feed and seed, and keep chemicals away from other sensitive items such as food 

Winter Wheat

 Scout your wheat in the fall to check for winter annuals or aphids, you may have to make pesticide applications in the fall. Winter annuals and aphids are pest that you need to be concerned with. We need to be topdressing with nitrogen now. Split applications early March and late March or a single application in mid-March. Total Nitrogen applied should be between 75-90 units of N. Between 163 and 200 pounds of 46-0-0 (urea) should meet those requirements or if you are using 28-0-0, it will take approx 27-31 gal/ac. From mid to late March is a good time to make an application for control of onions or garlic. Use 0.5 to 0.67 oz of Harmony per ac and be sure to add surfactant.