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To add as a follow-up to the last Ag Notes, on Page 1 is the Rhizoctonia Management Card we have put together for this year as a reference. If growers cannot apply their POST fungicide application 4-5 weeks after planting (as a result of weather delay or reduced seedling growth stage) the next week or later remains beneficial…better to protect than ignore.  2 – 4 leaf stage sugarbeets are ideal for timing a POST fungicide application, with 6 – 8 leaf sugarbeets still providing a benefit from the application, apply as there is still benefit and some protection going out to 8 weeks. There is a return on this application and is worth the investment.  According to a 5-year average of our database, we see a realized average benefit of $80 per acre from a POST application of fungicide, with storage and processing benefits (up to $18 / ton in storage losses alone) as added value. 

NDAWN Stations Added to Our Region
2 new weather stations have been to the NDAWN (North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network) last fall, Waukon and Ulen; this brings the total in our growing region to 26 stations in the network and a total of 83 stations in the total NDAWN system.  For further information, 3 links for your information: 

NDAWN: https://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.edu

NDAWN Twitter link: https://twitter.com/NDAWNweather

Daryl Ritchison (North Dakota's Assistant State Climatologist and Extension Meteorologist) Twitter Handle is @darylritchison

5-Year American Crystal Growing Region Production Looking at Cropping Season Length

Cover Crop Management
We have been pleased to see cover crop use continuing to increase at American Crystal. The past windy days are a reminder of the need of cover crop. As a reminder, please stay on top of getting cover crop sprayed out. Glyphosate works slowly in cool conditions…the same conditions where small grain crop crops thrive. Long stretches of rain can keep field sprayers out of the field too long. Look to spray out cover crop starting at the 3-leaf small grain stage. The cover crop “carcass” will protect and hold the soil. With dry conditions in the south, cover crop competes with sugarbeets for moisture, and will win. Small grain seedlings are like an iceberg, there can be triple the mass below the surface compared to the mass above the surface. Controlling cover crop too late results in adverse competition along with higher solar reflectance (albedo) from thick dying grasses and therefore lower solar absorption (less heat availability) for sugarbeet development.