The Idaho Wheat Commission

Given the adverse winter weather conditions, most of the winter wheat in Idaho looks amazingly good but producers are still only hoping for an average year at best.

Cold temperatures without a lot of snow cover seemed to be an ideal situation for winterkilll, but while some fields are looking tough, overall winterkill is less than anticipated in eastern Idaho.

"I've seen some really pretty looking dryland winter wheat fields and some really rough fields, but I haven't seen much replanting," said Stan Gortsema, University of Idaho extension educator for Power County.

Spring grain has emerged and looks good, but extension educators say growers should be on the lookout for foliar diseases especially if the cool, wet weather persists.

"it's been just cold enough to keep things from happening, but with bouts of semi-warm days," said Steve Hines, UI extension educator in Twin Falls County.

Growers in north Idaho also report strange winter weather. Eric Hasselstrom, who farms near Winchester, said a hard, deep frost froze the soil about a foot deep before any snow fell and didn't thaw until March.

Little snow fell and when precipitation came as rain, it ran off the frozen fields.

Winter wheat planted as summer fallow was larger going into winter and seems be off to a better start than the recrop planted wheat, but any north slopes - fallow or recrop - have thin stands. "If we have an average year (on the Camas Prairie), we'll be lucky," Hasselstrom said.

Lower elevations, like around Cul de Sac, seem to have caught more timely precipitation and wheat there may come in with above average yields.

Cold nights and wet conditions have slowed spring fieldwork, and the two inches of snow that fell on April

28 will delay planting again. If the weather turns warmer and drier, Hasselstrom thinks growers could finish spring work by mid-May.

CORN PLANTING SLOW

Corn planters started to roll in the Magic Valley and Power County around mid-April, but the weather has slowed planting. Soil temperatures were just starting to warm into the 50s in late April when the abnormally cool temperatures arrived. According to agronomists, one of the worst things that can happen to a corn seed is to be subjected to cold temperatures after planting. And that's just what happened to the early planted corn. Night temperatures have dipped to around freezing with daytime highs only reaching the 40s and 50s.

HAY SLOW

The cool, wet spring also seems to have delayed the alfalfa crop by about a week in both south central and south eastern Idaho. Plants look healthy, but are shorter than normal for late April.

Once growers start scouting fields, extension educators expect to hear more reports of mice and vole damage. So far most of the reported vole damage is in sugarbeet fields where the voles are following the rows and eating all the seed.

Grasshopper populations were on the rise in Lincoln and Jerome counties last year, and Hines encourages growers to scout for them this year. Fields that border state or federal land are particularly vulnerable.