MANHATTAN, Kan. – Being a farmer, many would argue, is synonymous with being a weather watcher. And few people are watching the weather more closely right now than the nation’s corn growers.

Cold, wet soils have hampered corn seeding and emergence in some areas, although the situation probably isn’t anything a several-day dose of sunshine and warm weather wouldn’t fix, said Kansas State University agronomist Dale Fjell.

As of April 21, U.S. corn planting was 10 percent complete, just behind the 11-percent five-year average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Twenty-four percent of Kansas corn was seeded – well behind 37 percent planted at the same time a year ago, but equal to the five-year average. Four percent of Kansas corn had emerged. That was slightly behind 5 percent a year earlier but ahead of the 1 percent average.

Once corn seed germinates, the plant’s crown develops right below the soil surface, Fjell explained. If the soil is too wet, the crown receives either inadequate or no oxygen. If the whole crown dies, the whole plant dies.

"Essentially, that crown suffocates," Fjell said of worst-case situations. "Will it affect a whole field? Probably not."

Typically, the soil dries out enough in any given field that only low-lying areas where pooling occurs will stay problem spots. In those areas, however, it’s possible that the crown will not develop properly, which can lead to stunted growth or outright death of some plants.

Those areas, where fewer plants may have come up and where those that do are smaller, open that part of the field up to greater weed infestations, Fjell added.

He likened a damaged crown and root system to a straw in a soft drink.

"An analogy would be, like taking a straw and pinching it so that only some of the liquid got through. That’s what happens sometimes with a corn’s root system if the plant’s crown has been damaged," he said.

The damage is sometimes mistaken for diseases such as stalk rot or Stewart’s wilt, said Doug Jardine, Extension state leader in plant pathology.

"While disease pathogens may not be present early in the season, the damaged tissue is more susceptible to various stalk rotting fungi. Should stress conditions develop during the grain fill period, significant yield losses may result from the increased development of late season stalk rots," Jardine said.

Fjell said he was not necessarily advocating that farmers wait until planting conditions are perfect, acknowledging that that time may never come. It’s just important to recognize that in cool, wet conditions like many of the nation’s growers are experiencing this spring, there may be problems.