NK Agronomy Guide Spotlight

Every growing season brings its own, unique challenges — and while NK offers a team of expert agronomists to help you overcome agronomic challenges, we also want to provide you with a resource to refer to when we can’t meet face-to-face. The NK Seeds Solutions Guide is more than 150 pages of detailed information to help you make diagnoses and identify management solutions for corn and soybeans — and it’s free to you, through your NK reseller.

“The NK agronomy team created this resource with one goal in mind: helping farmers correct or mitigate in-crop agronomic challenges,” says Todd McRoberts, NK Agronomy Lead. “We work hard to help farmers maximize every acre, and this resource will help them do that by better diagnosing in-field crop challenges and managing crops.”

Throughout the growing season, The Amplifier will highlight timely insights from the NK Agronomy Guide — everything from planting depth to fertility, stand uniformity to cover crop termination and much more. Today, we look at an important early-season scouting practice — assessing spring frost damage.

5 Tips for Assessing Spring Frost Damage in Corn and Soybeans

• 1. Consider color. Early signs of frost may appear darker green or may resemble water-soaked areas on leaves, then turn brown and necrotic in the following days.




• 2. Watch the thermometer. Air temperatures of 28-30 degrees or lower for a duration of at least several hours are typically needed for damage to occur.




• 3. Look low. Damage can be more severe in low areas of the field, where air movement is limited during clear overnight sky conditions.




• 4. Note growth stage. At early growth stages (prior to V5 for corn), the growth point of the plant is below the soil surface and thus buffered from short-term freezing temperatures. Frost events at or after V5 in corn have a higher risk of plant death due to the growing point now being above the soil line. The soybean growing point is unprotected above the soil surface immediately after cotyledon emergence, and canopy-or-taller soybeans may insulate lower-canopy soybeans.




• 5. Gauge survival. Individual plant survival can be gauged by cutting open stems to evaluate the health of the plant. For corn, dark yellow to brown growing points are likely damaged and less likely to survive, white colored interior stems are an indicator of healthy plants that should recover.

For both corn and soybeans, you’ll want to wait two or more days after the frost occurrence to evaluate regrowth and growing point health and determine the number of surviving plants — and remember to flag frost-damaged plants for reinspection.

The NK^® Replant Calculator can help you compare the yield potential of reduced stands to the reduced yield potential associated with later planting dates. And no matter how significant your frost damage and whether or not you opt to replant, contact your local NK agronomist or sales representative to help you identify the best path forward for your farm, and your ROI potential.

Look for more seasonal agronomic tips here on The Amplifier throughout the growing season.