A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 27, 2003
Isabel Flattens Cornfields
(Continued from Page A 1)
that a lot of the com is blown
down, getting good quality silage
is going to be even harder.
While soybeans were also
“knocked down pretty good” in
some areas, Anderson said, yield
losses will be much less severe
than in the com crop. Alfalfa and
other hay crops should be unaf
fected.
Pumpkins a big cash crop
for some farmers “seem to be
taking a hit,” with many begin
Downed corn near Meadow Valley Road from Tropical
Storm Isabel. Some harvest losses could be expected.
Corn was knocked down by a one-two
and heavy rains Monday night on a field
sville.
A gentleman goes canoeing where
flood waters overtook the banks of the
Conestoga River near Covered Bridge
Road in Farmersville Tuesday afternoon.
What a lineup m store for the fall issue of A A
Lancaster Farming's Boarder & Trainer, our
comprehensive section on the horse industry* $
Scheduled for the Oct 11 issue of B&T; m ML
Information on proper riding trails, lessons
from a popular farrier, proper feeding of hors- K
es, information from a horse "dentist," round
pen training, and tips from a harness maker
Lots of horse care articles are in the works tool
t i f f v-v it *-*.■*** * i
ning to rot in the field from the
generally wet conditions, includ
ing a storm Monday night that
brought between three and four
inches of rain to much of the
state and caused flooding in some
areas. That was more rain than
the area received from the hurri
cane itself, which totaled about
two inches in Lancaster County.
Greg Roth, extension agron
omist at University Park, said he
has heard the worst reports of
corn damage coming in from the
southeastern counties of Leba-
punch: a combination of Hurricane Isabel
near Farmersville Road west of Farmer-
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non, Lancaster, and Chester, and
from the Big Valley area around
Belleville, Mifflin County. He
also noted flattened com in York
County and northern Maryland,
as well as scattered damage
throughout the midstate.
Com maturity, the lay of the
land, pest damage, and type of
hybrid all played into how well
the stalks survived the storm,
according to Roth.
“There’s quite a variety of dif
ferent kinds of wind damage,” he
said.
In addition, another storm
early in the week on top of the
hurricane put the county in a
rainfall surplus, about seven
inches over normal for the year,
according to some reports. Flood
ing was rampant and widespread
near flood areas, including the
Conestoga River.
As for hurricane damage, the
worst is in late-planted cornfields
that grew tall and never devel
oped good roots because of wet
growing conditions through the
summer, Roth said. Many of
these plantings suffered root
lodging from the hurricane winds
stalks blowing down because
the roots were unable to hold in
the wet soil.
Farmers should not be in hurry
to harvest these late-planted
fields, according to Roth. He
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The wind and rain of Tropical Storm Isabel proved dis
astrous for corn farmers, as this photo taken near Millway
shows.
noted that the com will continue
to mature as long as the root sys
tem is intact.
“One concern I have is that a
lot of this late-planted com is not
ready for silage harvest,” Roth
said. “I would urge farmers not
to panic, and let it mature.” They
should monitor for ear mold in
the meantime, he noted.
Isabel also broke stalks in some
fields, especially weaker hybrids,
or those with stalk rot or com
borer damage, according to Roth.
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“On a positive note,” he said,
“a lot of the com fared the high
winds pretty well.”
Rich Kammerer, a custom har
vester from Gettysburg, Adams
County, said a lot of com in the
area is “leaning.” He has also
seen a few flattened cornfields,
especially narrow, 15-inch row si
lage plantings where stalks are
thinner than in fields with lower
plant populations.
(Turn to Page A 29)
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