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With early June heat virtually wiping out this year’s corn crop, farmers are now hoping for rainfall in the coming months to help cotton, soybean and peanuts.

“Corn is going to be disastrous this year,” said Charles Davis, Clemson Extension agent and crop specialist. “We have the worst corn crop this year that I can remember.”

The problem was a series of near 100-degree days in the first week of June during a critical part of the crop’s growth period. The heat destroyed the corn pollen, which impacted kernel growth.

“We have had some corn basically shut down in its tracks,” Davis said. “They got to three feet tall and not any bigger. Dryland corn is going to be a huge, huge loss.”

Overall, Davis said the corn crop in both Orangeburg and Calhoun counties has been reduced about three-fourths with some fields reaping about five bushels to 10 bushels per acre compared to a normal 90 bushels to 100 bushels.

“We have heard that a number of fields have been mowed down,” Davis said.

In most cases, irrigated corn did well but will still probably average about 140 bushels per acre, down from what is typically 175-bushel to 180-bushel-per-acre corn.

Corn also had to deal with fungus. Because of heat stress, corn could not fight off fungus formation.

“We lost about half the corn crop to the drought,” Calhoun County farmer John Olson said. “But the other half has been in pretty good shape. I would say we have been blessed a little bit.”

In Cope, Ronnie Gray planted about 200 acres of soybeans, 120 acres of wheat and about 50 acres of corn.

“Corn is a big question mark,” Gray said, noting he may be fortunate to get about 40 bushels per acre.

Davis said cotton, on the other hand, has reaped benefits from some recent rains.

“It is not excellent, but it is a lot better crop than I thought we would have a month ago,” Davis said, noting that while 1,000 pounds per acre may not be within reach, cotton could be in the 700-pound to 750-pound range.

“We hit a six-week dry spell when cotton was small. It hurt the cotton significantly,” he said.

Drought-stressed cotton was hit during this time with weeds, particularly herbicide-resistant palmer amaranth or pigweed. At a time when cotton needed water, the weeds were sucking it away.

But recent rains have come and the cotton has responded well.

Additional warm temperatures and rain will help ensure cotton quality is good.

Olson said his cotton crop is, “the best we have had in a long, long time.”

But he says a tropical system or exceedingly dry conditions over the next month to month and a half could harm the crop.

Davis said the late planting of soybeans behind wheat on top of the dry weather has reduced soybean production.

“I anticipate our soybeans will be down about one-third,” he said, explaining that while in some areas yields can reach about 40 bushels per acre, the state average is typically at 26 bushels per acre. He says expectations are local yields will be about 25 bushels to 27 bushels per acre.

Gray said soybeans are looking good at his farm.

“I have gotten some rains in my area,” he said. “At the moment, I stand a chance to make a good soybean crop.”

Gray said a 50-bushel soybean crop could be a possibility if “we continue to get rain.”

“I am hoping the soybean crop makes up for the corn crop,” Gray said. “Corn cut our butt this year.”

Davis said there is a potential for the peanut crop to have a “good to excellent year,” depending on the rains and temperatures in the coming month.

In both Orangeburg and Calhoun counties, about 28,000 acres of peanuts have been planted.

“They are looking very well,” Davis said. “They seem to be setting on nuts at a good pace.”

Davis said, “There is little to no disease problem now. It is fairly clean and there are not a lot of weeds.

“We are in the position for an excellent crop.”

On average, Davis said crops need about 1.5 inches of rain a week for the next month to really help propel them to greatness.

While farmers contend with Mother Nature, there is another challenge: increasing input costs.

“They have skyrocketed,” Olson said “It is a hard to win in this game.”

For example, Olson said phosphate costs have risen fourfold from about $225 a ton to $1,000 a ton over the past year. Nitrogen has gone from $200 a ton to $550 a ton.

“We are getting hit about everywhere we can,” he said.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.

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