With the spring season arriving in Iowa many farmers will want to begin working in their fields and a local expert gives his advice.

Guthrie County Extension and Outreach Agronomist Mike Witt explains that farms should take into consideration planting seeds at the correct time and monitoring the soil temperatures.

“Don’t go too early. You don’t want that seed to sit in really cold soil. Soil temps are still in the upper 40s. So again, making sure that even if the calendar says you want to get out and plant, making sure the ground is fit and the environment is ready for you to plant will give you a much more successful season.”

Witt says farmers should be looking for soil temperatures to be in the 50s before planting any seed. He advises farmers to keep an eye on the extended forecast.

“That you’re not planting out right in the field and then there’s a big cold snap coming in. So being able to look at that forecast out, and think the weather and conditions are going to be good. I’m going to go out and plant. We’re moving on the upswing instead of going through some of these colder conditions.”

According to the latest Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report, Four-inch soil temperatures were in the upper 30s northwest of the state as of April 10th.