{"id":131093,"date":"2020-05-09T06:23:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T11:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=131093"},"modified":"2020-05-11T07:39:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T12:39:46","slug":"young-spring-planting-progressing-well-so-far-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/05\/09\/young-spring-planting-progressing-well-so-far-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Young: Spring planting progressing well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring planting is going well in most areas of Van Wert County, but, as usual, there are always concerns about the weather and its effect on crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Spring planting is going well so far in Van Wert County, but local farmers could face a variety of challenges before crops can be harvested in the fall. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Curtis Young, county agriculture educator for the Ohio State University Extension Service, said Friday that he had traveled extensively around the county on Wednesday and Thursday to check on crop planting, and was pleased with the progress so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s looking very positive in the terms of the amount of field work that has been accomplished, and how many acres have been planted,\u201d Young noted. \u201cThe planting season is going great, especially compared to last season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young said planting began in earnest a week ago Friday in Van Wert County, with planting well along by the end of this past week, although some areas that received more rain than most of the county have been delayed a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s planting season was one many local farmers would like to forget, when excessive rains and flooding washed out crops repeatedly from January through August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t concerns this year, when it comes to weather and local crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One big concern right now, Young said, is the cold temperatures forecast for Friday night and into the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With the low temperature overnight Friday in the mid- to high 20s, frost damage could be a factor for some county crops — although less so for the crops now being planted, since most plants haven\u2019t emerged from the soil at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of everything that has been planted so far hasn\u2019t emerged above the soil line, so that may protect (plants and seeds),\u201d Young said, adding that, if rain had also been forecast, the cold water could have damaged seedlings in the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, he noted, rain hasn\u2019t been forecast over the weekend, which should be a plus for county farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two crops could be affected by frost conditions, though, Young added, noting that, while winter wheat and barley have been growing well, they could see some damage from the cold temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Extension educator said the biggest concern is that any flag leaves that have already emerged on the wheat plants could be damaged by the frost. The emergence of flag leaves is a critical stage in the development of wheat plants, and damaged flag leaves could eventually affect crop yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young said that it appeared as if many flag leaves had not emerged at this point, which could be a positive for wheat yields if the leaves remain undamaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, there\u2019s always the hope the weather forecast is off by a few degrees, and it doesn\u2019t get as cold as expected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the lack of excessive rains, while a positive for spring planting, could be a harbinger of drought conditions later this year. Young said he checked fields for moisture while he was out earlier this week, and found most fields had plenty of moisture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, though, that moisture content can vary on a field-to-field basis, depending on where the fields are located in the county and an individual farmer\u2019s field management practices. Young noted that, generally, the more the soil is disturbed, the more potential for moisture loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more you open up the soil, the more moisture you potentially lose quickly,\u201d the OSU Extension educator said, adding that no-till methods, which many county farmers employ, do help conserve moisture in the soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all the variables, though, Young said county crops are looking pretty good at this point in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing where we are on the calendar and looking into the future, we\u2019re doing very well,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Spring planting is going well in most areas of Van Wert County, but, as usual, there are always concerns about the weather and its effect on crops. Curtis Young, county agriculture educator for the Ohio State University Extension Service, said Friday that he had traveled extensively around the county on Wednesday and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 10:11:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}