Hopefully we will be back in the field later this week and many farmers are wondering "what should I plant now"? Many old-timers are declaring 2008 as the toughest planting season in their farming careers, and its just getting started! University of Illinois Extension offers some useful resources as farmers make these critical planting and replanting decisions. Before you contact your crop insurance agent, seed dealer, and herbicide dealer check out the www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu, www.farmgate.uiuc.edu, and www.ipm.uiuc.edu. These sites detail the business and agronomic decisions plus a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for evaluating your late planting alternatives. As I write this column mid-week, the grain market is up limit as grain analysts are renaming the Midwest the Midwet! Many people felt the biggest threat this crop season was drought, not floods. The Mississippi (New Boston, Illinois to Hannibal, Missouri) has been closed to barge traffic until flooding subsides, and the weather forecast is not encouraging.

If a farmer has farm level policies, he needs to discuss his options with his crop insurance agent. The county level policies like GRP or GRIP do not offer replant or prevented plant provisions. U of I Extension's Gary Schnitkey has prepared detailed fact sheets to help producers make the best decision on planting, replanting, or planting another crop. That's where your seed and herbicide dealers come into play as seed may not be available or herbicide may limit your options.

As far as the agronomic decisions detailed on Farmgate and the integrated pest management (IPM) sites, Extension crop specialists review flooding effects, nitrogen application challenges, insecticide options and other late planting issues. Corn that is partially submerged may continue to photosynthesize, although at slower rates. I was in the field with U of I Crop Systems educator Dennis Bowman yesterday. In one field where water had receded, corn still had a little green left in it but the growing point had turned to mush. Young corn can survive up to four days of outright ponding with temperatures in the mid-60's but fewer days if temperatures are mid-70's or above. Soil oxygen is depleted within 48 hours of soil saturation. Without oxygen, the plants cannot perform critical life sustaining functions. Farmers need to be prepared to rotary hoe to break up the crust to aid emergence. The greater the deposition of mud on plants as water subsides, the greater the stress on the plants due to reduced photosynthesis. Ironically, such situations would benefit from another rainfall to wash the mud off the leaves. The younger the corn, the more susceptible the corn is to ponding damage.

The old saying "Plant in dust, bins will bust, plant in mud, crop will be a dud!" seems most appropriate for the start of the 2008. Whatever decision farmers make, the weather from this day forward will determine the size of this year's harvest. Stay tuned.